Fine N Scale

[peteski]

Just wondering if washing the odorous parts in vinegar would help.  It’s an “old” method of getting mothball smell out of clothes.

I can try, but I doubt it - the resin itself (not just its surface) is odorous,   If you cut it, exposing the inner "meat", it stinks even worse.

@basementcalling  - we are doing much better here, getting the thread OT quickly. 

[ryan_wilkerson]

Three decades ago I drilled dozens of the fine n scale containers (to lighten them) so their smell takes me back in time to my childhood.

[nkalanaga]

My only FNS cars are two round-roof boxcars, and they haven't shrunk in the many years I've had them.  Being thoroughly painted, they also don't stink, but I don't remember whether they did new or not.  Most resins I've worked with had some type of odor.

[robert3985]

Just for giggles, I visited my train buddy Nate ( @Nato ) this afternoon and inquired if he had the two SP cabooses I worked on a while back handy.  Yup, Nate knows exactly where every one of the thousands of cars and engines he has are, so I carefully opened up the Prototype N-Scale Models box and took a long sniff....hmmmm...no odor, but the Fine N Scale toolboxes were very evident on both cabooses, but they weren't steenking. 

Nice looking cars, especially with the toolboxes, smokestack braces (.002" suture silk) and my investment cast MV lens equipped marker lamps...

Photo (1) - Prototype N-Scale Models modified MTL "wood caboose" models from George Hollowedel with a few added details by me:


Next time George does some SP wooden cabooses, I gotta get some for myself!

@peteski Peter, welllll...the scent just is NOT a problem for me...at all.  Maybe the humidity where you live exacerbates the problem, but here in Utah, with the dry desert climate, the odor goes away.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Sokramiketes]

Just for giggles, I visited my train buddy Nate ( @Nato ) this afternoon and inquired if he had the two SP cabooses I worked on a while back handy.  Yup, Nate knows exactly where every one of the thousands of cars and engines he has are, so I carefully opened up the Prototype N-Scale Models box and took a long sniff....hmmmm...no odor, but the Fine N Scale toolboxes were very evident on both cabooses, but they weren't steenking. 

Nice looking cars, especially with the toolboxes, smokestack braces (.002" suture silk) and my investment cast MV lens equipped marker lamps...

Next time George does some SP wooden cabooses, I gotta get some for myself!

@peteski Peter, welllll...the scent just is NOT a problem for me...at all.  Maybe the humidity where you live exacerbates the problem, but here in Utah, with the dry desert climate, the odor goes away.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

I have no doubt that you are all correct in what you're observing.  I've seen it all.

My late 90's Caswell gons, and early 2000's purchased PRR round roof boxcars stink.  They also warped.  The gon was noticeable early on.  The boxcars I didn't notice until I repainted them a few years back.  I learned more about PRR Freight Car Color, and wanted to redo them properly.  I didn't notice any difficulty but once the floors were out and they were repainted, they turned into bananas.  I think the floor was keeping them straight-ish.  I've heard lots of reports of the early well cars stinking and warping, like the open gons.

The caboose floors and interiors were much later parts.  I'm sure the resin has changed.  Mine don't smell either.  Later runs of the same molds may have the better resin, so all boxcars and gons on the market may not be bad.  Only FNS would know specific timelines.

[bbussey]

Fine N Scale made the castings for the Keyser Valley Caboose kit and they have been fine. I’ve also had some REA wood express reefers for decades and they are fine.

[nkalanaga]

I don't remember when I bought mine, but it was before MT released their round-roof car in NP.  I have both, and just sniffed them.  They smell the same.  Of course, they're stored together, so they probably would.  The only thing I could smell was dust, they're so old all plastic/resin/paint odors are long gone.

[JMaurer1]

With how good his castings are, who cares about the smell. Some of the ones I got smelled (at first) and some didn't. I don't think any smell now (or maybe it's just me not being able to smell them). Paint usually smelled worse right before the decals came. I just wish he would make some new freight cars since I have all I can use of the old ones.

[peteski]

With how good his castings are, who cares about the smell. Some of the ones I got smelled (at first) and some didn't.

Well,, obviously I care (a lot), since I mentioned it in the first place.
Like I said, his castings are superb - too bad that he used resin that stinks to high heaven.

[thomasjmdavis]

My "sense" is that the newer cars I have don't smell near as bad as cars of 20 years ago.  My best guess is that it has to do with federal guidelines on reducing VOC content and such. Still, sensitivity to chemicals varies alot between any 2 people- some folks tear up getting into a new car.  And some things you are fine until you have been exposed to some certain total level, and after that, you are very sensitive.

The one I could not tolerate was fiberglass resin- I don't know if that has improved at all in the intervening 30 years, but I still get a headache just thinking about it.

[JMaurer1]

He should have cast a stock car...that way they could come with a prototype smell...

[wazzou]

[thomasjmdavis]

He should have cast a stock car...that way they could come with a prototype smell...

You can put the old, truss rod boxcars into hide service, just like a real railroad. 

[ncbqguy]

I have many FiNe N Scale kits and a stock of the Flagstop Inn building castings.  After two decades none of them have any detectable odor.   And Dick did cast a stock car....it came out of the mold with NO flash and you couldn’t tell it from an injection molded part.  It had no bovine or other smells...
This thread prompted me to email Dick...we haven’t been in contact since I was still at Kato.   He is well and it was great catching up!
Charlie Vlk

[Cajonpassfan]

I have many FiNe N Scale kits and a stock of the Flagstop Inn building castings.  After two decades none of them have any detectable odor.   And Dick did cast a stock car....it came out of the mold with NO flash and you couldn’t tell it from an injection molded part.  It had no bovine or other smells...
This thread prompted me to email Dick...we haven’t been in contact since I was still at Kato.   He is well and it was great catching up!
Charlie Vlk

Charlie, I don’t ever recall seeing the stock car...was it ever released commercially, and is so, what prototype was it?
Thanks, Otto