Sailormatlac 2012 Resolution Challenge

[sailormatlac]

That sounds to me like hardened grease on the gears. I recently rebuilt a brass 0-8-0 which had the same operating characteristics, and discovered the problem to be grease so hard it had to be scraped from between the teeth, using the back of an X-Acto blade. Remove the gears from the loco and clean what you can in this manner, then, if the gears are metal, clean them in lacquer thinner. If they're plastic, use hot water and dish detergent, with a brush if necessary.

Thanks Wayne, I will check out my 0-8-0 this afternoon. It makes a lot of sense. Hope to get her on track soon. I was arguably my best steamer at slow speed, excellent for switching duties.

Everybody to whom I've spoken has high praise for the Bachmann geeps, but all agree that the CNR green is too dark.

Found one at 50$. At this point, considering I have all the detailling parts on hand, I can accept the dark green. I'll try to fade it a little bit.

UPDATE: Actually buidling/designing the backdrop and fascia... My trick to determine backdrop color is to take a real picture showing a landscape and match the color near the horizon with paint chips. It usually wield realistic results with a faded greyish powder blue.

Matt