palallin:
Understood! I recall the same on both ZW's I've owned: Had to hold the whistle activator "just so".
S SCALE FIGURES
So I dug through my old stash of leftover S scale stuff. Found several more S scale figures, so thought I'd see what I could do with them. These figures came from the NZ firm "Railmaster". Therefore, their attire wasn't what you would typically see in the center of the USA during the late-40s/early-50s. (That falls outside my "Givens 'n Druthers".)
I guess I was bored, but I set in to "Americanize" them. I began by filing off the squarish billed hats most had on. Some I converted into "baseball-type" hats, others into "Scally/Ascot" hats. One had an odd looking long coat on and the same square-ish looking hat... so I used my rail nippers to nip away portions of the jacket tail, then filed to reshape the legs/etc to look like the fella was wearing a mid-length jacket. Same treatment of his hat, too. Ended up filing it to reflect the "ball cap" look. This figure is much reduced in size from the others, so I figure he can represent a youth.
ANYWAY...
That time sink filled, I brought them in and placed them about to see what I thought...
My conclusion:
S scale figures will work nicely with the "traditional" sized trains I have in mind. You may think they look a bit small... but try putting a seated one inside the minuscule cabs these Baldwin Hudson's have! (You discover very quickly just how "imagineered" Lionel's Baldwin Hudson is!) I'm hoping to find plastic S scale figures that are seated to use for Engineer's and Firemen in the various engines I hope to roster, 'cause it's much easier to modify plastic figures than white metal!
All fer now!
Andre
