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I have always admired brass trains and have wanted some since my HO days, but never bought any.  I changed that last week.  I found this KTM #704 Hopper and had to have it.  I can't wait to clean it up and paint it.  I love it and am so glad I pulled the trigger.

 

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hokie71 posted:

Not that I need another vice but inquiring minds want to know, I love die cast hoppers but why do we love brass rolling stock? My guesses:

A) looks cool on display?

B) Amazing detail?

C) Fun to paint and decal?

Other? Please help the uneducated.

Precious metals attract us.

Gold is too soft for modeling; brass is the next best thing.

Paint on brass?  

That's kinda like putting ketchup on Kobe.

AGHRMatt posted:

Yeah. You're done. Once you buy a brass piece, you're always looking at more. Three-railers aren't immune from this either. There's also something about unpainted brass (maybe the details you see). Maybe that's why my ATSF Drover car (first and only unpainted brass piece) has been unpainted for all these years.

Have to say this is a true statement lol and I am a tinplate nut! but for me it started with old doorstop 2 rail that morphed into some brass stuff by default so the road was curvy 

John Sethian posted:
AGHRMatt posted:

Yeah. You're done. Once you buy a brass piece, you're always looking at more. Three-railers aren't immune from this either. There's also something about unpainted brass (maybe the details you see). Maybe that's why my ATSF Drover car (first and only unpainted brass piece) has been unpainted for all these years.

Nice excuse!  I shall use that myself.

What's so sad about it is that it probably wouldn't take me that long to paint it and make an interior for it. Laziness is a contributing factor.

 I’m a 3 railer and about a year ago. I ventured into the 2 rail brass world. I already run Kadee’s on everything. I model a specific time frame and road. The Rutand.  Which was famous for it’s Milk Trains. I had a number of Lionel cars. Trouble was they were all the same style. To model correct to the prototype. You basically had to have Borden’s, Sheffield Farms, maybe 1 NYC or home grown Rutland cars only in the consist. They only delivered milk to the Central which then brought the consist to NY City.
 After years of wanting one. I finally bit the bullet and won an painted but undecorated Borden’s butterdish car. Operated well enough I left it as is. 

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I then purchased an undecorated NYC , Rutland type car. I got Highball Graphics to make up decals for Rutland passenger cars a while back and there were milk car markings in the set. It was unpainted. I use Scalecoat Coach Green. Well it couldn’t operate reliably enough to make it around the layout without derailing. Could happen anywhere. I thought of switching to hi rail wheels. I took the trucks apart. Checked out NWSL and my head was spinning with everything offered. I had a visit from Bob Bartizek. He suggested to try using Atlas 3rail commonwealth trucks. 

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I learned about lowering the Atlas truck right here on the 2 rail forum. No clearance issues. Uses the factory screw and ended up with the same ride height. Slightly different in design. But it has the same wheelbase and is a passenger truck. Bob gave me sound advice. No one will probably notice the car has the wrong trucks. They certainly would notice the derailing. It came out so well. I bought 3 more of that style.

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Andy, 

I picked these 3 brass cars at the Atlanta show we attended. They had very bad paint on them do I stripped them and just got them re-lettered. 

The caboose is a Alco models product. The covered hopper I believe is a KTM that was a closed side that I opened up. I have no idea about the tank car. The tank car had no under frame detail so I added it. It many broken parts too that had to be re-soldered.

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AGHRMatt posted:
John Sethian posted:
AGHRMatt posted:

Yeah. You're done. Once you buy a brass piece, you're always looking at more. Three-railers aren't immune from this either. There's also something about unpainted brass (maybe the details you see). Maybe that's why my ATSF Drover car (first and only unpainted brass piece) has been unpainted for all these years.

Nice excuse!  I shall use that myself.

What's so sad about it is that it probably wouldn't take me that long to paint it and make an interior for it. Laziness is a contributing factor.

Laziness is nature's way of telling you you would rather be working on something else. Once I figure out how to do something, I have a hard time getting up for doing it again.  Like painting and lettering a freight car (done that), installing PS3 into a locomotive (done that) or making a tree (done that WAY too many times).   Unit trains are a real problem for me.

rattler21 posted:
Simon Winter posted:

Since some of you 3 railers seem to have stumbled into the rarefied air of the 2 rail forum  (LOL), what is the rationale behind a brass 3 rail item? It's one of those things I've never understood like putting mag wheels on a Zamboni.  Sort of a physical illustration of an oxymoron. 

Commence firing,

Simon

What is wrong with running the best on an easy to wire layout? 3rd Rail/Sunset doesn't have any problem with the three rail market.  Six dome tank cars, wagon top box cars, chlorine tank flat cars, 8-1-2 sleeping cars just to mention a few.  Plenty of steam locomotives.  If it were not for three rail production numbers, your two rail engines would be priced out of sight.  Check out Lionel's half and half engine. Three rail Lionel innards with a highly detailed brass body.   John in Lansing, ILL

John,     I just looked up the price of a Lionel Vision Line Big Boy.....It was Listed at $2699.99. I can buy tons of 2 rail brass engines for less on the secondary market and they will not have pizza cutter wheels and have better detail. Wiring....go RC Battery, there is no track wiring.

Take care,

Simon

I’ve certainly discovered the allure of brass in the larger scales with the recent acquisition of a Hallmark/Ajin Santa Fe drovers coach. Although I have a number of brass locos in HO, brass models really are impressive in O.

And of course, now that I’ve purchased it and simultaneously shot the operating budget for big ticket items for awhile, it’s only natural that the baggage/passenger combo version (the one I REALLY preferred) should now appear on eBay. 

Oh well, there’s worse things to worry about.

Still looking for those KTM freight cars for under 50 bucks a pop...🤔

 

Kyle Evans posted:

I’ve certainly discovered the allure of brass in the larger scales with the recent acquisition of a Hallmark/Ajin Santa Fe drovers coach. Although I have a number of brass locos in HO, brass models really are impressive in O.

And of course, now that I’ve purchased it and simultaneously shot the operating budget for big ticket items for awhile, it’s only natural that the baggage/passenger combo version (the one I REALLY preferred) should now appear on eBay. 

Oh well, there’s worse things to worry about.

Still looking for those KTM freight cars for under 50 bucks a pop...🤔

 

I remember you from a related thread. Glad to see you were able to catch that one. The "mixed train" version is hard to find but is a nice addition to the fleet if you can get one. I'm going to repaint this one when I paint the drover car.

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  • Ajin_Brass_Drover_Car
AGHRMatt posted:
Kyle Evans posted:

I’ve certainly discovered the allure of brass in the larger scales with the recent acquisition of a Hallmark/Ajin Santa Fe drovers coach. Although I have a number of brass locos in HO, brass models really are impressive in O.

And of course, now that I’ve purchased it and simultaneously shot the operating budget for big ticket items for awhile, it’s only natural that the baggage/passenger combo version (the one I REALLY preferred) should now appear on eBay. 

Oh well, there’s worse things to worry about.

Still looking for those KTM freight cars for under 50 bucks a pop...🤔

 

I remember you from a related thread. Glad to see you were able to catch that one. The "mixed train" version is hard to find but is a nice addition to the fleet if you can get one. I'm going to repaint this one when I paint the drover car.

MixedTrain-Left

Ajin_Brass_Drover_Car

Nice pictures, Matt; I especially like the paint job you did on the mixed train version. I know what you mean about reluctance to paint brass cars, the detail just “pops” when it’s in raw brass. I think for display-only purposes it’s fine to leave it brass, but for running on a layout and mixing in as part of your rolling stock roster, then painted is preferable, but just my opinion.

T’would be nice if money and space was no issue and we could have three of each: one in unpainted brass, one painted and lettered, and one painted, lettered, and weathered to our taste.

I’m continuing to watch the side-door version on eBay...who knows?

hokie71 posted:

Not that I need another vice but inquiring minds want to know, I love die cast hoppers but why do we love brass rolling stock? My guesses:

A) looks cool on display?

B) Amazing detail?

C) Fun to paint and decal?

Other? Please help the uneducated.

Finer details

Not as heavy as diecast

No worries about zinc rot in the future!

Can be repaired if damaged -not so with cracked/ chipped die-cast.

I was at Chicago show last month and was looking for an SW1 figuring I'd end up with an MTH. What did I find? Within 10 minutes of starting, I found an Oriental Limited Brass SW1! We negotiated as I was waving cash under his nose. UNUSED! I got for about $225. My trip was worth it.

Dick

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