MyFlyerTrains.org

Well folks, if all goes according to plan, this will become a regular feature here at MyFlyerTrains.org, thanks to Chuck Harrington’s kind invitation. And since this is the first one, let me give you an idea of what you’ll be finding here in the future.
It seems that I have found a nitch in the S gauge world by being a champion of all that collectors and rivet counter despise, Kit Bashing and model building using basic materials. I suspect there are one or more “Stumpy Voodoo Dolls” out there, because it seems that every time I write something even the tiniest bit controversial, I get these shooting pains in my rear parts!
I’m not sure why this is, I have built just about all my kit bashes out of junk box finds, and have never condoned butchering rare items. I also don’t think much of people which get hold of complete locomotives and strip them down for parts to sell like some low rent Flyer “chop shop”.
Ouch! There’s that pain again! A new group doesn’t like me.
I also get some nasty e-mails from rivet counters for not adhering to exact scale fidelity or prototype. Well guys, after years of being a “scale” modeler, I have tired of the hassle and am looking for the fun! And, after all, that’s why I’m in a hobby!
As we progress through these “essays,” there will be some history, stories, humor, and a lot of encouragement to strike out on your own and do something which satisfies YOU! It’s YOUR railroad, your miniature world, do it your way!
We’ll be talking about Kit Bashing. Sometimes that means spending time hunting down locos, cars, parts, and usable materials just like those guys in “American Pickers,” that’s fine! There is the “thrill of the chase,” and the “triumph of the find.” Not only have I done this with model building, but during my years racing Stock Cars and building Hot Rods. Wandering through the old “Mom and Pop” junkyards in search of car parts was part of my hobby world. The goodies are where you find them!
In S gauge, I usually cruise around a train show, checking the tables in my first lap, and then checking UNDER the tables on the second. Often what is on the tables can be an indicator of what might be under them. Many times the seller will give you terrific bargain for the stuff underneath, sometimes you can get a whole box for what you expect to pay for a single item!
Here’s a tip; TAKE THE WHOLE BOX IF THE DEAL IS RIGHT! You get the item you want, a box to carry it in, and a bunch of other stuff you just might need down the road for another project! You just never know when that Hudson tender shell or those Plasticville windows might come in handy.
What do you do when you decide you have too much? Last year I had built up seven large boxes of parts and pieces. That was more than enough to store. So I went through them all, set aside one or two of anything usable, and came up with three boxes to sell. I priced the stuff cheap and ran a “Thinning the Herd Sale.”
This also works for locomotives, rolling stock, and structures too. I have been in every scale from Z up to “ride on” size (7 ½” gauge) and you just can’t keep everything when you change scales. So I “blew it out” in a similar sale at a train show.
The guys at the hobby shop I used to work at always asked why I sold things so cheap? Well, it was simple; I needed money for the new scale, had no place or reason to keep the old stuff, and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life trying to get top price. Better to get a little than waste a lot time and money carrying the stuff around to train shows for years. After all, I’m not in a hobby to make money, someone else is welcome to that stress.
I’m also asked why I use common materials and build things rather than just buy kits or ready to run items? Well, you must remember I was started on this trail back when there weren’t many R-T-R items. I also had a father who was a professional model builder for a time, and I learned from him. Money was also tight, so we made things out of common stuff.
Dad was a master at this, even when working for the company. He used those round Quaker Oats cereal boxes as oil storage tanks, sandpaper to make shingles or rolled roofing for buildings, dowels from the lumber yard for dock pilings, air tanks, and logs, lots of 3×5” file cards, and probably a ton of balsa wood over the years.
The possibilities are endless. But today we have it much easier with wood pre-cut to dimensionally correct sizes, excellent plastic structural shapes, and all sorts of detail parts! You can build from scratch today more easily than you could build many kits years ago!
So along with the other stuff, there will be a lot of articles here about building things. Some of you may recall the series I did for S Gaugian a couple of years ago on layout building. Well, I might even do some articles about that here as well!
With the economy as it is, you can save yourself a lot of money by learning to use your imagination and your hands, instead of your wallet! And, you’ll have the personal satisfaction of building it yourself! I’ll be explaining how to do that and how even someone with no experience can build models! You CAN do it! Don’t be afraid, I’ll help!
See you next time. …Stumpy

Stumpy’s latest “How To” guide is now posted at the top of the photo albums.

Easy S Gauge Scratch Building
by Terry “Stumpy” Stone – View The Guide Now!
Stumpy shows us how to make our own custom rolling stock!

Terry “Stumpy” Stone has been kind enough to share with us his new Kitbashing Guide in its entirety! Stumpy takes the junk that you find under the tables at train meets and turns it into prized models. His 36 page document will show you how to recycle that beat up locomotive into something to be proud of!

Kit Bashing American Flyer Locomotives
by Terry “Stumpy” Stone – View The Guide Now!

I found something interesting when cleaning up my email, an email with attached photos of a room sized floor layout that I received in September of 2009, but somehow never looked at it. My apologies to Christopher Hilbert, and thanks for submitting these spectacular floor layout photos. These pictures should inspire those of you who can’t have a permanent layout.

Christopher Hilbert Floor Layout – 2009 – Christopher’s Album

Posted in the Albums section of this website you will find some very rare Gilbert paper, a press kit that was used to promote the All Aboard Sets along with other A. C. Gilbert products of the year 1965.

All Aboard Press Kit – Bob Conner Collection

We dreamed of having the K-line O gauge version of the Big Boy remade into S, then early in 2008 Lionel announced that they were doing just that, complete with TMCC. It was presumed (and correctly so) that much of original K-line engine tooling would be used on the new S gauge version. (The K-line engine was not strictly scale reportedly 1/60th scale, give or take).

Lionel Big Boy vs Sunset Models Big Boy – Photo courtesy Bob Conner

I put my Big Boy on order early, and prepared to wait, just as I had for my Mikado a couple years before. At the April 2008 York meet, I eagerly went to the Lionel booth and looked for the engine, but it was not there, and it wasn’t at the October meet either. Then in 2009 there were rumors of May delivery, which moved to summer and then to fall. At October 2009 York there she finally was, running at the Lionel booth. Finally in December, the Big Boys started to be delivered, but after nearly a two year wait, not all owners are completely happy with the product.

I love my Lionel Big Boy, I can’t say it any clearer. But having said that, my Big Boy had a few problems as delivered. The tender derailed on S-Helper S-trax switches, there are a couple stiff and visible wires hanging down on the trailing truck, and the knuckle coupler sticks when trying to close it. Also the tender has tipped over onto its side a couple of times, and appears to be top heavy. In fact, Carl Tuveson now has a web page that seeks to catalog all of the engine’s defects, and provide solutions.

For me, satisfactory performance of the engine has been a matter of altering my layout, while having to debug the engine as well. I was able to easily fix my tender derailing problem by moving the flanged wheels on the tender, a solution mentioned at Carl’s site. Keeping the tender upright will require you to make sure all of your track work is up to snuff. I had to make a number of changes and repairs to my layout before the beast would run around with ease. I had expected to have to work on my tunnels and curves, to provide the necessary clearance for the engine to swing out over the track, but I was real surprised when the engine failed to clear my railroad bridge in my over under layout, so that meant raising the bridge a bit.

Lionel sought to deliver an engine that would run on most of our layouts, which means negotiating 20 inch Flyer radius curves and the articulated drivers navigate these curves with ease. The engine has sound that is impressive! We have not had in S before, an engine that really had enough room in it to have a decent sized speaker. Compared to the sound in the Mikados which was certainly adequate, the Big Boy’s sound is richer and fuller. I love the whistle, and let me tell you, this beast can really put out some smoke! I have never had a toy engine that felt so real on the layout. Yup, it’s a toy. It is not a highly detailed scale model, but for us ham handed big kids, we can pick it up without having parts break off!

There are already those who are kit bashing the engine, modifying the tender to trucks for better scale, and I even heard of someone who is planning to build a complete replacement tender for their toy, ah model. There are many different opinions as to what modifications can make the engine better, but it is certainly nice that we have this wonderful engine available for us to modify.

Some have pointed out that an engine that retails for $799 should really not have the problems that have been seen with this product, and I couldn’t agree more. It certainly is not plug and play at this point. If you want to just take an engine out of the box, put it onto your tracks and have it run perfectly the first time, this engine is not for you. But if you have always wanted a Big Boy, and don’t mind adjusting the engine and your layout some, this engine can be nothing short of spectacular!

Carl Tuveson has now removed the boiler shell from the Big Boy. Enjoy his photos of the Big Boy internals!

Carl Tuveson has posted a 10 minute video of the Lionel S Gauge Big Boy running on his layout. This is great stuff!

Chuck

The S List is buzzing with news that Lionel has shipped the Big Boys and some dealers have already delivered the pre-ordered engines to their lucky customers. Mine would seem to be days away, but Carl Tuveson has received and already posted some great photos of the Big Boy on his website. Here is hoping I get mine in time for Christmas!

Chuck

Although it has not previously been mentioned much on this website, the A. C. Gilbert Company also made HO trains for even longer than they made S gauge. Many of these HO models resemble closely their S gauge brothers, just HO scale. Dale Smith has a new website that indexes the Gilbert HO trains in a useful way, reducing the need to look though catalog pages if you are searching for a particular Gilbert HO piece. I know many of you also collect Gilbert HO along with your S, so I recommend you visit and bookmark The Gilbert American Flyer HO Index.

Now if someone would just create such a website to index S gauge trains. Now that would be a project!

Chuck

Note: There are also Gilbert HO catalogs available for viewing in the catalogs section of this website.