Official 2016 O scale Chicago "March Meet" thread.

OK, minutes from the P:48 meeting.

First up, the discussion was on 3d Printing.   A straw poll was given as to the interest in modern models.   Given the preponderance of grey hair and no hair (or colored hair like mine) there wasn't too many hands raised (but those who did were enthusiastic).    Sorry Alan, no shelf couplers.    Some very good 3d printed examples of modern P:48 conversion bolsters for Atlas roller bearing trucks as well as a modern brake wheel with geared handbrake and a very nice waffle side box car prototype were shown.   A modern steel fabricated "signal bungalow" was also passed around.

Jon Cagle of Southern Car and Foundry mentioned that his next project, the Standard Tank Car 6000 and 8000 gallon tank cars. 

jimmy Booth then discussed the soon to arrive logging Mallet as well as his SP gon.  He has a few projects in the works including some extension sides (sugar beet?) for the SP gons as well as eventually a steel version.  He also mentioned another loco prototype but the road escapes me.

Next was Norm Buckhart who mentioned that his newest Erie/NKP/C&O 1937 box cars were in (and that SP was next up in a few months) as well as some new truck projects in the pipeline (almost all steam era).  He and Jimmy Booth mentioned that there are a shortage of pattern makers offshore so this limits the speed of some projects such as trucks.    Norm mentioned that he was including a PRR coil/elliptic spring truck but was shelving the X31 boxcar project due to a lack of PRR modelers.  It seems that PRR has dropped in popularity and he's not sure the sales of this model would be sufficient.   A straw poll was taken and perhaps 10 or so expressed interest out of maybe 40 people in the room.

Rich Yoder then took the stage to mention that he has been importing since the late 1990's and that he also has a PRR coil-elliptical truck and that should arrive very soon.   He indicated that his Mather project is continuing and that further research continues to improve the final product.   It's noteworthy that the surviving examples are few and it seems that there were MANY variations in the various cars that Mather produced.   

The P:48 meeting ended with more discussion on 3d printing.  Seems that there are a few freeware 3d modeling software such as Sketchup but high cost of product such as Solidworks keeps folks away (though there are educational discounts as well as military discounts nudge nudge wink wink).     The discussion centered around using Shapeways to do the 3d printing and the uses of different materials (metal versus nylon).  

All in all a lot of fun so far.

Tons of brass, tons of Atlas, Intermountain kits are fewer and fewer, P&D Hobby shop here, Des Plaines Hobby Shop also.  Half joking and half serious security was made aware of discussions that may develop between a certain importer and other people.  I haven't seen Midwest yet.  Atlas had display stands up but they are in hall so nothing on it yet.  Bill is here with lots of Overland parts.

Time to spend the inheritance............ ;-)

VGN64 posted:

Tons of brass, tons of Atlas, Intermountain kits are fewer and fewer, P&D Hobby shop here, Des Plaines Hobby Shop also.  Half joking and half serious security was made aware of discussions that may develop between a certain importer and other people.  I haven't seen Midwest yet.  Atlas had display stands up but they are in hall so nothing on it yet.  Bill is here with lots of Overland parts.

Time to spend the inheritance............ ;-)

Hey I resemble that remark!  I have five intermountain kits, all brown box accurate kits on my table from my "surplus". My NKP boxcar kit already has a reservation. 

and for those of us who can't attend, why can those who attend and post TAKE some PICS?

Please pics nothing better than drooling at what your never going to be able to attend.   Concrete and spring I'll never get to attend.  January now where Am I going?

Shows open !

Can't wait to see more !

Pics are tough because A) I'm there shopping B) there's a lot of people and precious little space, and C) my hands ate already full.

The ideal time to take photos would be on Friday after the setup but I'm not a dealer so no access at that time.  Plus plenty of vendors set up this morning.  So it's not quite that simple.

Any Atlas new news from Jerry Kimble at their display? Was MMW showing a pre production model yet?

If you see any nice UP steamers, I'd love to see photos when you have time to post later or after the show. 

Been looking for an OMI FEF-1 in TTG.

thanks!

Just a few more quick shots...

Jerry from Atlas was there.

The Gunderson Maxi-IV stack cars are supposed to be available after June.

Atlas has plans to introduce a few more shipping lines for the recently acquired 20’ Weaver intermodal containers like K-Line, but no Maersk at this time.

All their newer containers like the 20’ & 53’ could be stacked with their current 40’ & 45’ containers.

Dash 8-40CW has been delayed. To the extent I still remember Jerry’s reply, it might be the end of this year. The upcoming EMD F# have been very much in demand & has been taking a lot of their time.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Brian Huang was there with his modular 2-rail layout. There were a lot more structures since the last time I saw this layout last June & I admire his choice to include graffiti along with the awesome weathering he does.

I took all the photos on my smartphone & the day was alternatively sunny, rapidly followed by hail & dark clouds, making some photos taken within minutes of each other look darker.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Thanks for posting, no surprise on the GE est delivery dates as these have been pushed back since the original announcement May 2010. I did not think there would be a MMW sample there either, I suspect this project has a ways to go still.JMO

Erik from Midwestern Model Works was there. He might be going to Korea in the near future. I am assuming it is for his current SD45 project.

I also asked him about the announcement I read on these forums recently about the Norfolk Southern Heritage scheme locomotives. If there is adequate demand, he would make both the EMD SD70ACe & the GE ES44AC, a few paint schemes at a time. He was also open to considering other road names for the GE Evolution like BNSF or Union Pacific, which I favor over Norfolk Southern. So interested hobbyists could contact Erik about this future project.

I also learnt that he visits this forum. So I am going to be nicer in all my future posts. You never know when you might run into people you argue with or put down on these forums. I didn’t see the sample of his current project today. Towards the end, I was carrying 72’ of Micro-Engineering track from Norm’s O-Scale, a #8 turnout from O-Scale turnout & a book from Protocraft, along with the flyers & business cards I picked up limiting the number of photos I could take.

I don’t know whose table it was but I wanted to apologize to the table holder in front of whose table I was talking to Richard Nelson & Erik. Hopefully, I didn’t interfere with your sales.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Who is Glacier Park Models? They had this interesting steam locomotive there.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Key Imports table had this steam locomotive model along with signup sheets / binders for their future projects.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Bill from O-Scale turnouts was there. He also has many of his turnouts for sale at the meet. I bought a Code 148 #8 RH turnout today. I had been communicating by e-mail with him in the last month & it was very helpful in getting my questions answered in person.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Golden Gate Depot was there. They had a few models on their display but I was more interested in their future Great Dome coaches. So here are some photos of their Santa Fe & Great Northern full dome passenger cars.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Lee Marsh was there with his O-Scale models of British steam locomotives. I had a few more pictures that didn’t turn out well so here are 2 that show some of his models.

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Kohs & Co was there with a lot of caboose models but their massive Pennsylvania Railroad flat cars overshadowed everything else on their table.

There was also someone selling a pair of these Kohs flat cars.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

I've been going on many of the layout tours this year. I'll post some photos later. There are some very nice O scale layouts in Chicagoland.

Rich Yoder must have been announcing some exciting project since every time I stopped by his table, there were too many hobbyists around, to get some good photos. Here is the only photo I got.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Des Plaines hobbies had a few of these O-Scale kit of commuter cars. They looked like the Metra cars but the height of the windows seem too short to be the current Nippon Sharyo cars. Must be an older generation, as the box had C&NW, not Metra labels on them.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Jerry Kimble of Atlas stated that 8-40CW are delayed again till the middle of the third quarter. The CEO said they need to push them back because of the number of F units reserved. Jerry was also adamant that Atlas will "NEVER" go to a single motor drive unit for 2-railers even though they have lost some business. When asked about the BLMA line NS Top Gons he said they are on the top of the list to be up scaled to O scale. The Key had 4 or 5 tables with folded display boards as Naveen Rajan has posted in his photo above. What he did no show was that was the only table out of 5 that had a model and no one was there to at the tables to meet and greet anyone and answer questions. Whomever alerted the security guard that there might be trouble is the one he should watch as don't know anyone who would go there. Sunset had a both and Neil and I shared a couple of laughs. I suggested the small passenger trains with 4 or 5 cars with the locomotives be done for the medium size layouts as he did with the train of tomorrow. Yes, a lot of brass was there but 95%? was old stuff.

This is just some of my thoughts.

Stephen

I remember last year someone wanted me to take photos of the dealer tables. So here they are. I am not sure if they would help as hobbyists were busy buying this afternoon & I saw people leaving with the models I had photographed during the 3 hours I was there.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

naveenrajan posted:

 

There was also someone selling a pair of these Kohs flat cars.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

These are not Kohs models! The person selling the rejected models, name is in the first photo. These model are misrepresented.

Stephen

Thanks for the pix and the updates, Naveen and Stephen. Eager for the Atlas Maxi-Stacks and for MMW's locomotives.

David

Thanks to everyone that posted the photo's, really appreciated them. 

Thanks for the photos guys, I really enjoyed them!

Travis

Great show !!      Saw many old friends and had many good conversations. Purchased an Erie express boxcar from the American Scale Models/Bill Davis display - a beautiful piece.

Was extremely pleased to see Lee Marsh from Scotland. He represents a bit of internationalization of O Scale (granted, he works in 1:43, not 1:48). His model of a Great Western "single" (one high driver, 4-2-2 wheel arrangement) is one of the most beautiful models I have ever seen.  He is planning to do a 1:48 model of the Canadian Pacific's Royal Hudson and was hoping to find drawings to facilitate the project. Lo and behold, Bill Yancey had just given a set of erection drawings to Ron Sebastian of DesPlaines Hobbies........the 3 got together and Lee is getting his drawings! Nice example of the camaraderie that exists in the hobby.    

Go to 8:43 to see the "single".

nw2124 posted:

naveenrajan posted:

 

There was also someone selling a pair of these Kohs flat cars.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

These are not Kohs models! The person selling the rejected models, name is in the first photo. These model are misrepresented.

Stephen

Just  curious Key showed a painted SP cab forward on their table, was this the original  unpainted pilot model that was demonstrated a while back on Gary Schraders layout video just painted or has Key started to deliver this model?

Thanks for the photo's and the reports

Clem

Nice story in international relations, about getting drawings to a modelmaker from across the pond.  I admired his display.  While there seemed to me to be more structure kits than usual, I came away with nothing, but was glad to see that Bill Davis is now offering two types of archbar trucks, to add to those from Rich Yoder.  Other items I have an interest in were there, but I already had examples.  It did seem to me to be a better show than usual.  Really lousy weather leaving... about blown off the road, and down by the wind when I stopped at a rest area.  Had another show to attend today.

SINGLE STRUCTURE Entries

DIORAMA Entries

Bob Schultz owns the single prototype and scratch built this model. Hoppers open in three sequential sections.  In my humble opinion, the judges did not understand this car during the judging.  It placed Second.

FREIGHT CAR Entries

PASSENGER CAR Entries

MOW Entries

CABOOSE Entry

Models entered in the competition 2016.  Photos taken before the judging began on April 2.  I did not post photos of the locomotives nor of the Best Over All Gas-Electric.         John in Lansing, Ill.

naveenrajan posted:

Who is Glacier Park Models? They had this interesting steam locomotive there.

These are just my opinion,

Thanks,

Naveen Rajan

Hi Naveen,

Jimmy Booth is a tool and die maker and is the principal behind Glacier Park Models.  The die work he has done on the new SP GS single sheathed wood/steel gondola is fabulous; it's another state of the art O scale model kit.

He is also a partner with the Boo Rim factory. 

And he has done work for at least one of the major importers.