Polyscale and Floquil Paint Stash Getting Low?? Read On

Since Testors discontinued both the Polyscale and Floquil paint lines in 2013, railroad modelers' stashes of these paints are starting to get low or may be gone completely by now. Fortunately, Model Railroad Hobbyist has provided the Guide To Acrylic Painting that makes up for this disaster (may sound extreme to the lay person but not to a model railroad hobbyist).

Here is just a minor example of the information available in the guide.

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Erie Lackawanna (EL) gray

EL Gray is just slightly darker than Concrete gray. VMA 71.045 looks like it's a very close match. In the MRH chart 71.045 is listed as a stand-in for concrete, but it's a bit too dark, so the Vallejo concrete gray formula in the book makes a slightly lighter, warmer gray.

Vallejo Model Air 71.045 - US Light Grey / Cement Gray is what I'd select for EL Gray.

Color chip facsimile

Vallejo Model Air 71.045 - US Light Grey / Cement Gray

You can get Vallejo Model Air and Game Air for $2.39 per bottle (28% off) at Scale Hobbyist online. Of course, it's best to buy more than one bottle of paint to save on shipping - unless you are near Nashua, NH.

For the other paint brands...

Model Master ... 2 parts MM 4633 (Grau RLM / Gray Hue), 1 part MM 4609 (Light Ghost Gray).

MODELflex has this exact color in their line: 16-51 (Erie Lack Gray).

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I want to emphasize that this is just a very small sample of the information available in this guide. The guide is available for download HERE.

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If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.

Making Realistic Flatcar Lumber Loads

Here is a link to a great blog on making realistic lumber loads and they are not that much more work. The article includes PDFs for printing the wrappers and the really neat thing is commenters have left links to additional wrappers. So for those of you that have lumber trains (or even just one or two cars) here is a great weekend project. And they look good!

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If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.

Digitrax Home Page in 1996!

Thanks to Larry Price of the Digitrax Users Group on groups.io

Digitrax on the web in 1996 when DCC was really getting started.

This is from the Internet History site (my term, not theirs). This will bring back some memories, I'm sure!

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If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.

Digitrax Still Alive After Michael

From Digitrax's Facebook page:

Greetings from Digitrax!

We are so thankful that our team survived Hurricane Michael and for the support of our amazing community and first responders. It has been a humbling experience for all of us.

Unfortunately, due to the severity of the destruction caused by the storm, our main building has sustained substantial damages.

We will be moving to our secondary building, and as soon as power is restored we will be able to begin to re-establish normal operations. Thanks in advance for your patience.

Since we do not have phone service right now, please direct tech support questions to our help desk @ helpdesk.digitrax.com.

All repair items we have in house are secure and repairs will be completed as soon as humanly possible.

We would like to thank all our wonderful customers for their support during this time. We couldn't do this without you!

Digitrax will be back running trains, and better than ever!

- The Digitrax Team.

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If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it.