Red Star Railway's Comments
22 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Over the past month, several people have sent me emails asking what I think about the steep increase in gasoline (petrol) costs here in the United States. Some of the emails came from the United States. Most came from other countries. So, for the record -- and remember, I am a loyal American -- here's what I think.
I think my fellow countrymen need to wake up and stop bitching.
Whenever I travel abroad, there are three things that I notice as soon as I leave the airport when I get home. First, I notice the huge size of American homes as compared with homes in Europe. The size of families in the united States is not very different from the size of families in Europe, but houses here are much larger -- often two times larger, maybe even more. Think of all the extra oil, electricity, or natural gas needed to heat and power these oversize homes! And, frankly, often the quality of the construction of these homes is not very good -- they are very energy inefficient. Second, I can't help but notice the overwhelming number of large, inefficient vehicles on our highways. You don't see hordes of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) or oversize monster pickup trucks in Europe. Smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles are the norm. And third, I notice the large percentage of people who are extremely overweight.
And as for the price of gasoline (petrol) -- my fellow Americans, get real. Recently I was talking with a good friend of mine who lives in Finland. We discussed petrol prices, and he quickly worked out that in Finland people pay the equivalent of US$10.98 for one gallon of petrol. Americans would have one big national nervous breakdown if petrol cost that much here.
For some reason, we Americans seem to think that cheap, abundant energy is guaranteed to us as our birthright, and that we have a God-given right to fill our highways with bloated, wasteful SUVs and trucks. The most ridiculous thing is, most of these SUVs never leave paved roads! They are neither for "sport" nor for "utility." All they do is burn a ridiculous amount of precious fuel.
It's time for us to wise up here in the United States and stop being the nation of fat homes, fat cars, and fat people. Let's grow up, folks.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
20 June 2008
Dear Friends,
As I work through the backlog of orders for PassazhirRSR passenger cars, I started to find defects in one type of coach: the older-style platskartniy sleeping car with old-style roof vents. The defects included poor adhesion of paint and some distortion of details.
I know that paint does not adhere to resin castings when the resin is not properly mixed when it is poured into the mold, so this problem is due to my own error.
Distortion of details is another matter. I examined the defective castings, and I examined -- closely -- the molds from which the castings were made. I did not see anything that should have caused the distortion. So, frankly, this distortion frustrates the living hell out of me. However, it is there.
To resolve the problem, I have destroyed the molds from which the defective parts were made. I new molds, then make new body shells for the the defective models.
I really hope that I finally figure out how I screwed up. At this point I do not have a clue.
For any delay in producing PassazhirRSR coaches, I apologize. But I will not send out models which I know to be defective.
Thanks for your patience as I work through the back-orders for PassazhirRSR coach models.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
14 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Recently, two people almost exactly my age died suddenly and unexpectedly. One was famous. I never met him, but knew and respected him from his work as a television journalist. The other wasn't famous -- unless you measure fame in terms of the hundreds of people who attended his funeral in the little country church in the small town where he spent most of his life. I was fortunate to know him as a friend.
Tim Russert was the first television journalist in decades who achieved the level of trust and credibility which once was enjoyed by the past greats of his profession: Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley come to mind, and there were others. In an age of "gotcha" journalism-by-confrontation, Tim Russert stood out as an example of what a journalist should be and should do. When he conducted an interview, he asked tough questions -- not to embarrass or demean the interviewee, but to arrive at the truth. Before an interview, he did his homework. He researched the interviewee and the relevant facts meticulously. He posed his questions courteously, but with ruthless moral and intellectual honesty. And he did not allow the person being interviewed to get away with evasions or half-truths. Tim Russert was about truth. He hosted NBC's "Meet the Press" for years, and made that program the gold standard in broadcast journalism. He restored much of my faith in journalism. And now he's gone. Tim Russert was 58.
George Walls wasn't famous. Born in 1951, only four months before me, George lived almost all of his life in and around the small town of Ingleside on Maryland's Eastern Shore, not far from the town of Ridgely where I grew up. George was an electrician, and he had an insatiable desire to understand how things worked -- machines, model trains, electrical systems, you name it. And once he figured out how something worked, he made certain that YOU understood how it worked, too! He wanted things to work properly -- and that included not only machines and systems, but the affairs of human beings. If George saw that something was happening that just wasn't right, he did what he had to do to make things right. When a teenager knocked on his door in the middle of the night to ask to make a phone call, George didn't just make the call -- he found where the teen lived, and took him home. Thirty miles away. And the list of such examples goes on, and on.
George's funeral was held in the little Methodist church in Ingleside, where he had been a member since childhood. The start of his funeral was delayed by a half-hour because of the number of people who passed through the church to pay their respects to him. They came from all walks of life, but all of them, like me, had been touched by George's kind, generous, "make it right" spirit. My friend George Elwood Walls was 57.
So what does this have to do with Red Star Railways? Perhaps very little. But for me, the passing of George Walls and Tim Russert are reminders that every day is a gift. Every day, I spend time in my little studio doing something I absolutely love -- working on Red Star Railways. Every day I talk by phone or email with people from all over the world who share my fascination with the railways of Russia. And now, by the most unlikely of miracles, I share my life and my fanatical railway passion with my wife LaDon. I have a great life. The passing of George Walls and Tim Russert admonish me to remember every day how fragile this life is, and how quickly it can be taken from us.
If this is a message from God -- all I can say is, Message Received.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
14 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Well, I guess it was inevitable that people would start asking me who I support in the 2008 presidential elections here in the USA. I got my first email asking that question ten days ago (from Russia), and since then I have received more than thirty more emails on the same subject.
The answer: I support Barack Obama.
In case you didn't hear what I just said: I SUPPORT BARACK OBAMA !!!!!
If there is anything you do not understand about what I just said, send me an email. I will cheerfully explain.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
10 June 2008
Dear Friends,
I apologize for not posting this until now, but we will not be attending the June 28-29 GREAT SCALE MODEL TRAIN SHOW at Timonium (Baltimore), Maryland.
Our absence has nothing to do with the GSMTS, but rather with family commitments that conflict with the show dates. Face it, people -- I'm married, and I have a family (two of them now, actually -- LaDon's and mine). I'm not young, and family stuff is important.
We do plaN to atteNd the TimoNium show iN October. We hope to have some iNteresting New items for you theN!
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
7 June 2008
Dear Friends,
A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from my friend Don Valentine of New England Rail Service. Don had read my comment about buying cheap machine screws at Radio Shack. He noted that I recommended that people run a nut up onto a screw that needed to be cut shorter, use a motor tool cut-off disk (Dremel, etc.) to cut off the screw, then restore the threads of the screw by running the nut off the screw.
Now, understand: Don is a craftsman, AND he is a gentleman. He did NOT say, "Chris, you're a moron." Instead, he simply said, "Chris, did you ever think about using a screw cutter to cut the screws shorter?"
Okay. Well, DUUH.
No, Don, I didn't think of using a screw-cutter. Yeah, Don, it's the right thing to do. Thanks for the recommendation.
I think I will retreat into my cave now.
With my screw cutter.
Cheers,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
www.redstarrailways.com
7 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Last year I posted comments about Micro Mark's CR300 casting resin, noting that it really is almost water-thin and takes detail very well. Well, Micro Mark strikes again.
Looking for a water-thin casting resin with a longer cure time, I decided to try Micro Mark's CR600 resin. Like CR300, CR600 is almost as thin as water and takes detail equally well. However, it has a cure time much longer than CR300 or Alumilite regular casting resins -- in my experience, at least thirty minutes or longer. Again like CR300, CR600 castings are white in color.
The longer cure time is an advantage when you are making castings which are likely to trap air bubbles deep inside a mold. I have had a high reject rate when making castings for restaurant car table-and-chair castings and sleeping car interiors for PassazhirRSR coaches -- the molds for these castings are very deep, and tend to trap air pockets in spite of my strenuous efforts to dislodge them. With CR600, however, I find that I have more time to probe for air bubbles and air pockets. More working time means fewer air pockets, which means fewer rejects. So even though I pay full retail price for CR600, it is worth paying the higher price because of the lower reject rate.
As an experiment, I tried using CR600 to produce underframes and roofs for PassazhirRSR coaches. I came away with mixed feelings. The castings came out without defects, but in my opinion the CR600 castings are lighter in weight, less dense, and less hard than castings made from Alumilite regular casting resin.
Bottom line: Alumilite regular casting resin is still my choice for most castings, especially those requiring structural strength -- coach underframes, roofs, and sides, for example. On the other hand, if you have deep molds that tend to breed air pockets and which do not require as much structural strength, try Micro Mark CR600.
I wish somebody would tell Micro Mark boss Tom Piccirillo that I'm touting his fim's products. When I met Tom several years ago at the Great Scale Model Train Show at Timonium (Maryland), he told me that I should check out his firm's line of resin casting products. Okay, I did. I'm using them, already. Do you expect me to go groveling to Micro Mark, already . . . ?
Life is interesting, isn't it?
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
www.redstarrailways.com
6 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Red Star Railways has a new mailing address: P. O. Box 684, Frederica, Delaware 19946, U.S.A.
Our land-line telephone number is now (302) 335-8450, and our new fax-only line is (302) 335-8740.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
5 June 2008
Dear Friends,
Here is an update on Feniks models still in stock as of this date:
F04 1989 USSR beige tank wagon -- 4
F05 USSR chemical tank wagon silver/yellow -- 12
F09 Russkii Mir tank wagon -- 10
F12 Salavat tank wagon, early type, red-brown -- 2
F13 Salavat tank wagon, later type, special lettering -- 1
F18 TRV methanol tank wagon -- 2
F21 Caustic soda tank wagon, red-brown with yellow stripe -- 8
F22 Latvian Railways (LDz) tank wagon, black -- 4
For photos and other information, please check the Feniks page on the Red Star Railways website. And if you have any questions, send me an email via the "Contact Us" page.
Thanks very much.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
18 May 2008
Dear Friends,
Yesterday I needed 0.75mm (.030")styrene sheet for the current batch of PassazhirRSR coaches, so LaDon and I drove 45km to the nearet hobby shop -- but we arrived shortly after the shop closed (what kind of hobby shop closes at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday???). I was annoyed.
I had a choice: I could think like an American modeller, or I could think like a Russian modeller. An American modeller would sit back and bitch that the hobby shop was closed. A Russian modeller would figure out another way to find the material that he needed.
On the way home, we visited a hardware store. AHA! The store had a wide range of signs -- "For Sale," "For Rent," etc. -- all printed on plastic sheet. The printing was on one side only, leaving the back side smooth and clean. I bought two signs.
When I got home, I found that the signs were printed on styrene plastic. It bonds using ordinary liquid plastic cement, just like styrene from the hobby shop. The thickness was spot-on 0.75mm (.030") and was consistent throughout the sign (yes, I measured it with digital calipers). At US$4.29, the price was very competitive with what I would have paid at the hobby shop.
So if you buy a PassazhirRSR passenger carriage model, the floor of your model may have started out in life as a plastic "For Sale" sign! And if you need styrene sheet for a modelling project, check out the signs at your local hardware store.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
Re: Cheap Screws
14 May 2008
Dear Friends,
ALL RIGHT, NOW STOP THAT! Just because this comment refers to "cheap screws" does NOT mean that I'm getting ready to make any off-color remarks. This comment is about precisely that: cheap machine screws.
For a long time -- a looooooong, looooong time -- it has seriously irked me that modellers have to pay such ridiculous amounts for the little machine screws we need to assemble and repair our models. One vendor markets five little brass screws in a packet for US$1.25. Another sells twelve screws for US$2.98.
This is bullshit.
Of course, if you're really determined -- and prepared to tell a few lies -- you can buy screws in quantity from McMaster-Carr or some other industrial supplier. The problem is, industrial suppliers sell parts in such astronomical quantities that no one person could run out of parts in his/her lifetime. There has to be another way.
There is.
Go to your friendly local Radio Shack store. In their parts cabinet you will find machine screws, matching nuts, and assorted washers in reasonably-priced packets containing a realistic quantity of parts. For example, take 2-56 machine screws. Radio Shack item number 64-3010 is a packet of 42 2-56 machine screws -- fourteen each in lengths of 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, and 3/4 inch (for our more enlightened metric brethren, that's 6.35mm, 12.7mm, and 19.05mm respectively). The screws apparently are made from steel. One packet costs US$1.99. Similarly, a packet of 40 2-56 nuts (item number 64-3017) costs US$1.99. The parts are made in Taiwan, and are made of steel (at least the 2-56 nuts are, according to the package).
Of course, some people are never satisfied. When I told one guy about this deal, he started whining that the 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch screws were too long to be useful for him. I told him, "So cut them to the length you need." To which he replied, "But it's so hard to cut screws, and the threads will get messed up." Somewhat annoyed, I told him, "Before you cut the screw, run a nut up to the top of the screw just below the head. Cut the screw. Then run the nut back off the screw. On the way out, it will restore the threads." And if you cut the screws with a Dremel cut-off disk, it's even easier to restore the threads.
So there is hope out there.
Disclaimer: I do not work for Radio Shack, and never have. Nor do I own stock in Radio Shack's parent company, the Tandy Corporation. I'm just a satisfied customer who got very happy when Radio Shack provided a way to beat the machine screw rip-off.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
30 April 2008
Dear Friends,
Here is some updated information on items still in stock from several product lines. Please remember: once these models are sold out, I will not be restocking them. In some cases the models are no longer in production; in other cases, I have reluctantly decided that it is not feasible to reliably maintain stocks of the items.
The quantities of each item in stock are indicated by the numbers in parentheses ().
FENIKS
F04 USSR 1989 tank wagon $69.95 (7)
F05 USSR chemical tank wagon, silver and yellow $69.95 (16)
F06 Phenol tank wagon, black and green $69.95 (1)
F09 Russkii Mir tank wagon $74.95 (11)
F10 Russkii Mir - Hedley Commodities tank wagon $74.95 (1)
F12 Salavat tank wagon, red-brown $69.95 (4)
F13 Salavat tank wagon, yellow-beige $69.95 (1)
F21 Caustic soda tank wagon, red-brown $69.95 (9)
F22 Latvian Railways tank wagon, black $69.95 (4)
PK MODELS
684 4-axle RZD box car $23.98 (7)
2513 2-axle box car, Finnish Railways green, without platform $19.98 (4)
2613 2-axle box car, Finnish Railways green, with platform $19.98 (4)
2514 2-axle box car, USSR MPS maintenance green without plat. $19.98 (3)
2518 2-axle box car, brown, Deutsche Wehrmacht, without platform $19.98 (1)
2618 2-axle box car, brown, Deutsche Wehrmacht, with platform $19.98 (2)
OLEG VOLUZNEV
--- 2-axle snow plough $90.00 (1)
SLAVA NETUZHILOV
--- 4-axle rail crane, green $90.00 (1)
Also in stock but not shown on the Red Star Railways web site: I have five models of the "Yegorov" 20-metre passenger cars. These are injection molded in styrene, painted green with red-oxide roofs. NEM boxes are mounted on the bogies. Euro loop-type couplings are included, and each coach comes with a packet of separate detail parts. Available are three different running numbers: 1940 (2), 3873 (1), and 3906 (2). I am asking $85.00 each, except for one of the coaches numbered 3906 -- a window popped out on this model, and repairing it required some unusual measures. It looks fine, but I know that it has been repaired and therefore I am asking $80.00 for this model only. If you are interested, please send me an email and I will be happy to send you photos.
Again, please remember that when these models are gone, there will be no more. I'm not trying to beat the drum about this, but I think it is only fair to make certain that everybody understands this clearly.
Questions -- send me an email or call me at my new land line phone at (302) 335-8450.
Thanks very much.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
11 April 2008
Dear Friends,
After six months of semi-chaos, life has finally settled down to something resembling normalcy. LaDon and I were married in Florida on 22 March (and we're going to renew our vows tomorrow here in Delaware). On 26 March we signed the papers for our new little house, and after two weeks of work we now can say honestly that we are 100% "moved in."
For Red Star Railways, this means that my new studio is fully equipped and organized. Already I have re-started work on backlogged orders for PassazhirRSR passenger carriages -- by my left elbow are two tables loaded with body shells and parts for 85 models! So, yes, I am working full-time again. After six months of working in temporary quarters, it's a joy to be able to work once again in an orderly and efficient manner.
As I work through the list of back orders for coaches, I will contact each customer to verify whether he/she is still interested in purchasing the models. I will fill the orders according to the date I received the firm orders -- in other words, first-come-first-served. This is the only fair way to fill the orders; I hope this is acceptable to everyone.
Thank you all again for your patience during this period of extreme disruption. And thanks also to everyone who has sent their good wishes for LaDon and me as we embark on our life as a married couple.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
13 August 2007
Dear Friends,
I previously posted a comment about Micro-mark's CR-300 casting resin. Based on experience gained since I made that posting . . .
PLEASE NOTE -- the mix ratio for CR-300 is much more critical than for other supposedly 50:50 resins, especially when you're casting small quantities of resin. With CR-300, it's much more important to measure very carefully -- the CR-300 needs as close to a 50:50 mixing ratio as possible for successful casting.
I went back and edited my original comment about Micro-Mark CR-300 casting resin to include this information.
Again: based on my experience, I consider Micro-Mark's CR-300 to be an excellent product, and I recommend it highly. You just have to be more careful with the 50:50 mix ratio than with most casting resins.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
13 July 2007
Dear Friends --
This is going to sound a little contradictory. After all, I am a dealer for Alumilite resin casting products. However, once again I have discovered a useful product, and I would like to share this information with you.
Several people have told me that Micro Mark casting resin really is "water-thin." So, I gave it a try. This week I ordered Micro Mark's CR-300 Quick Cure Casting Resin. I also ordered Micro Mark's CR-600 and CR-900 casting resin, but I haven't experimented with these products yet. I can tell you that I received my resin the day after I placed my order -- full marks (no pun)to Micro Mark.
I used the Micro Mark CR-300 to cast partitions for a batch of PassazhirRSR coaches. I can report that the Micro Mark CR-300 really is almost water-thin. Castings made from this resin were almost completely free of air bubbles. The CR-300 took marginally longer to set up than Alumilite, but the lack of air bubbles was a plus. The CR-300 castings are much lighter and less dense than those made from Alumilite regular, but as long as they are not load-bearing, I see no problem.
One note: I have found that the mixing ratio for CR-300 are much more critical than for other casting resins that use a 50:50 mix ratio by volume. Especially when you are mixing very small quantities of resin, i.e., 1/2 teaspoon Part A and 1/2 teaspoon Part B, you need to measure VERY accurately.
The bottom line: I will continue to use Alumilite casting resin where strength and rigidity are required. On the other hand, Micro Mark's CR-300 definitely has its uses. I speak as a satisfied user.
The item number for the CR-300 is 81544. You can access the Micro Mark website at www.micromark.com.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
18 May 2007
Dear Friends,
Like most model builders, I'm always looking for new and better products. Since 1973 I have used more types of superglue than I can count. Recently I started using Maxi Cure, and I am very impressed with this product. It is a very thick ACC glue -- thick enough that when you place a drop on a surface, it stays there. It takes slightly longer to cure than most other superglues, but the bonds it forms are amazingly strong.
For example: when I was assembling the body shells for the current batch of 150 PassazhirRSR coaches, I used Maxi Cure to join together a side and an end of a coach. When I examined the parts an hour later, I saw that the alignment was not good. So I tried to separate the parts by bending the end away from the side. The Maxi Cure joint did not break -- but the side of the coach did!
This superglue is TOUGH!
I buy Maxi Cure from my local Hobbytown USA shop here in Dover, Delaware, USA. Friends have told me that other shops also sell Maxi Cure, so possibly you can find it elsewhere. Maxi Cure is distributed by BSI of Atascadero, California, USA.
Please understand one thing: I do not sell Maxi Cure, and I have no way to buy it for sale. But it is a wonderful product, and I hope people who read these comments will find a source for Maxi Cure and have fun using it.
Best wishes,
Chris White
Red Star Railways
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