I have managed to trade for the wild west style live steamer that I wanted. But she has been sleeping in a display case for many years. So a bit of going over will be in order once she arrives here in Indiana from the west coast. He did have the correct drawbar for her, so a home brew one is doing the duties for now, but I will make up one from sheet brass that fits in the proper place. I also plan to box in the drivers in the cab and install proper wood plank wood flooring(with metal duct work tape on the back side to protect it from any alcohol flare ups). Seat boxes for engineer and fireman will be added along with a crew once I find some resin figures that look the part. I doubt plastic ones would like the heat back there, but resin figures seem to do ok in other models I have, or even metal figures.(any suggestions for seated crew in 1:32nd scale that would tolerate the heat?) I plan to go after all the brass work with Brasso to restore the shine and I will buff out the paint work. I have 2 different rakes of passenger coaches, the Kalamazoo set of 3 shorties are heavy, so they should help tame the Reno’s speed. The pair of metal 1:32nd scale Marklin Maxi coaches are lighter weight but would still look good behind the Reno. She should arrive here early next week hopefully, then the fun can begin! Plans for a brand new raised line to suit this engine are in the works for later this summer in our back yard. My old R1 curved line will be torn down at that time, I have had enough of tight curves and the anxiety of models going around those to fast and falling to thier doom 4’ down. Mike the Aspie
