Hi Y'all, I need some help in the brass department. I've amassed a pretty good steam engine fleet, but I'm at a loss for tenders. My tenders have no consistency or uniformity. They are a mixed bag of whatever is available. Most are coal, but I do have a few oil tenders. I'd like to gain some consistency. Since there are no longer any major manufacturer's making tenders, brass is the way to go. Finding them on eBay is a very tedious adventure. I've tried to search Google for brass tenders and every sort for HO Brass, and all I get is garbage. If anyone is familiar with the brass markets, would you please consider helping the NOOB navigate it? Thanks, Manny
Manny I'm not quite sure what you need here but I believe that the only brass company that regularly sold tenders as separate items was PFM back in the sixties. When you say consistency do you mean oil tenders throughout? If so it's usualy a reasonably sile job to model an oil bunker and add it to the old coal space on a coal tender; all you need to do in most cases is model the top part of the oil bunker and glue it into the coal space in place of the coal load The 11,000 gallon tender for the PRR K4s and the 12 wheeler 14,000 gallon tenders for Southern's PS4 show up now and again but anything else is pretty slim pickings. Since Frisco used some unique tender designs, you aren't likely to find these unless you find someone selling a junked loco The PFM Southern pattern tender is adapatable to an extent; it's much too too long as it stands for a tnder to suit a 1500 or 4100, but the trucks might work and some creative use of soldering iron and a jewelers saw could let you build a shorter version that would capture the look of the short 12 wheel tender
Well, So far I've been able to get two PFM 26' Russian tenders w/doghouses. Ideally, I'd run those with everything, but finding them is like a needle in a stack of needles. I've picked up two other tenders. One is an oil eight wheel, while the other is short 12 wheel coal. You are correct in saying that the FRISCO tenders are unique. So outside of getting a PFM or Hallmark, I'm pretty much left to finding what is close. What my question is, is how to navigate the brass market. Doing Google searches isn't cutting it.
