I haven't tried them yet but there are two tips in this thread that sound very wise to me: (1) Ken's suggestion of "pushing" a delicate decal off its backing on to the model. And (2) Richard saying "brush" on the protective fluid--Saving the step of hooking up an airbrush just to apply the fluid. Tom
The "long soak" is certainly not needed on new or relatively new decals. I find Tom's OddBalls decals, for example, come off their backing very easily after a short soak. A long soak is wise, in my view, for older decals. The soak does not fix anyting on the old decal, but simply makes sure the thing slides off its paper backing with little prodding. I dip it in the water for about 5 seconds, then pull it out and set it on the side ledge of my decal soaking dish and let it sit and soak in its own puddle for two-three minutes. That way there is no risk it will come off the backing in the dish, which is usually a problem if it is a big decal. You start poking on an older decal, and it brakes for sure. That's why I suggest pushing it into position if at all possible, rather than pulling it. The ones I broke the other night - I was both pulling and pushing to get them in position. The pulling broke 'em. Make sure the stick you use to move the decal around is not real sharp. I use a 6" toothpick (bought a box of them at a kitchen supply store) which has the pointy end dulled a bit. Been using those to move decals around for years. And, as we discussed last night, be calm and take your time! Ken
Sorry for the multiple posts ..... I talked with TTH (Toy Train Heaven) today. They have received the Athearn Frisco GATC Airslide cars, but not the Athearn Frisco bay window caboose. I am having them hold the Airslides until the cab comes in to save shipping cost. They think the cab will be in around late March/April. We'll see. Ken
Guys, The key to Airslides versus most other covered hoppers is they can be sealed for food grade loads or moisture sensitive loads. Even though there are rare cases of cement being used in them it is NOT typical, these are expensive cars used for expensive loads and cement is not one of them, BY FAR the three biggest uses are FLOUR, SUGAR and CORN STARCH. As Ken mentioned P&G used them for specialty food grade chemicals. In regard to the Frisco airslides, I;m not sure what was the biggest commodity but it probably was likely FLOUR, then CORN STARCH. Regarding loadings, these cars were in captive service and rarely were used out of the assigned loads for two reasons. 1. Cross contanimation of loads, especially true for food grade loads, 2. Due to the fabric used in the base of the troughs this was hard to clean effectively and totally clean to change to another commodity on top of which the time taken to do it which would lose revenue on the cars. Note that is special stencilling on the cars for cleaning and repair of the cars and most of it was performed at General American's East Chicago facility. It would be nice one day to get a full list of assigned cars for assigned customers. It's just a pity that Athearn cannot correctly paint and letter the Frisco Airslide!!!!!!!!!! The did not use the correct Lettering for the LARGE FRISCO. Regards, Nick Molo
Nick - You don't need an Airslide to ship food grade chemicals in a bulk hopper. We used regular 2-bays (both P-S and ACF) as I recall and even a few 3-bays. The cars are obviously in dedicated service, and the top hatches (round) and bottom discharge hatches have weather-tight seals, were tagged shut, and were inspected closely. Food grade accreditation is audited frequently. As I recall, these were products used in the baking industry, potato industry, dairy industry and for meat treating, and only went in bulk to the big guys. Most food grade chemical sales are still in bags or super-saks as many of the producers are small to medium sized users, many supplied by distributors. BTW, the Airslide shipments I was referring to in my postings above were not to P&G. You are certainly correct - an Airslide would most times be certainly in a dedicated service because of the difficulty of cleaning the fabric-based airslide system. If the car were to change service, I'm sure it would need a thorough cleaning and replacement discharge equipment. Ken
Ken, thanks. I was making the point that Airslide were almost exclusively used for either food grade or tight seal reasons versus "most" average covered hoppers. Which I should have clarified as being the hoppers with trough hatches and/or non-sealable outlets. There is also a case of bones (cattle) being transported via SLSF 4750cf covered hoppers to Boston. Yes, I agree with the bulk versus smaller operators receiving bagged product which typically received RBLs or other loader/lined equipped boxcars "most of the time" (there was always exceptions). It always amazes me what is shipped that way, basically what is shipped in trucks these days was Grocery cars or the like. I must have mis-read your previous post and assumed it was a P&G loading. Nick
