Gene

I admit it has been many years since I last stripped down and cleaned a 200 so forgive if I am in error. It seems to my memory that the needle guide ( red circle) can be removed from that piece that it is seated in and cleaned from the back....just handle it with care and a soft touch. Plus I seem to remember that the piece circled in green had some very fine holes on either side of the central hole that also needed to be cleaned. cheers gene

Steve...the important thing is to develop a cleaning system that works for you. Basically you need a system to use while painting and switching between colours to prevent tip-dry and so you can quickly switch between colours while painting. And you need to develop another system to clean your airbrush between painting sessions. Since Michael has pretty well described the process for cleaning between painting sessions I’ll quickly deal with cleaning during painting sessions. The main problem while painting is tip-dry, wherein acrylic paint coagulates and hardens right at the tip of the airbrush as it leaves the airbrush. This disrupts and ruins the spray pattern and then blocks the brush. Three things to do to avoid this..1) make sure your paint is properly thinned( one reason why I love Vallejo Model Air) 2) make sure your air-pressure is adjusted properly and 3) keep a small jar/container of the appropriate paint/thinner handy with some cotton buds...every few minutes dip a bud into the thinner and very gently push it into the airbrush tip and very very gently spin it to remove any paint...you want to keep the tip clean and lubed. As far as cleaner...I was a big fan of ammonia based household window/glass cleaner because it worked wellas both a thinner and a cleaner with pretty much all acrylics, except Tamiya acrylics, it was cheap and easily available. However I have now switched to each brands proprietary cleaner/ thinner because I was told that ammonia will eventually pit some of the metals in my airbrush. Cheers gene

When I started airbrushing at 13 years of age, 50 years ago, it was with enamals, Humbrol to be specific. And it was all I used until I gave up models at age 20. When I started modelling again in 2001 I of course went back to Humbrol..familiar ground. But about 15 years ago I started experimenting with acrylics, didn’t go too well....until I discovered Vallejo Model Air....I haven’t looked back. Easy to clean-up, easy to thin if necessary, no waste and covers well. Oh...and no odour. There is a bit of a learning curve but nothing too onerous. Love the stuff!!!

Jack...I would just use a generic brown from either company and lighten or darken it as required by mixing some black or white into it. There are so many variation in colour that exactitude is not an issue.

Pan Pastels at Amazon...you can buy sets of colours or individual colours. They last a very very very long time. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PanPastel-Colour-Set-Extra-Colours/dp/B002JKQUTY/ref=sr_1_19_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1536000543&sr=8-19-spons&keywords=Pan+pastels&psc=1

Jack...Maples,Aspens,Birches,Oaks.....you could emulate Mike Confalones spring thaw mud-season( less colours but interesting) http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/13402-mike-confalones-awesome-allagash-railway/ Or go for a classic colourful North-eastern autumn like this

Bachmann are still producing their EZ-app locos that are equipped with the Blue-Rail scaled down Bluetooth control systems.

Jack..how about an northern autumn with hardwoods either turning colours or starting to Les their leaves. Grey gloomy skies are easy to paint..just use some grey and blue acrylic mixed Willy-hilly on the back scene

Actually it can be done with 2 wires....a guy in the US built a huge,huge basement layout and powered it with just two wires connected to the track at one single point. Of course after six months he tore it down because the actual track plan was totally boring. Just because he proved it could work it is not recommended.

In todays Montreal Gazette...both CN and CP ....looks like the grain backlog story is true.

Love the weathered 70 and 45 toners.

Jack..just checked the MTI order page...unfortunately the new book still isn’t listed for purchase. Cheers Gene

Interesting discussion at the Club this morning about this. When I brought this subject up one of the guys, a retired aerospace engineer originally from Yorkshire immediatly responded that that a big part of the recent problems was CN trying to get the backlog of wheat and potash to the ports...apparently the bad weather this winter really slowed shipments down and caused a huge backlog of these types of products. Whereupon the now long-retired CN employee piped up to say that is exactly the cause and he explained that once a backlog occurs, even for just a few days it can take weeks and even months to correct. Funny enough he said that in his opinion he believes that CN has been taking on too much business in recent years that,when there are problems they are that much more likely to cause chaos. He also mentioned that in the days of Hunter Harrison was very careful about not over-stretching on taking on business and he would raise prices to calm the situation down. Now I honestly have no knowledge on these issues...I’m just reporting what was said for informational purposes only.

Sorry Dave but I have to disagree with you about your “very fine control of everything...” comment. The control with the BlueRail app is very good but nowhere near as fine as with a regular, tactile DCC controller...especially were very fine speed control is concerned. The app itself on the screen just does not allow for it compared to my NCE thumb wheel. Plus the need to look down at the screen to control anything, especially speed control, is another negative to the BlueRail system. I can control far more functions far more easily and the speed through tactile feel on my NCE controller without looking away from my train than I can with the Bluetooth app. The one place were the Bluetooth system far outshines regular DCC is in speed-matching and consisting...but especially with speed-matching...it’s far easier,quicker and intuitive with the BlueRail system. But aside from that...I think that the Bluetooth and BlueRail developers have a lot more work to do before the system becomes more attractive to serious modellers than DCC.