METAL DETAIL PARTS
Manufacturer: Trackside Details, 1331 Avalon Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405. Price: TD-7 crescent wrench, $1.75 per pair; TD-38 station order board signal with jewels, $6.00 each; TD-64 switch stand marker light with jewels, $2.00 each; TD-99 1880s Porter builder's plates, $7.00 per pair; TD-100 1900s Porter builder's plates, $7.00 per pair. California residents please add 7 1/4-percent sales tax. All customers please include $1.50 shipping.
YOU KNOW HIM by many names: The Boss of Brass, King of Castings, Prince of Parts, yea verily even The Duke of Details. But he usually goes by Pete Thorp and he produces the detail parts we are about to examine.
First, the pair of "white metal" crescent wrenches. They look just the way crescent wrenches should and, since wrenches come in many sizes, they are suitable for any scale from 1:32 to 1:20.3. Our samples had no flash.
The station order board signal kit also contains white metal castings. The staff and the round hole in one target had a tiny bit of flash. Thirty seconds with a file or a hobby knife will remove it. The jewels are red and green. The lantern has accurate proportions for 1:24 scale and up; it is probably a little large for 1:32. Many stations had order boards. Go ahead, add one to yours; give it some character.
The switch stand marker light is a lantern very similar in appearance to the order board lantern. It, too, is white metal but the jewels are yellow and green. Switch stands without marker lamps are for sissies. Be cool; add a lamp your switch stand.
But the real gems of this review are the Porter builders' plates. They are gorgeous etched brass and even have a slight curve so they will fit snugly against the smokebox of your Lehmann or Bachmann switcher. The lettering is clear, clean, and crisp. The serial numbers and layout are completely accurate. The plates have tiny rivet detail so your friends will never know you used CA, Goo, or epoxy to attach them.
The larger set, with the 1884 date, appeared on Porters up until the turn of the century. After that, the H.K. Porter Company used slightly smaller plates almost until production ended. The smaller shield shows a date of 1906. Unless that bothers you, you may flatten the shields and place them on diesels, fireless cookers, or any other Porter locomotive variation, usually under the cab on the frame behind the last driver. On 44-ton Porter center cab diesels, they belong on the main sideframe, directly beneath the cab.
One last detail: color. If you paint the shield black or dark red, then, when the paint is dry, buff the paint off the raised letters, your emblems will really look sharp.
As usual, our Trackside Details samples are elegant, top quality products.-RR
