There are no ads or active content on this website.Trapped in someone else's frame? BREAK OUT!I'm Randy Gordon-Gilmore, and ProtoTrains is a very part-time business to make kits of the 1930'sstreamliner passenger trains in N scale.  The "Proto" in ProtoTrains denotes two things--the prototype, or pioneering, nature of the trains, and my desire to be as prototypicallyaccurate as possible ("fanatical" is a term that has been used ) in modelingthe trains. The main focus of ProtoTrains will be the Burlington Route's shovelnoseZephyr trains.January 2011 - ProtoTrains is up and running.  Buy a poster! ProjectsRenascence posterThe Renascence poster, a longtime dream of mine to print, is produced and for sale!  This posteris a full-size reproduction of the Burlington Route's 1935 calendar top painting of the Pioneer Zephyr.Pioneer ZephyrProtoTrains started with my collaboration with Dick Billings of Fine N-Scale Products to develop the very popular and successful Pioneer Zephyr kit, which weintroduced at the 1996 Long Beach convention. With the release and popularity of the Con-Cor ready-to-runPZ, FNS has discontinued the PZ kit.Flying YankeeA long-term (and extremely delayed) project I'm working on is a similar kit of the Boston & Maine/Maine Central Flying Yankee,a very similar train to the PZ which ran in New England from the mid-1930's to the 1950's.I'm really going to try to have the model ready by the time the prototype is back in operation!Silver ChargerUPDATED 23 Jan 2013The General Pershing Zephyr, was a four-car non-articulated train pulled by the lastBurlington shovelnose, #9908 Silver Charger, which still exists inthe National Museum of Transport in St. Louis.Kato ran the prewar corrugated Budd cars a few years ago, of which the coach and obsare based on the GPZ design.  As of 2012 they are running the cars again as part of their E5 sets.I have started 3D modeling 9908's body shell, to be "printed" in Frosted Ultra Detail materialby Shapeways, to be mounted on a modified E-unit chassis.EA, EB unitsNEW 9 Jan 2013OK, I couldn't help myself and started on the model for the A units Pegasus, Zephyrus (for the second TwinZephyrs), Silver King and Silver Knight (for the first Denver Zephyrs).  The B unitsSilver Queen and Silver Princess will be simple modifications.  These models are in a very early stage also.They will possibly have a custom split-frame chassis on which to mount Life-Like FA mechanicals.AeolusNEW 17 Jan 2013I have rebooted the Aeolus project, starting with modeling the loco shell in 3D.The shell (and upcoming tender shell) will likely need to be customized for a particular 4-6-4 mechanism.My equipment
Photoetching
A Home Photoetching Operation, Chapter 1
A Home Photoetching Operation, Chapter 2
A Home Photoetching Operation, Chapter 3
Photoresist Update
Laminator Update
Photoetching Clinic Overheads
I gave a clinic on my photoetching at the N-Scale Gathering in San Jose on
3 and 4 August 2000.  These are the overheads which I u