With the recent post on PanPastels for weathering (thanks everyone for the great tips), I went shopping. Dick Blick has PanPastel 5 packs for $17.79 (reg. $31.50)! And the 48 count Prismacolor pencils that Joe uses in his Sep/Oct 2017 weathering article are $21.99 (reg. 98.69)!  Mediums, reducers (thinners), and other goodies are at least 15% off. Buy enough stuff and you get free shipping. Check out the Liquitex airbrush medium and Createx HP reducer, too. I do not work for Dick Blick. I’m just frugal.

I received a very nice brass steam locomotive from a special friend a few years ago for Christmas. It's an LIRR-inspired G-5 4-6-0 and it's the first brass engine I've ever owned. Therefore, I am ignorant to the type of maintenance it requires and am rather apprehensive to jump into any type of service project without some community advice.