Bachmann EZ Mate II couplers are just as good as Kadee's , in my opinion, and are cheaper.

Regardless of what you choose, buy a Kadee coupler height gauge - it will tell you what the correct height should be, as well as give you washers to help adjust the coupler height.

Also, if you're interested in something less than $3 per Preiser person, I'm ordering a large lot of figures from a Hong Kong-based wholesaler. Contact me off-board ( by email : [email protected] ) if you're interested.

Six Flags has these historic narrow gauge TRUE STEAM loco's, one was built in the early 1900's, another was built in 1954...

Preiser sells well-detailed figures, and they may have band-players. OTOH, their figures are pretty expensive, so a 120-person band is out of the question for all but the nearly unlimited budget.

Do you have a picture of your high school? Modeling different buildings depends on what type of building you want.

GN 2-6-8-0, is that your layout? Very nice...

In older parts of the city, I still see some old frame houses built in the 40's and 50's. They're usually white, but trim varies wildly. Almost none are their original tan, and most have been repainted into gawdy colors such as pink, purple, cherry red, royal blue, yellow or even a lime green.

Wow, excellently put. You actually read every post?

I bought the Harbor Freight  Tools compressor today, and will probably buy a double-action brush somewhere (maybe a single-action too).

Any thoughts on the spray booth I mentioned earlier?
Link to Spray Booth

Thanks all-
I do have a Harbor Freight Tools store in my area, and from experience they seem to have good prices.

I found a good compressor on their website - is this electrically powered? (it seems to  be)
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92403

I think I may buy both a single action, for general painting, and a double action, for weathering, airbrush. I'll probably get it from www.modelexpo-online.com , because they seem to have decent prices on both.

I found a custom-made spray booth on ebay for $39, apparently you hook it up to a Shop Vacuum, instead of having a fan built in. However, this booth only works with the acrylic water-based paints (like Polly Scale), because if you use enamels, the fumes will cause an explosion.
Link to Spray Booth
If I spray with enamels, I'll probably just use a box as Glenn suggested.

Do you think the compressor and spray booth would work okay for me?

Bob-
I've heard that the propellant cans can have uneven pressure inside of them, leading to imperfections with paint. Besides, I paint and weather cars a lot, and I don't want to have to stock up on cans, or run out of air midway through a project.

It seems that some compressors are gas powered, am I correct in this assumption? I think that an electric one would be better for me.
Here's one other compressor I'm considering, it seems to have what you said it should:
http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=AS182

CSX, nonetheless, is reviewing its security procedures. ''There are serious consequences to stealing a train,'' CSX spokesman Gary Sease said.

Serious consequences? Darn it...

I've been needing an airbrush for a while now, and I'm thinking about getting one now. I'll be on a limited budget, but I think I should be able to get by with a pretty basic airbrush.

My first choice for airbrush is this Double Action airbrush:
http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=HS28

My first choice for a compressor would be this smaller compressor: http://www.modelexpo-online.com/product.asp?ITEMNO=AS16

Do y'all think these would work out okay for me, or should I invest in something better (and more expensive)?

The Bachmann F9 has been out of production for a while. The FT's mechanism may or may not be interchangeable with your F9.

I've done exactly what you're trying to do now. You can use either an SPST switch or a DPDT switch. A good reference for doing this is Kalmbach's illustrated Basic Wiring for Model Railroaders .

Pullman Green was THE standard passenger car color for almost fifty years...

Almost all railroads had their own cars painted to match the Pullman pool cars.