1957 PFM Handbuilt AT&SF 4-6-4 Atlas Kawai #8 of 9 ever produced
This is a very rare hand made model in HO scale brass. An AT&SF (Santa Fe) 4-6-4 hand made by Kawai (Atlas/Kawai) in 1957 for Pacific Fast Mail (PFM). Only 9 were ever produced. This is number 8. The photos of the painted model were taken when I purchased it. The previous owner had painted it and it was in terrible condition. I removed the paint, cleaned all the parts and re-assembled it. Because it is so rare to find one of these, I did not make any alterations, other than re-soldering some loose details and cleaning the model to make sure is ran well. Some day, I may have it painted by a professional painter. Another one of these models can be seen on page 23 of the 2009 Brass Model Trains price and data guide - Volume 2 by Dan Glasure. Because these are so scarce, I only know of 3 left in existence, but there may be some still out there in other collector's hands. Each piece of the model was fabricated from brass stock and soldered together, this is seen clearly in the photos of the tender trucks and trailing truck. While some brass model collectors will say that all brass models are "hand made" or "Hand built", I disagree, early models such as this one, were all hand fabricated, no castings or stamped parts. All brass models are certainly hand assembled, but, there is a big difference in "hand assembled" and "hand made" in my opinion. Approximately 55 pieces make up the hand made trailing truck in this photo, as opposed to a hand assembled trailing truck of the same type from a later model, which consist of roughly 8 pieces, all made from lost wax castings, then soldered together.
1957 PFM Handbuilt AT&SF 4-6-4 Atlas Kawai #8 of 9 ever produced
This is a very rare hand made model in HO scale brass. An AT&SF (Santa Fe) 4-6-4 hand made by Kawai (Atlas/Kawai) in 1957 for Pacific Fast Mail (PFM). Only 9 were ever produced. This is number 8. The photos of the painted model were taken when I purchased it. The previous owner had painted it and it was in terrible condition. I removed the paint, cleaned all the parts and re-assembled it. Because it is so rare to find one of these, I did not make any alterations, other than re-soldering some loose details and cleaning the model to make sure is ran well. Some day, I may have it painted by a professional painter. Another one of these models can be seen on page 23 of the 2009 Brass Model Trains price and data guide - Volume 2 by Dan Glasure. Because these are so scarce, I only know of 3 left in existence, but there may be some still out there in other collector's hands. Each piece of the model was fabricated from brass stock and soldered together, this is seen clearly in the photos of the tender trucks and trailing truck. While some brass model collectors will say that all brass models are "hand made" or "Hand built", I disagree, early models such as this one, were all hand fabricated, no castings or stamped parts. All brass models are certainly hand assembled, but, there is a big difference in "hand assembled" and "hand made" in my opinion. Approximately 55 pieces make up the hand made trailing truck in this photo, as opposed to a hand assembled trailing truck of the same type from a later model, which consist of roughly 8 pieces, all made from lost wax castings, then soldered together.