Randgust announces new ore car kit coming

[randgust]

Well, almost.   I've got it as far as the prototype runs out of the molds, know the idea works, I'm about ready to release the project.

I could use some opinions and feedback.  Basically what I discovered is that absolutely NOBODY made an 1800's - 1920's ore car suitable for use with small geared steam locomotives for mining railroads.  DM&IR (Atlas) cars are too big, 50-ton MT hoppers are too big, everything is too big for lightly-built mining operations that used locomotives like my Class A Climax kit.

I got some information on the ore cars used on the V&T, got the scratchbuilding done, made masters and the molds.   This is the first prototype, painted and weathered.  It is all resin with stripwood for the side running boards, brass wire for the details.  This has a Kato brakewheel on it but the actual kit will use 'somebodys' etched brass brake wheels.

Couplers are a problem on this thing.  The prototype car was all link-and-pin.  I'll be supplying a link-and-pin drawbar that will mount on the sill, and with some .010 wire, can be made functional with wire loops between cars.  I'm also supplying a dummy knuckle that mates with pretty much everything.  You can also fit the car with an MT 905 Z coupler box, but you have to notch into a slope sheet to fit it.   The idea is that these will run in multiple-car blocks, so you probably only need one coupler on either end of a cut.

I designed it to work with MT low-profile wheels, snap right in.

These are appropriate for 1800's through about 1920 use.  The photos on the V&T show 2-6-0's like the Atlas one pulling 30-40 car cuts of these.  An 1880 unit train!  And ALL HAND BRAKES on these babies, you decorate the cars with brakemen.

Now....

1)  Interested?  If so, email me at orecar@randgust.com, I'm building a contact list
2)  Should MT low-profile wheels be included, or do people want to get their own wheels?
3)  How many to a box?  3?  6?  more?  I'm including the wire and stripwood and brakewheel.   The only thing I'm not planning on putting in are the Z couplers.

I've got to get the instructions written and make a bunch of these, but the only question is how many and when, not if. 

This is the 7-ton car perched on a dime:



(this very well may be the smallest N freight car ever offered)

And shots with one of my Climax A's for comparison.

[wm3798]

That's a cool piece of work, Randy.  I wonder if an etched brass kit might be a little more refined?  The resin comes off a little fat.

Definitely use an etched brake wheel.  That's almost a distraction.  I'd be interested to see the link/pin version.

Would a narrow gauge version using Z scale wheel sets be available?

Lee

[randgust]

Etched brass would be finer, but the cost per kit would probably be 4X what resin would be, considering the artwork and setup charges.  With brass, I have to commit to a few grand up front and several months development.  With resin, I got this done and ready to go in two weeks and can build to order.    Anyway, the car frame was structural wood beams, and that works much better in resin.  it's so good you really can't tell what's stripwood and what's resin.  Only the side planks are stripwood.

It's difficult to appreciate how truly small this car is until you realize three of them fit inside a 50-ton MT hopper.  It's only 10' long and 9' wide.

The clearances between the wheelset and the hopper bottom are so tight that I can't even use regular PC flanges - won't fit, have to use lo-pros.  The car is modifiable, and I'll probably tinker with a Nn3 version after I get this out. 

There's a guy doing this same car in 1:48 and he's charging $500 for a 3-car set.   12 cars for $1800.

[DKS]

Randy, you've got a very appealing item there. Couple of suggestions. Have you considered using Gold Medal Models brake wheels? They come 90 to a set, and presumably at least 30 or so should be of a useful style; at about $6.50 per set, that's ~20 cents a wheel. I think it would be well worth an extra quarter per car increase in retail price (heck, go for broke, make it a 110% markup and add a half a buck) for a better-looking brake wheel. Also, for a slightly less bulky appearance, how about if you sanded the top of the car (place it upside-down on sandpaper) to slim down the right-angle part that runs around the top? Unless, of course, that's the way the prototype looked...

[randgust]

This car does funny things with your eyes.  The brakewheel rod is .010 wire.  The side rods (reinforcement frame bars) are .015 wire.  The top angle iron was 2" x 2" on the prototype, I used .020 sides and .010 x .020 on the top edge.  The 'hopper' is thimble-sized.

I had serious issues on photographing it because the camera had to be so close the lens was throwing shadows.  Couldn't light it well, finally shot it hi-res back futher and edited it down.

That 'big honkin knuckle' is a Z coupler, not a regular N knuckle.

I can't find any distributors that have the GMM brakewheels, have some others coming, but the GMM's would be my first choice.  I'm attempting direct order, but just don't know.

If I can get the rivet guy to confirm my order, I want to go back on the master and put the rivet lines on.  Again, I can do that in resin and continue to upgrade the masters and molds.

[wm3798]

Maybe just the hopper in brass, then.  Without seeing the interior of the car, I'm guessing it wouldn't be too difficult to set up a plan that can be scored, bent and assembled as one piece. 

Just a thought.  It looks great running with that engine, by the way.
Lee

[3rdrail]

Nice work, Randy. Here's an Eastern version made from an Alexander Scale Models HO scale mine car years ago:

[img width= height=]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_0zcri5mcztg/RmbI3UzEdGI/AAAAAAAABNc/Odc9KjEodDg/s400/PRR2720.jpg[/img]

[DKS]

(this very well may be the smallest N freight car ever offered)

This might have you beat:

http://therailwire.net/smf/index.php/topic,14305.msg117351.html#msg117351

[up1950s]

How much for 6 ? I will use my own wheels and couplers .

Looks a bit like this one

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I would DEFINITELY drop some FVM wheels in there for your promo shots, btw.

I think this is way cool. Nowhere near anything I'd need, but very cool.

I bet if you did some other early 1900s cars though, my dad might be very interested.

[randgust]

Wow, I'm not sure where you found that picture of the model, Richie, but that's the V&T car after they were sold to others - modified for narrow-gauge.  The cars had to be narrower, lost the side walkways, that meant that the brakemen couldn't reach the 'top handle' unloading rachet so they moved all that stuff to the edge where it could be worked from ground level.  But the basic car design was unchanged.

That's exactly how the car has to be modified to work for Z.  That's actually better than any prototype photos I've seen.

[Chris333]

That car is from Wiseman Model Services:
http://www.locopainter.com/store/product.php?id=248

Says it was made for the Eureka Mill, they had a small 8ton 0-4-0 porter.


There was another company that made cars like these, but I can't think of the name. It was something like Wild West Models or Old Time Models...

[Chris333]

I wasn't even close  "Comstock Carshops"

http://cgi.ebay.com/O-On30-mining-Mine-Tunnel-Ore-Car-kit-1025_W0QQitemZ220355998621QQihZ012QQcategoryZ485QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.comstockcarshops.com/cchome.html

[up1950s]

Wow, I'm not sure where you found that picture of the model, Richie, but that's the V&T car after they were sold to others - modified for narrow-gauge.  The cars had to be narrower, lost the side walkways, that meant that the brakemen couldn't reach the 'top handle' unloading rachet so they moved all that stuff to the edge where it could be worked from ground level.  But the basic car design was unchanged.

That's exactly how the car has to be modified to work for Z.  That's actually better than any prototype photos I've seen.

Here is the link to the picture
http://www.locopainter.com/store/gfx/photos/10248/full/10001.jpg
Here is the link to the site
http://www.locopainter.com/store/