Fox Valley Models: Boxcar Height

[ai5629]

First, I want to say that I really like the Fox Valley Models' Boxcars.  Their ride height needs corrected, but that has been brought up multiple times already.  The question I had was in regards to the height of the cars.  These cars seem really tall to me for a "Plate C" car.  They appear to be almost the height of a "Plate E" car.  They are almost identical in height to the Atlas 53' Evans boxcar (another Plate C car), but the Atlas car's over all height and ride height are much more pleasing to the eye.  Am I seeing things or what.  By the way, I noticed this with the Intermountain Rib Side PS Boxcars also.  (The Intermountain and FVM cars are most likely produced by the same company due to there identical packaging.)  If you run either an IM or FVM car next to an Atlas 50' ACF PD car (a Plate B car), the IM and FVM cars look awful.  They look like high cube cars next to the Atlas car.  This is due to Atlas getting the ride height perfect on these cars, but I digress.  Thank you all for you insight.

[Walkercolt]

"Correct" ride height will always be a problem with N-scale due to several factors we should all know by now. On reason I prefer an N-scale layout built below eye level. Or way above eye-level. But that's me. Nobody's right or wrong on these things.

[tom mann]

The FVM cars are somewhat easy to lower thanks to the plastic frame.

[unittrain]

Yes indeed they are super easy to lower I tackled FVM's Rock Island boxcar as my first lowering project
and it was no problem at all! Simply file down the bolster about 1/16" and file the underframe a little above
the coupler pocket and to complete use a small file to take a little material off the ends of the boxcar right above
the coupler pocket! That is if you wish to avoid putting Z-scale couplers on it! If you dp that you may skip the last to steps I believe.
The cars I hate lowering are the MTL's those I have to use a cut off wheel and A Dremel tungsten carbide cutter!! But I got that
operation down to about 15 minutes per car.

[wazzou]

They are indeed too high.  I lowered the only one I have purchased which is the boxcar red SOO car.  It's really the only one that FVM has that fits my pre-1970 era.  I easily shaved 1/8"+ on mine in 10 minutes or so.  I also added some weight.

[Mark5]

Is there something unique about these being too high? Or have all other manufacturers gone lower? ???

[tom mann]

The cars I hate lowering are the MTL's those I have to use a cut off wheel and A Dremel tungsten carbide cutter!! But I got that
operation down to about 15 minutes per car.

I had it down to about 15 as well, but that was 15 minutes of non-stop filing.  I just knew where to stop so I didn't waste time by continually checking.

FVM underframes fit MT cars, as I recall. 

[ai5629]

I'm curious, how do you guys who file down the bolsters get them even?  What I mean by that is, how do you file down each bolster the same amount and keep it level so the car sits straight?  I filed down some MDC cars years ago, and I was always concerned with the car leaning from end to end or side to side.  That's why lowering the bolsters is such a pain in the a##.  Does practice make perfect?  Thanks.

[wazzou]

Practice does indeed make perfect.  The first thing to always remember is to work slowly...file, check your work, file, check your work...you get the idea.  Also, invest in a good digital caliper to measure your results.  This is a perfect reason to have one and you'll discover many other opportunities to use it. 
I've lowered over three hundred Micro-trains cars and I used a benchtop belt/disk sander on the disk with good lighting and an Optivisor.  I did between 10-15 per night after work when I could and it was quite easy.  It took no time at all to figure out where to sand to.  If I ever went to far which was seldom but it happens, I used my Dremel and a carbide bit to dish out enough room for wheel clearance.  Part of the process to begin with was to paint the trucks and convert to low-pro wheels.  Only occasionally did I have to file some of the ends of the underframe for coupler clearance.

[tom mann]

The smart thing to do is to build a little jig to help you file evenly.  But I never made one... ;D

Practice does make perfect, but the key is to pick features of the underframe and use those to monitor the evenness of the bolster as it is filed down.  For example, on the MT 50' underframe, I file until the bolster is just slightly higher than the floor (the inside part of the floor, and higher because the frame is upside down).  Comparing bolster with floor makes it easy to see when to stop or if one side isn't even.

I also had a little test track to test leaning and wobbling.

Some ancient photo, from back in the day:

[wcfn100]

I use two different mill files.  One brand new to really hack into the bolsters, and another one that's been used for a while which gives a little finer control.


Jason

[Chris333]

Now I use my small mill. Only thing that sucks is the mills travel is not that great so I have to do one bolster then flip the car around and do the other side. I can also dig out the wheel wells with it.

[Dave Schneider]

The smart thing to do is to build a little jig to help you file evenly.  But I never made one... ;D

Practice does make perfect, but the key is to pick features of the underframe and use those to monitor the evenness of the bolster as it is filed down.  For example, on the MT 50' underframe, I file until the bolster is just slightly higher than the floor (the inside part of the floor, and higher because the frame is upside down).  Comparing bolster with floor makes it easy to see when to stop or if one side isn't even.

Tom,
I am having a hard time understanding your example above....higher than the inside part of the floor....but upside down. It seems a bit too Zen or possibly Jedi for me. Could you expand on this a bit, as I just don't get it. Will this be covered in your upcoming book "Lowering"?  :
Thanks, Dave

[tom mann]

Tom,
I am having a hard time understanding your example above....higher than the inside part of the floor....but upside down. It seems a bit too Zen or possibly Jedi for me. Could you expand on this a bit, as I just don't get it. Will this be covered in your upcoming book "Lowering"?  :
Thanks, Dave

The bolster that is filed should end up just slightly higher than the floor (see above photo).

[Dave Schneider]

The bolster that is filed should end up just slightly higher than the floor (see above photo).

Thanks Tom.  I guess I got hung up on the "inside part of the floor" part.
Best wishes,
Dave