Intermountain Flats hitting the shelves....

[sizemore]

No issue on the dot, just once again, to ME at least - it's easier to add this stuff than remove it.

I'm on the fence about having COTS labels too - but I will pick these up - very easy to change one way or the other.

- Lou

Its actually quite easy. Grab yourself an air eraser.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=air+eraser

Mask, blast and clearcoat.

The S.

[ai5629]

Regarding the Penn Central car.  The car is a spot on 712F built by the NYC's DSI in 1943. The NYC number series is NYC499300-499599.  The PC number series is PC715700-715999.  According to my 10-75 ORER, 69 cars in PC and 32 in NYC reporting marks. The paint scheme Intermountain used is from the MSB PC Color Guide, page 86.  PC715840 is shown in the center photo on that page.  This road number was offered in the original HO release of these cars (1-6).  The first N scale release road numbers (1-6) are the second HO release (7-12).  The photo in the MSB book is undated.  There are some Conrail yellow door boxcars in the background of the photo.  Conrail yellow door boxcars started showing up in 1979.  The two cars in the photo, a class X74 and a class X71, were painted by Conrail's Reading car shops in what appears to be 5-80 on the shop date.  This would be correct since X71's and X74's were being cranked out by that shop all throughout 1980.  These were done by the Reading car shop since the road number is on panels 2-4.  If it was Hollidaysburg, it would be on 3-5.  The Conrail cars are glossy and there are leaves on the trees.  So my date guess for the photo is summer 1980.  This would explain the wheel dot on the PC car.  The PC car was reweighed, but the date on the car was not changed.  I would say the wheel dot was added and the COTS modified at that time.  If you wanted to represent the car in its original 5-73 image, I would get rid of the wheel dot, change the COTS to a single square panel (in use in 1973), add an ACI tag and correct the shop code.  Intermountain used a shop code of P53 (Hagerstown, MD) which is wrong.  Penn Central painted FM's almost exclusively at Altoona (P59), and that shop code needs changed to correctly represent the prototype (you can also clearly see P59 in the photo).  I have never seen one of these cars painted Conrail.  Conrail used these cars with the PC reporting marks for about 10 years in revenue service.  When these cars were painted, they ended up as flatcars for camp cars used with work trains and painted in Conrail's MOW gray.  All this being said, I will be getting two PC cars, one of which I will renumber to PC715840, add an ACI tag and correct the scale code.  Thank you.

Jeff

[Cumbo2000]

Yup, these shipped with Roller Bearing trucks ...

I will pick up one of the B&O bulkheads and replace the trucks - very nice models!

Mark

I just received two lettered for the B&O from M.B. Klein one regular flat and one bulkhead, and yes, both have roller bearing trucks.

This is a big disappointment as replacing the trucks will add to the costs. I would guess none of the railroads schemes currently offered by IRC ever had roller bearing trucks. The B&O flats were scrapped still running on their solid bearing trucks.

Has anyone check if the BLMA 70T solid bearing trucks are a direct substitute?

Bob Witt

[bbussey]

The factory made a mistake on the truck style.  Contact InterMountain directly for replacements.  Yes, the BLMA trucks are a direct substitute.

The detail on the model is outstanding, as is the deco. 

[bbussey]

CORRECTION — while the sideframes are the same, the bolster beam is a new design with a smaller bolster hole.  So the BLMA trucks will not work.  Contact InterMountain directly for friction-bearing replacements.

[nkalanaga]

Will BLMA trucks work if you also change the pin, rather than reusing the IM pin?

[bbussey]

No. You have to contact InterMountain for the correct A-3 friction-bearing trucks.

[Ngineer]

You have to contact InterMountain for the correct A-3 friction-bearing trucks.

Is this offer limited to the 48 states or will they send the correct trucks to Hawaii or Alaska and overseas, e.g. Europe?

Javier

[bbussey]

I don't know, you will have to ask them.

[Cumbo2000]

You have to contact InterMountain for the correct A-3 friction-bearing trucks.

I called InterMountain today and the people I spoke with have no solution for proper friction or solid bearing replacement trucks for their N scale AAR 53' flat cars.

Suggestions?

Bob Witt

[Chris333]

Got my cars today. Too bad about the trucks, but they are otherwise nice cars.

[Frisco Larry]

The factory made a mistake on the truck style.  Contact InterMountain directly for replacements.  Yes, the BLMA trucks are a direct substitute.

The detail on the model is outstanding, as is the deco. 

This is what I got from Intermountain: "I'm not sure where you got your information but we have not made any official statements or offerings for new trucks.  We are currently reviewing the options at this time but nothing has been decided.  I will keep your information in case the situation changes."

[Snark45]

After putting aside my initial annoyance at Intermountain for releasing these cars with the wrong trucks, I began to think about how to address the problem. I came up with this:

1.   Get yourself a small Phillips and remove the existing trucks. Select a number drill that fits smoothly and snugly through the truck’s bolster hole. This turns out to be a #42 (0.0935” dia.).
2.   Select a Micro-trains small-size bolster pin and secure the ribbed-pin portion in a machinist’s vise equipped with a v-block. The shoulder on the M-T pins is the correct diameter for the Fox Valley trucks many of us would like to use on these cars.
3.   Carefully drill a small pilot hole (#55 drill or so) straight into the center of the M-T pin from the top. The existing dimple makes this pretty easy. I did this by hand/eye, but using a small drill press would be better.
4.   Swap drills and drill the final hole into the pin as deep as you can.
5.   Remove the pin from the vise and use a very sharp pair of cutters to clip off the existing small-diameter ribbed pin from the larger shoulder portion you have just drilled out. If you went deep enough, you’ll see the hole you just drilled. Dress the cut if necessary with a fine file.
6.   Test-fit the pin you just made over the threaded truck-mounting nub protruding from the bottom of the car. Clean up the 0.0935” hole as necessary such that it rotates freely on the nub.
7.   When you’re satisfied, insert the modified pin in the normal fashion into a FVM 70-ton solid-bearing truck. Mount this assembly onto the car and secure it with the original screw. Don’t over-tighten it.
8.   Put it on the layout for a test-run. Mine rolled happily along with no derailments, weird noises or other issues. I will keep an eye on it for awhile to make sure the screw doesn’t back out…

Best,
Harry

[reinhardtjh]

Wait, I'm confused.  Are you allowed to do actual modeling in the Product Discussion threads? 

[Snark45]

I dunno  --  I'm relatively new here & didn't know where else to put it.

Any suggestions? Are you "allowed" to post the same entry in different threads? I  thought it was a reasonable method of getting FVM trucks onto these beautifully detailed cars and that others might be interested...

Best Regards, Harry