Fox Valley announces they have acquired the Red Caboose tooling and product line

[chicken45]

Let it rain PRR X29s and FM flats!   Hallelujah!

I have a MOW set from Red Caboose and I could have sworn the flats were 42ft.

[bbussey]

Pretty sure also that the flats are 42'. Still an excellent model that will benefit from being upgraded to body-mounted couplers and ASF A-3 trucks with metal wheels.

[Dave V]

Yeah, I know they're not exact FMs, but they look quite close enough to my naked eye.  It's amazing how many FMs were still on the rails even in my era.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

If those flats were the metal ones produced by GHQ, it may be a while for them to be rerun

[James Costello]

If those flats were the metal ones produced by GHQ, it may be a while for them to be rerun

Pretty sure the DI 53'ers were GHQ.....

[nkalanaga]

No, those 50 ft boxcars definitely sat too high, but they're not hard to fix.  Glue plastic strips to the inside, horizontally, between the vertical spacers/support ribs.  One easy way to make them all the same height is to lay a piece of plastic the thickness you want the car lowered across the bottom (facing out) of the new spacers, then put the floor in, and carefully push the new spacers into place.  Once the floor sits on the old spacers, the new ones will be in the right place.  It sounds harder than it is, just remember to use enough glue to keep the joint wet until you can get it positioned, and DON'T glue the extra pieces in!

After the glue has dried, use a chisel blade and remove the existing spacer ribs so the floor sits on the new spacers.  You'll probably have to sand/file the ends as well, because there's a small ledge to support the floor there.  Put the floor in and glue pieces of 0.01 inch styrene to the sides as retainers.  Done carefully the floor can still be removed, and the car will sit at  the right height.

Depending on the new spacers you use, you may have to change the weight.  The last car I lowered didn't have a weight, so I added some stick-on weights to the floor.

[John]

Try again.   

http://www.nscale.net/forums/showthread.php?36314-Fox-Valley-News

Chulvis posted @ « on: Yesterday at 03:03:29 PM »

Nscale.net     Yesterday, 08:38 PM

but hey .. who's counting ..

[muktown128]

This is excellent news!  I have several PRR X-29 boxcars in various schemes and the PRR MOW set.  Looking forward to seeing these re-run with FVM metal wheel sets and possibly updated trucks.  I'll have to thank Matt in person when I see him. 

Scott

[jmarley76]

Cool news! Thanks for sharing...

[garethashenden]

Pretty sure also that the flats are 42'. Still an excellent model that will benefit from being upgraded to body-mounted couplers and ASF A-3 trucks with metal wheels.

Any recommendations for how to body mount the couplers? I don't want to drill through the deck...

[bbussey]

Walthers Goo, with styrene alignment strips cemented to the underfloor.  Should hold under reasonable loads.

[ljudice]

No, those 50 ft boxcars definitely sat too high, but they're not hard to fix.  Glue plastic strips to the inside, horizontally, between the vertical spacers/support ribs.  One easy way to make them all the same height is to lay a piece of plastic the thickness you want the car lowered across the bottom (facing out) of the new spacers, then put the floor in, and carefully push the new spacers into place.  Once the floor sits on the old spacers, the new ones will be in the right place.  It sounds harder than it is, just remember to use enough glue to keep the joint wet until you can get it positioned, and DON'T glue the extra pieces in!

After the glue has dried, use a chisel blade and remove the existing spacer ribs so the floor sits on the new spacers.  You'll probably have to sand/file the ends as well, because there's a small ledge to support the floor there.  Put the floor in and glue pieces of 0.01 inch styrene to the sides as retainers.  Done carefully the floor can still be removed, and the car will sit at  the right height.

Depending on the new spacers you use, you may have to change the weight.  The last car I lowered didn't have a weight, so I added some stick-on weights to the floor.

I actually found a way to convert them - using the FVM weights and Atlas FGE boxcar underframes.  But really, it would be nice to just have them come from the factory correctly.  They even got much worse when FVM switched to body mount couplers.

It would be nice to see the R/C centerbeam ride height fixed too....

[nkalanaga]

"They even got much worse when FVM switched to body mount couplers."  Thanks!  I was hoping they'd rerun them, as I'd like a couple of the SOO-style cars, undecorated, for kitbashing into earlier GN cars.  FVM sold them as GN, and they're a good, if not perfect, match for the later GN plate C cars, but the earlier had a slightly different door, and were Glacier Green.

If the height is even worse, I'll know that it has to be worked on as well.   The couplers will probably have to be changed, as the GN had cushion underframes, and I doubt that FVM added them.  OH well, "Model Railroading Is Fun!".

As easy as they are to lower, it would have been simple for them to fix the height when they added the body-mount couplers.

[learmoia]

Please retool the hoppers for Body Mounts!

Please Please Please... Coil Cars in Conrail, with rounded and angled hoods.. (No "NYC", No Quality logos)
And Grey Covered hoppers!... again No NYC no quality..

Thanks! ~Ian

[RSWController]

Yeah I agree. I've worked my a$$ off gathering Conrail coil cars. I've de-patched a bunch of the NYC's. I've custom painted a few of the round hoods. It's been a  difficult process.