Walthers N Articulated Thrall Well Cars

[nscaler711]

That is where a Harbor Freight nineteen-dollar-digital-caliper fifteen-dollar-digital-caliper comes in handy.  No half-serious modeler should be without this very affordable and indispensable tool.  If you have a HF store around where you live then you don't even have to pay shipping.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=digital+caliper

I meant that i didnt have anything with me at the time... i have that one... it kills its own battery so everytime i want to ise it, its dead...

Side note, i sure love the down votes on my posts that arent really negative... and were a true statement... but not a single upvote on the ones that i initially posted to get people intrested in the models... whatever the vote system is stupid anyhow... I was not put on this earth to please anyone. 


As far as the Well cars go they would be good for anyone who likes to tinker, and model the late 80s to whenever these actually get pulled from service.

[James Costello]

Whats to compare? Thats like apples to oranges. Thralls Vs Maxi Stacks. I needed Thralls.

My post was about the price of these sets, not the prototype. Both the Walthers and Deluxe are RTR 5 car sets of 48' wells and as they are the only two that have been available in N, it is the only valid price comparison to make.

A better comparison would be between Kato Maxi Stacks and Deluxe Innovations. Even then you would only be comparing the 53' Maxi IV.

Ummm, No. A comparison that does not include Walthers would be irrelevant.

[GaryHinshaw]

I'll add an explicit thanks for posting your review of the new release.  I'm glad to hear that Walthers have improved the trucks & couplers, and I do applaud them for keeping these sets in production, even if they are pretty dated.  After all, this is still the only RTR non-Gunderson well set out there (unless my memory is seriously failing me).

That said, the new trucks don't address the "saw-tooth" issue with these cars: the ride height is different on either side of the articulated trucks because the coupling rings are too thick.  This can be seen in this before & after comparison of a set I modified several years ago.

Before:


After:


The fix is very simple: file both the top & bottom rings thinner.

Before:


After:


(Now I need to replace those trucks with Kato's 125T trucks...)

Some day I will cut one of these sets down to 40' wells to keep up with the times.  Some day.  If only they weren't made of Kryptonite.

[nscaler711]

I'll add an explicit thanks for posting your review of the new release.  I'm glad to hear that Walthers have improved the trucks & couplers, and I do applaud them for keeping these sets in production, even if they are pretty dated.  After all, this is still the only RTR non-Gunderson well set out there (unless my memory is seriously failing me).

That said, the new trucks don't address the "saw-tooth" issue with these cars: the ride height is different on either side of the articulated trucks because the coupling rings are too thick.  This can be seen in this before & after comparison of a set I modified several years ago.

Before:


After:


The fix is very simple: file both the top & bottom rings thinner.

Before:


After:


(Now I need to replace those trucks with Kato's 125T trucks...)

Some day I will cut one of these sets down to 40' wells to keep up with the times.  Some day.  If only they weren't made of Kryptonite.

Yeah that is next on my list to do, i started just to remove the paint so they would turn a bit more smoothly. The paint was awfully thick on the older runs and would sometimes stick for me on 19" curves. So i sanded the paint, and no more sticking.
That looks great also! So thanks for posting those!
They still need work, but they do fill a void in N scale. Atleast until DI produces the Thrall LoPac 2000s. When they do I hope i will be able to take the sets apart to weather and replace the trucks.

[ednadolski]

They still need work, but they do fill a void in N scale. Atleast until DI produces the Thrall LoPac 2000s.

How real is that?  AFAIK those haven't been made in like 20 years.  But I think NSK is supposed to be releasing some Thrall kits.

What about 53' rib-side well cars?   I definitely need some of those for Tehachapi II.

Ed

[ednadolski]

After:

Nice work!   The load guides would be a great addition, can anyone point me a some proto pics & dimensions?   Seems time to try my hand at SketchUp. 

Ed

[peteski]

I meant that i didnt have anything with me at the time... i have that one... it kills its own battery so everytime i want to ise it, its dead...

Side note, i sure love the down votes on my posts that arent really negative... and were a true statement... but not a single upvote on the ones that i initially posted to get people intrested in the models... whatever the vote system is stupid anyhow... I was not put on this earth to please anyone. 


As far as the Well cars go they would be good for anyone who likes to tinker, and model the late 80s to whenever these actually get pulled from service.

Ah, you weren't clear enough. Yes, all digital calipers always drain their batteries (the power button only turns off the display, which uses almost no power anyway). They need the power to stay on not to lose their position reading.  But I only have to change the battery in mine about once a year. These batteries are dirt cheap (you can get a multi-pack at a dollar store).

I agree with you on the voting/respect rating thing. Until now I have not voter up or down on this entire thread. But I did up-vote your post I'm replying to now as some one down-voted it for some reason. To me nothing you wrote warranted a down-vote.

[nscaler711]

How real is that?  AFAIK those haven't been made in like 20 years.  But I think NSK is supposed to be releasing some Thrall kits.

What about 53' rib-side well cars?   I definitely need some of those for Tehachapi II.

Ed

http://www.deluxeinnovations.com/rolling/rollingthrall01.html


@peteski
Thank you.
Also i am not quite sure how i would measure the bottom of the car to the top of the railhead...  

[peteski]

http://www.deluxeinnovations.com/rolling/rollingthrall01.html


@peteski
Thank you.
Also i am not quite sure how i would measure the bottom of the car to the top of the railhead...

I'm sure there are several ways to do it.  I would place 2 pieces of identical rail parallel to each other, place the car on one piece of rail and measure the distance from some point on the top of the car (like the top edge of the well) to the railhead of the adjacent track. You can use the caliper's depth gauge for that. Make sure that the caliper is perpendicular to the track.   Then pick up the car and measure the depth of the well (from the outside, using te caliper's jaws). Subtract that measurement from the first one and now you have the height of the well above the rail.

[ednadolski]

http://www.deluxeinnovations.com/rolling/rollingthrall01.html

That page has been around for a very long time.

Ed

[James Costello]

I agree with you on the voting/respect rating thing. Until now I have not voter up or down on this entire thread. But I did up-vote your post I'm replying to now as some one down-voted it for some reason. To me nothing you wrote warranted a down-vote.

Tell me about it @peteski - downvoted twice, probably by the same person, for explaining my position with logic and facts. How does that work? 

[wazzou]

http://www.deluxeinnovations.com/rolling/rollingthrall01.html


@peteski
Thank you.
Also i am not quite sure how i would measure the bottom of the car to the top of the railhead...

How I have done that in the past, is to put the car in question on the rails and slide styrene strip under the car.
Use the largest dimension you have and the add thinner strips until you've made contact.
It should be pretty easy to keep track of the thicknesses used for a cumulative measurement.

[jagged ben]

For what it's worth, here's my version of the Kato trucks...

That's some 3/32" aluminum tube, if I recall correctly.  I opened up the holes in the car bolsters a little to fit over it.  That's also an MT washer over the post, which you probably wouldn't need if you start with a stock model.  I needed it because I filed down

I'm a little embarrassed at how badly the close up with the wells looks due to the all the extra work I did to remove more of the cast detail.  Needs weathering too, still, after all these years.  But I'm proud of my brake piping!   

[GaryHinshaw]

The piping looks great!  How did you drill all those holes in the ribs to accept the pipes?  I thought about doing that with mine, but I figured I would break a dozen drill bits in the process because the metal is so hard and the rib geometry is tricky.  So I punted.

What about 53' rib-side well cars?   I definitely need some of those for Tehachapi II.

+∞

[nscaler711]

@jagged ben I command that you show us how you did the brake piping! 
But seriously we would like to know. Because I am with Gary on that. I know i would break so many #80 bits even attempting that...
of course my thought was to only drill pilot holes and glue brass rod into those... maybe we need a Walthers Thrall detailing thread...