Micro Trains November release already posted.

[robert3985]

The Rail Gon looks like a major step upward for MTL with body-mounted couplers, wire grabs (?-is that true???) and BRAKE HOSES!

Too bad it's out of my era, and I wonder what the future holds for MTL now that Atlas has acquired them...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nscaler711]

Yeah just made an order for the RailGons on MTLs website, its a shame that will be my last order from them directly...
Even worse, its a brand new model, and we probably wont see another version of it, for a few years now that Atlas is taking over... 

[Sokramiketes]

The Rail Gon looks like a major step upward for MTL with body-mounted couplers, wire grabs (?-is that true???) and BRAKE HOSES!

Too bad it's out of my era, and I wonder what the future holds for MTL now that Atlas has acquired them...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Good model, edging toward great but a couple clarifications as I've been examining mine.

No wire grabs.  What you're seeing is that the yellow is UV printed, so there's paint on the top surface but not the sides.  It's not a bad way to get shadows... but the same effect happens on the sides of the ribs then.

The model tooling is nice except for the wonky brake detail underneath.  The part is long, and the hangers don't all plug into the underframe, so there's a snake that should be straight.  The end pins on one of mine were broken out of the box.  So I'm not sure they finished dialing in the injection molded brake detail. 

[turbowhiz]

Good model, edging toward great but a couple clarifications as I've been examining mine.

No wire grabs.  What you're seeing is that the yellow is UV printed, so there's paint on the top surface but not the sides.  It's not a bad way to get shadows... but the same effect happens on the sides of the ribs then.

The model tooling is nice except for the wonky brake detail underneath.  The part is long, and the hangers don't all plug into the underframe, so there's a snake that should be straight.  The end pins on one of mine were broken out of the box.  So I'm not sure they finished dialing in the injection molded brake detail.

The brake hoses are not factory installed, and the placement (middle bottom of box lid) isn't optimal for most prototypes unfortunately. The brake hoses have been supplied with all of the newly tooled models since the NSC Plate F box; They are identical to the TSC supplied brake hoses.

I had significant warping on the long part of the brake detail on one of my examples, but two other examples were fine. When I looked at it carefully, it seems that the box nest can easily catch the brake detail when the model is placed into the box, and I think that is where the trouble came from. With some gentle straightening I was able to repair my warped example, as it at had not broken.

[milw156]

I picked up one of the Railgons at Hiawatha Hobbies this weekend, along with a Bluford Shops dented (heavily) EL. I went to add resistors last nite, and to paint the wheels, and then remove the trucks for painting/weathering. I broke both truckpins trying to remove the trucks, it seems that MT adopted the Athearn approach to mounting their trucks on this one but used a plastic pin instead of a screw. (I do not have any of the 60' gons so have no idea if this was also done on that body style.) The wheels are also different, and have the back profile on them, but they are made out of a non-conductive metal, so cant be used for occupancy detection as is. my solution was to use the (FVM?) wheels off the Blufords car for the resistors, and the MT wheels for the other 2 axles on each car. I then had to drill out the broken off mounting pins from each bolster. if this was 3 weeks ago, I would contact MT for replacements, (timing is everything, right?!!!)
here is a pic showing the new(?) mounting post as well as the new wheel profiles


My thinking was to plug the hole with plastic rod, then drill a hole for a screw to retain the trucks, but any recommendations on the screws?

[GaryHinshaw]

Same thing happened to me with the 60' flat car - the broken pin is still stuck in place, and I haven't devised a solution yet.  Super annoying!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The wheels are also different, and have the back profile on them, but they are made out of a non-conductive metal, so cant be used for occupancy detection as is.

I hope that tooling gets lost on its way to Atlas.

[bbussey]

Should be able to drill out and tap for M2 screws.

[Sokramiketes]

I broke one pin on the 60' flat car conversion and used an M1.2 screw to screw the broken piece into the lodged piece, therefore securing the truck.

Future ones may get drilled out for a shouldered 2-56 screw.  (Shoulder added with PTFE tubing to a 2-56 screw)

[peteski]

Those  new wheelsets are something I was not too thrilled to see when they were intorduced for a brief time few years ago. Maybe Atlas will ditch them.

The metal wheels are actually blackened white metal castings (not typical machine-turned brass or nickel-silver).  They then are installed onto a plastic (Celcon?) axle. Yes, converting them to resistor wheels will be pretty much impossible.

[Sokramiketes]

Those  new wheelsets are something I was nto too thrilled to see when they were intorduced for a brief time few years ago. Maybe Atlas will ditch them.

The metal wheels are actually blackened white metal castings (not typical machine-turned brass or nickel-silver).  They then are installed onto a plastic (Celcon?) axle. Yes, converting them to resistor wheels will be pretty much impossible.

White metal but still sintered somehow, right? 

I have zero knowledge on this, so this is prefaced by true wonder:

It reminds me a lot of HO Kadee wheels and castings.  Combined with a rumor that MTL's casting machines were end of life, is it possible that Kadee did some contract work to create these wheelsets? 

Reminds me of another question by a friend, why didn't Kadee want to take over/buy Micro-Trains?  Edwards brothers break up still lingers?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

White metal but still sintered somehow, right? 

I have zero knowledge on this, so this is prefaced by true wonder:

It reminds me a lot of HO Kadee wheels and castings.  Combined with a rumor that MTL's casting machines were end of life, is it possible that Kadee did some contract work to create these wheelsets? 

Reminds me of another question by a friend, why didn't Kadee want to take over/buy Micro-Trains?  Edwards brothers break up still lingers?

That's actually a really good question. I can think of a number of potential reasons, but I'd be interested to know the real one.

[peteski]

White metal but still sintered somehow, right? 

I have zero knowledge on this, so this is prefaced by true wonder:

When these wheels were first introduced I was going to do a writeup, but they they disappeared until now.
I think the sintered-like effect is the brown darkening layer.  If it is scraped off, the white metal is solid.

I spoke to Eric Smith about those wheels at a Springfield show (he knows me as we have discussed various things over the years).  I suppose that  at this time it is ok to give the details he revealed to me. He told me that yes, those were diecast wheels produced by an outside company in USA.  I suppose that company could have been Kadee, but IIRC, he mentioned them being produced on the East coast.

Yes, as you know, the original N-scale Micro-Trains rib-back wheels were diecast metal (made by Kadee/Micro-Train in-house), but the very dark blackening layer seemed much thinner and better looking.  Same with all the MTL metal diecast underframes. Those were done in-house with blackening also done in-house. The new metal wheels just look odd.

[Sokramiketes]

Here's an HO Kadee reference.  These oddball MTL wheels have to come from the same place... what I assumed was Kadee made them in house, but it's also possible they use the same "east coast" supplier.

https://www.kadee.com/shop-by-category/trucks-and-wheels/ho-scale-trucks-and-wheels/501-ho-scale-arch-bar-trucks-with-33-ribbed-back-wheels-metal-fully-sprung



 

[Sokramiketes]

That's actually a really good question. I can think of a number of potential reasons, but I'd be interested to know the real one.

Right?  They're in the same area, presumably don't have the same staffing issues for some reason, and could probably absorb the remaining MTL staff to bolster and find efficiencies... 

That's why I was flummoxed by the question posed, and why it must be something other than logic, like a family rift?