http://www.exactrail.com/model-trains?product_type=2455 I have of the Front Range/McKean kits that I bought assembled and I still haven't figured out how to get them to be reliable and I have 2 more kits to build (maybe I can build them right). Of course, part of the reason I scrounge around for these kits is to avoid paying $30 for the Walthers or Atlas 73' cars. So, maybe not so much.
Probably you or one of your friends can help you to get the FR or McKean cars to run just fine my experience has been that proper weighting and good trucks can cure a multitude of problems. I'm also bumping up against what I consider the ceiling for me to buy cars. A $40-50 car, regardless of type or detail is just too much. Thankfully there's still Accurail, Bachmann, Bowser, and others that make affordable cars. At normal operating distances I can't really tell the wire grabs from the "slippery ridges."
There is nothing that can be done to make the Front Range/McKeen cars to either look prototypical (and I am not talking details) or operate properly. Rick J
Actually you can do some things and here they are: I'm curious what else I had to do with that beast other than cleaning up the mandatory mismatched parts and excessive flash that were a trademark of FRP/McKean. Some items I recall: 1) Assembled using acc, since no mek-based solvent I tried would weld the kit's "styrene" components together. 2) Reduced the thickness of the entire underframe molding so that it didn't look like an ordinary bulkhead flat with an added center partition, and then still had to lay in a .005 overlay to cover the gap in the side sill channel between the floor and underframe. 3) Discarded the molded ladder/bulkhead I beam flanges and built up new parts. 4) Reshaped the square top chords to at least half-right half-round shape. 5) Added .005 flanges to the center beam posts and deck risers. 6) Reshaped the winches and fabricated roping tabs and jacking pads. 7) Drilled out and notched the tie-down wire anchor points. And after all that, the center beam web was still ~9in thick, which is why I wished I had just scratchbuilt the car. From Jim Eager
I'm gonna be honest, they look plenty good enough for me, especially when I have a string of em. I just want them to be reliable.
one thing I noticed here. $46 is the REDUCED price for the cars. Looking on the actual pages for the cars, the original price is $64.95. YIKES
i just bought two passenger cars on ebay for 16.00 shipping included. If I had 50 bucks to spend on train stuff, I'd get a steam engine or something really big. 50 bucks for one car sheesh! That's just silly. i'd stick with those kits and figure out how to glue lead shot underneath em for more weight.
If you find a way to make them reliable, let us know. At least you have a place to hide some weight. I have yet to find any manufacturer that has a reliable coal hopper (quad hopper) that runs MTY and it is difficult to find places to hide additional weight. As for price...not in my budget.
$46 for one car, but if rounding up helps you make a point, crack on. But I'd dare say if it was a piece of rolling stock you were wanting badly enough, the tune would be different. One thing I've observed about people over the years is that they always find the money for things they want. They'll whine about one thing costing too much while they have a garage, or house full of "you name it" items that costed hundreds or thousands of dollars, things that were recreational and weren't required to keep them alive, healthy, clothed or a roof over their head. Nuff said.
I MIGHT pay $46 for one car...I have gone into the mid-$30 range for a brand-new passenger car I think ONCE, but really it goes against my model railroading philosophy and budget. $40 and up it had better have an electric motor in it and pull a lot of other cars! The other side of the coin is that these super-detailed high buck cars kind of negate the need for "modeling". Hey, just go buy it, why put in the work and fuss to paint and super-detail on your own? But I'll tell you what, I can put two of my cars together, one that I bought and one that I modeled myself - and the one I did is always far more satisfying (and interesting)..
I bought 1 new Bachmann train set on sale from Sears 7 years ago...it got me back, more, into model railroading. The rest of my rolling stock, engines, structures I purchased on Ebay. Yes I had to repair a lot of it. Yes most of it needed to have couplers changed, or trucks changed, or weight added, but I have a much more comprehensive knowledge about model Railroading, and the tinkering that MUST be done to get the layout up and running, and keep it that way. As they say one man's junk may be someone Else's treasure. I can't put a price on what I have learned. I think the knowledge may be of no value to others, but is priceless to me. I have seldom paid regular retail for anything in Model Railroading, and since I am not a rivet counter, I am usually happy with what I get. For me, $46 is way out in left field! Jim
On my nscale coal hoppers there are lots of indented spaces around the chutes on the bottom if you turn one over. I highly recommend that you go to the local hardware or home improvement store and get a tube of Household Goop. It is a rubber cement like product (but not rubber cement) that has many uses for model railroading and household uses. The company also make other goop products. Get what you will use for weight that fits into those spaces, put in some Goop first and then press in the weights. let sit until hard. It will still be rubbery like, but dry. Problem solved. I use it for holding weights in all of my rolling stock.