I like the IM kits too! Nevertheless, I am a big fan of IM as they have been filling some big "holes" in my N&W equipment roster in the past few years (particularly in the way of covered hoppers).
Having assembled 30+ kits over the last few years I have to agree, a quality sprue cutter and drilling the holes is a must. But if you do run into trouble like I did on the first few assemblies IM replaced the damaged parts no questions asked. That is quality customer care in my book. Forever an IM fan including the DRGW tunnel motors.
Erik- I can point to one aspect of the problem. Dealers in my region stopped stocking them. I cannot build them, if I cannot buy them. So, what's in that warehouse? Do you have any of the 60514 Milwaukee Road Ice Reefers? How about UTLX, GATX and SHPX tank cars? Good old fashioned, common black tank cars.... Boxcab E50 [ April 04, 2005, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: BoxcabE50 ]
Boxcab: The kits available are (and have been for 3+ years) shown here: Intermountain Kits Dealers (unless they don't need to earn a living from the business) can't afford to inventory product that sells rarely if ever in a year. We work to turn our inventory a minimum of 6 times a year. Each IMRC dealer gets a hard-copy memo each month that shows what is in stock. Ask for it. If your LHS won't order for you, I or most of the advertisers here will! None of the cars you asked about are in stock. The tank car mold is no more so buy what you can find where you find it.
2 downsides about I-M rolling stock 1) try as i might, I coud not find a way to body monts the ps-2 17 ribbed 2) the ACF's are to small. LBF might SOMEDAY have the 5300. '
I have really come to prefer the Intermountain cars as my favorites for their detail and accuracy. I have heard you can remove the roofs by freezing the car, then gently prying the joint loose. I'd try this out first on a car you don't mind damaging too much just to play it safe... I use the A-line 1/4 ounce weights with pell-n-stick rubber mounts...they work great. I've got quite a few kits awaiting assembly myself. Gregg, let me know if you are looking for any specific car and I'll see if I have any. Thanks, Erik, for your response...Intermountain is truly a class act, and it makes a great hobby even better to have manufacturers who have such a clear focus on the customer!
George- I am aware of that listing. Since Erik was live on the list, thought I'd ask just in case. It never hurts. And one in a while, something on the wish list surfaces. The tank car mold is a real bummer. It's a car N scale is hurting for. Leaves our best source for decent quality in that body style with MT. And fighting with the collectors for what we runners need. Boxcab E50
Ed- If you know anyone with some Precision Masters #1064 Unimate Body Mount Coupler Brackets, see if you can bum a pair. Try those. I have used them on several brands of hoppers. Barely enough on hand, to finish what is on my work bench. A package used to be about $1.50. Enough to do four cars. I just checked the Red Caboose web site. (RC acquired PMI a few years back.) They do show these. Look in N scale, under "Parts." Listed as #RNP-51064, $2.50. In stock. Boxcab E50
Many good tips here. I also much preferred building kits so I could body mount MT couplers and weight the cars per NMRA recommendations. In fact, I'm not sure I have bought any more Intermountain cars since they went to built-up for those reasons! I used 1/16" lead sheet for weight (non-magnetic so it doesn't interact with MT uncouplers). I cut the lead sheet to fit under the gondola wood floor so you don't even notice it is there. House cars get squares of lead sheet cut to fit (the width of the inside of the car). I usually have 2 or 3 at each end of the car. The lead sheet is fastened with clear silicone caulk, which is really an excellent adhesive for almost any material.
boxcab, I'll order some, since I didn't sell ALL my ps-2's thanks for the tip!!! Ed- If you know anyone with some Precision Masters #1064 Unimate Body Mount Coupler Brackets, see if you can bum a pair. Try those. I have used them on several brands of hoppers. Barely enough on hand, to finish what is on my work bench. A package used to be about $1.50. Enough to do four cars. I just checked the Red Caboose web site. (RC acquired PMI a few years back.) They do show these. Look in N scale, under "Parts." Listed as #RNP-51064, $2.50. In stock. Boxcab E50 </font>[/QUOTE]
Plug it, Dano! I see the problem. You guys fell into the old trap that made me pull my hair out. "We made a wide variety of road names. One sold out, but the others did not sell out. Therefore, no one wants this type of car" which is similar to the logic to determine that "she's a witch!" Obviously, the real problem is that you overproduced road names no one wanted. The rule to make sure any run of models sells out: black tankers(UTLX, CONX), Santa Fe or PFE reefers, SP or SantaFe boxcars. Check EBay prices for your previous prodution runs. If they are getting double the old retail price, it's time to dig out your molds! By the by, I just about singlehandedly wiped out the remaining stock of ART reefers a couple of years ago, to protect potato shipments out of Alamosa and the Valley. Excellent cars! Tony Burzio San Diego, CA
I haven't counted how many IMRC kits I have yet to build... but I recall that the 20 to 30 kits that I have built took me an average of 2 hours (each) to finish. Of course, I was very careful with the cutting and assembly of the kits. I didn't do the "assembly line" process either; each kit was built independantly. I usually didn't build more than one kit per day; and, I would give myself about a week to recover. I estimate that it would take me a few years to finish the unbuilt kits at that rate. I used to buy the full 12 car run of several road names... NP, WP, SP etc... I now prefer to get the RTR models, even though I buy fewer of them. I think that IMRC had an excellent idea with these cars, but, they over-did-it with the 12 number runs. It would have been better to release kits with 4 roadnames of 3 different numbers on a monthly basis. The kits that sold the best would be re-run more often, those that didn't sell would be discontinued.
Nice model, but sorry to disappoint, WP had zero steel body reefers in the PFE pool. And the Color Pictorial is all about engines. You mean Eager's Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment. The photo on page 44 is a wood reefer, originally a wood reefer and rebuilt as a wood reefer. The I/M car would be appropriately pulled by a GS-4 in Pennsy colors, I would think.
Hang in there! Will try to dig my parts out this evening. And a car that was converted. There was also an article in Railmodel Journal many years ago. Will look for that as well. Boxcab E50
Here's my solution for weighting the Intermountain kits. It's been a few years since I built one of these but what I have done in the past is use small BB's. I bought a box of Crossman BB's, the type you shoot out of an air rifle. I placed the rolling stock atop a scale and dabbed some white glue (Elmer's) in the interior of the reefer over both of the trucks. I then slowly added BB's to the glue making sure they were evenly spaced until I achieved the desired weight. Joe
