PRR F33 heavy duty center well car kit now available

[prbharris]

Pennsylvania Railroad ordered just 16 of these heavy duty wellcars built by Greenville between 1938 and 1942. The cars were all welded with a wooden lower well deck - the planks of which were placed both longways and sideways across the deck. The cars ran on 3 axle Buckeye trucks.

The cars, with a high tonnage and deep wells were in demand across the US to transport large electrical equipment and large castings etc.. The cars were numbered 47080 - 470095 and became Penn Central and then Conrail's 768121-768136. They lasted in service until the 1980's.

The kit is avilable with appropriate decals included

http://www.nscalekits.co.uk/prrf33.html

Peter

Peter Harris
N scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[chicken45]

Pete!
Cool! Got any pictures of full on side view for those of us working for the Ride Height Police?
If the car is high, think it can be lowered easily by filing?
Can we see pics of the where the coupler will go?

[cbroughton67]

Pete!
Cool! Got any pictures of full on side view for those of us working for the Ride Height Police?
If the car is high, think it can be lowered easily by filing?
Can we see pics of the where the coupler will go?

I'll second Josh's request. Ride height needs to be correct or at least correctable. Otherwise, it's DOA (like the F30d's) in my opinion. Integrating the coupler box into the car will go a long way toward getting the ride height right.

[prbharris]

Got any pictures of full on side view for those of us working for the Ride Height Police?
If the car is high, think it can be lowered easily by filing?

Sorry for the delay. This is a comparison of the model [without decals] and the prototype. The height is due to the difficulties of the MT truck - but the bolster can be reduced in height by filing if wanted - with an underslung coupler to achieve the correct height. I hope that this helps.

Best wishes

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[cbroughton67]

Sorry for the delay. This is a comparison of the model [without decals] and the prototype. The height is due to the difficlutlies of the MT truck - but the bolster can be reduced in hieght by filing if wanted - with an underslung coupler to achieve the correct height. I hope that this helps.

That is ridiculously high. Unless the height of the coupler box mounting pad can be adjusted as well, there's not an under-slung coupler in the world that can make up that kind of height difference once it's corrected. If the issue is indeed with the truck, that implies that it can't be lowered without re-introducing those same difficulties. If the issue is the location/height of the coupler box (which I suspect it is, at least in-part), the coupler box has to be integrated into the body of the car itself, or the height (both car and coupler) will never be correct. The F30/F30d are case-in-point. I integrated a 1015 coupler box into my F22 master/mold, and the resulting car ride height and coupler height are spot-on, so it can be done.

Chris
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[prbharris]

the coupler box has to be integrated into the body of the car itself, or the height (both car and coupler) will never be correct. ... I integrated a 1015 coupler box into my F22 master/mold, and the resulting car ride height and coupler height are spot-on, so it can be done. Chris

Yes - I have looked again at the drawings and I think that a mistake has been made. It is quite possible to redraw the ends so that they are much lower. The coupler box is already integrated into the ends of the car, but the bolster and coupler box are too high. I am sorry for this - it has not been pointed out before!

I will get another end patterned - and post it here to see how it looks, but as I can now see, we can do a lot better.

Apologies

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[prbharris]

It is quite possible to redraw the ends so that they are much lower.

and this shows the revised ends and the lower well - my sincere apologies for the mess up!

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[chicken45]

If there's ever a time to use MTL 2004 underslung couplers, it's on flat cars like this.
Peter, it makes me happy that you are redoing it and taking our feedback constructively!

I was burnt too, on these F30's. I bought a bunch of them nearly 10 years ago, and they remain unfinished because I feel like I would need to mill out coupler pockets.

[71jeep]

I just bought one earlier in the week can get the new version instead?

[cbroughton67]

and this shows the revised ends and the lower well - my sincere apologies for the mess up!

Peter

First, let me second @chicken45 sentiments regarding your willingness to accept our critiques and make changes to the model. That is absolutely the best, and it is very appreciated.

With the redrawn ends, after taking into consideration the bolster height of the trucks and the car, where does this put the deck height relative to the prototype? From this photo I found, it looks like you have room to move the coupler pocket up a little further if necessary to get the deck height lower.

Chris
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[towl1996]

....but as I can now see, we can do a lot better.

Apologies

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

Good show on the redesign. I assume you'll let us know when the new design is available. Thanks

[prbharris]

From this photo I found, it looks like you have room to move the coupler pocket up a little further if necessary to get the deck height lower. Chris

The redesign with the 2004 coupler is shown below. If this is OK I will send this for repatterning. This redesign of the car ends has also had to amend the sides, so those who have purchased the old incorrect version will be sent the new car - but there will be a delay in getting this out - apologies.

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[prbharris]

oops -  an issue with the order of grouping that can be addessed easily I hope!

as shown



Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com

[nickelplate759]

Peter - one thing worth checking - is there enough clearance above the end axle that the 2004 coupler box won't interfere with it?  If it's only the part of the box behind the screw post then the  box could be trimmed, but if the screw is directly over an axle then it might be a problem.