Has FVM changed their wheel profile?

[Chris1274]

I have a bunch of FVM 36" metal wheelsets (#3601, .540" axle), some received recently and some from quite a while ago. Comparing the two, it seems that the profile of the newer ones is considerably narrower and has a lower flange height. Here's a comparison shot, with the newer axle on top:



Has anyone else noticed this?

[C855B]

FVM sells two sizes of treads, "semi fine scale" and "wide": http://www.foxvalleymodels.com/metalwheels.html

I suspect the bottom axle in your pic has "wide".

[Chris1274]

Good grief, I never noticed that

[sdodge]

An observation...I just bought a 12 pack of 33" wheels and the package says "N 33" Std Wheel W/.540 Axle". They seem to be wider treads compared to some of the original fine treads that I have but not as wide as some of the packages I have marked wide tread 

Perhaps they have gone to one intermediate tread to replace the different widths they had similar to what BLMA did???

[Chris1274]

Perhaps they have gone to one intermediate tread to replace the different widths they had similar to what BLMA did???

BLMA changed theirs? So that explains why the wheels I just bought don't fit into my painting jig 

[sdodge]

BLMA changed theirs? So that explains why the wheels I just bought don't fit into my painting jig 

Yes, earlier this year BLMA changed their wheels to a slightly wider tread and deeper flange.

[mmagliaro]

There's something weird about that picture.
The bottom wheelset looks like the left wheel has a substantially wider tread than the right wheel.
Is that right?  Or is just an illusion from the camera angle.

Personally, I would welcome a slightly deeper flange.   I use the FVM 33" wheels as my go-to replacement
for all my freight cars when I am ditching the stock MT wheels.  But in passenger cars, I have had a few
where the FVM wheelsets just cannot stay on the track.  Yes, yes, I know, I could try to make my trackwork
more perfect.  But honestly, a good bit of this is just the pulling, rocking, and twisting of those long cars.
I noticed that the FVM 36" wheels had .015" flanges.  That's mighty fine.  On the most problematic car car, I just gave up
and put Atlas 36" wheelsets in it because they had about a .022" flange and all the derailment problems
vanished. 

[Leggy]

There's something weird about that picture.
The bottom wheelset looks like the left wheel has a substantially wider tread than the right wheel.
Is that right?  Or is just an illusion from the camera angle.

Just an illusion of the camera angle, you can see the inside face of the left wheel but not the right meaning the camera is most likely centered over the right wheels.

[Wutter]

I don't have a picture, but while we're on this topic, has anyone noticed a change in dish contour of the 36" FVM wheels? The insulated side and the non-insulated side of the new wheels look quite different from each other compared to older 36" wheels from FVM where both sides looked relatively similar.

[Chris1274]

Just an illusion of the camera angle, you can see the inside face of the left wheel but not the right meaning the camera is most likely centered over the right wheels.

Not entirely an illusion. I noticed that on a number of axles one wheel tread is slightly wider than the other. There's quite a bit of inconsistency in how they're machined.