Micro Trains May Releases

[bbussey]

Believe it or not Bryan,  Gregg would still like to offer this car as a kit and he has actually built three different varieties.  There is still hope.  I wouldn't hold your breath, but...

Andrew, that's actually good to hear, as there remains a chance we'll see some form of it.  It would be nice to have the radial wood-sheathed ice reefer as well.  Although I am very pleased that the CN 8-hatch ice reefer finally made it to market, even in limited quantity.  That was my top target when he announced the three cars all those years ago.

[sirenwerks]

I think the loads win this month.  The 2D wall of crates on pallets and the man of hay.

[Cajonpassfan]

No, the color of the lettering and pinstripes is wrong.  Should be a silver-white, not stencil white, and the car would then have been prototypical.  The NYCSHS made note of that in their quarterly magazine when the RPO was released, but it appears MTL is stuck with the error at this point and has to see the full series through.  I expect the eventual parlor, coach and observation to be incorrect as well.  Doubly disappointing regarding the parlor, as NYC leased/owned the largest fleet of Plan 3416 parlors.

So Bryan, not being a Central modeler,
other than the pinstripe and lettering color, the car is reasonably accurate? I'm just looking for a representative NYC heavyweight car that could have made it to the west coast on one of the tourist trains like the Third Grand Canyon...
Thanks, Otto K.

[screeh]

The horror, a CN trailer on a CP flatcar.  Must be from an alternate universe.

Very much from this one, Scott (posting a link only beacuse the photo belongs to Ian McCord, not me):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/71639059@N00/6320341781

[Scottl]

My eyes!  The burn!

[bbussey]

So Bryan, not being a Central modeler,
other than the pinstripe and lettering color, the car is reasonably accurate? I'm just looking for a representative NYC heavyweight car that could have made it to the west coast on one of the tourist trains like the Third Grand Canyon...
Thanks, Otto K.

Otto,

That's akin to asking "other than the lettering being orange instead of yellow, is this Union Pacific boxcar accurate?"  How many Rio Grande modelers bought the last Kato SD45 run deco'd in Rio Grande fluorescent orange?  I'm a New Haven modeler, but I didn't buy the black (instead of freight car red) MTL steel boxcar or the MTL 40' (instead of 36') wood boxcar because they aren't representative of the prototype.

I know that the NYCSHS folks don't consider it to be accurate, based on their review of the RPO.  In my view, the NYC heavyweights aren't accurate.

Of course, every single one of the air-conditioned gold-lettered Pullman green cars have incorrectly had gold leaf lettering instead of the proper imitation gold lettering, so it all depends on how accurate you prefer your models to be.

[bbussey]

Very much from this one, Scott (posting a link only beacuse the photo belongs to Ian McCord, not me):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/71639059@N00/6320341781

Same car number as what is on the MTL model.  Same cargo as well.

[Nato]

          A Correct car name on the NYC sleeper this month instead of a no name decal job required like last month. Yes this car could have run as a tour car or pool car out west. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[bbussey]

         A Correct car name on the NYC sleeper this month instead of a no name decal job required like last month. Yes this car could have run as a tour car or pool car out west. Nate Goodman (Nato).

Should have been either Lake Tahoe or Lake Colville as far as car names are concerned, but it's conceivable that neither was painted in two-tone grey and instead retained the PULLMAN lettering.  I'm guessing that's the case, and that the decision was made to paint the model in the grey scheme anyway to have a uniform set for the NYC modelers.  Of course, most NYC modelers will know all of the gray cars are incorrect overall and seek alternatives, so it doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things.

[ljudice]

Should have been either Lake Tahoe or Lake Colville as far as car names are concerned, but it's conceivable that neither was painted in two-tone grey and instead retained the PULLMAN lettering.  I'm guessing that's the case, and that the decision was made to paint the model in the grey scheme anyway to have a uniform set for the NYC modelers.  Of course, most NYC modelers will know all of the gray cars are incorrect overall and seek alternatives, so it doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things.

I know you're right, Bryan, but I've watched the majority of buyers at the LHS come in and say "do you have something in orange to match my locomotive".....   

[Cajonpassfan]

Otto,

That's akin to asking "other than the lettering being orange instead of yellow, is this Union Pacific boxcar accurate?" 

Well Bryan, I get that, but no it isn't. I've been known to restripe and reletter models, and this one seems easy enough to do. Not being a Central modeler, my question was, and still is, whether this particular Pullman is otherwise a reasonable model of a NYC car. There were several flavors of the 10-1-2 plan, and some were rebuilt and modified to serve specific needs (ATSF closed one of the vestibules for example and used prominent steam ejector AC) so it seemed like a reasonable question to ask; If I'm going to bother improving the finish, I'd like to know I'm starting with the right model.
Regards, Otto K.

[bbussey]

Well Bryan, I get that, but no it isn't. I've been known to restripe and reletter models, and this one seems easy enough to do. Not being a Central modeler, my question was, and still is, whether this particular Pullman is otherwise a reasonable model of a NYC car. There were several flavors of the 10-1-2 plan, and some were rebuilt and modified to serve specific needs (ATSF closed one of the vestibules for example and used prominent steam ejector AC) so it seemed like a reasonable question to ask; If I'm going to bother improving the finish, I'd like to know I'm starting with the right model.
Regards, Otto K.

Yeah, it is, because you can reletter the hypothetical Union Pacific boxcar also.  And in this case, you'll have to remove the printing without disturbing the two-tone gray paint underneath.  The answer you seek is up thread in the same post you inquired about:

No, the color of the lettering and pinstripes is wrong.  Should be a silver-white, not stencil white, and the car would then have been prototypical.  The NYCSHS made note of that in their quarterly magazine when the RPO was released, but it appears MTL is stuck with the error at this point and has to see the full series through.  I expect the eventual parlor, coach and observation to be incorrect as well.  Doubly disappointing regarding the parlor, as NYC leased/owned the largest fleet of Plan 3416 parlors.

NYC had 10-1-2 Plan 3410 sleepers acquired from Pullman, and East Alton is one of those cars.  As far as how close the Pullman Mechanical A/C underbody arrangement is to the MTL model, you'd have to reference photos of the prototype.  I'm assuming that photos of East Alton are readily available, since MTL used that as the basis for the model and they tend to pull from existing photo-laden reference books to deco their models.

[Sokramiketes]

I hear what you're saying Bryan, but I'm actually ok with the stencil white on the model.  The silver-white color is a subtlety that I'm afraid MTL would turn into metallic silver and then the scheme would really suffer.

I was involved in creating stencils for the Dover Strait at IRM and even up close the color is very subtle.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3010678

[bbussey]

Fair enough.  Now that I look more closely ... should the missing PULLMANs in the corners, position of the lower stripe and the font on the railroad name matter?

[CBQ Fan]

I guess my roster is too large and my time to limited to worry about every single item to be perfectly accurate.  Yes it would be great if every company got every detail correctly every time.  It's not going to happen.  That being said I don't think it is fair to give someone crap for wanting to buy a car that is or is going to be produced with errors if it gives the right feel for a car that could be seen on their layout.  It is one thing to have a C&NW Kato dome car sitting in your coach yard, compared to a 10-1-2 sleeper with the wrong shade of silver for the lettering.