Lowering MTL Passenger Cars

[jimmo]

I did a search to see if this subject had been discussed previously but didn't find anything specific. Has anyone attempted to lower the car bodies of the MTL N-scale passenger cars?

[bbussey]

They don't need to be lowered.  You just have to extend the centersill to fill in the whitespace over the trucks and behind the coupler box.  Once you do that, the appearance improves greatly and they no longer appear to be riding high.  I used Evergreen strip styrene, .250" wide and whatever thickness was closest to the bolster thickness.

[Joetrain59]

Bryan, would you have a before and after pic?

[bbussey]

I looked in my archives, no pics from that angle.  But it's very simple to do.  Just cut the styrene strip to fit between where the centersill stops and the bolster, and between the bolster and the coupler pocket, and cement in place.  Then paint the four pieces of styrene black.  It won't interfere with the truck pivot and it significantly improves the look of the model.

One note — the cars may no longer run on 9¾ radius and smaller.  I don't know, as I don't run on radii that tight.

[Chris333]

I plan to make view blocks as well, soon as I have a single window coach to try it on! 

[jmlaboda]

I plan to make view blocks as well, soon as I have a single window coach to try it on! 

Waiting on bated breath...

[bbussey]

I plan to make view blocks as well, soon as I have a single window coach to try it on! 

Or your Erie baggage car, since it appears that may be ahead of the coach on the tooling schedule.

[jimmo]

Thanks Bryan, I figured that you would have done something about the "gap."

I've looked around at prototype passenger cars of that era and I have yet to see those kind of trucks with (what appear to be) loops on each end. Does anyone have picture reference of those?

[nkalanaga]

"One note — the cars may no longer run on 9¾ radius and smaller. "

If that's an issue, a narrower strip would work almost as well.  From the side it's hard to tell how wide the view block is, and as long as the car is on the track, no one will get a better view.

[jimmo]

One note — the cars may no longer run on 9¾ radius and smaller.  I don't know, as I don't run on radii that tight.

No problem for me, my minimum radius is 22".

[eja]

I did this using a piece of Plastruck square tubing as soon as I looked at my H/W car.  Cut off one face to get the right height, cut to length, paint black, glue in in place an you have an very noticeable improvement in the car with very little work.



My kind of project !

eja

[jimmo]

I did this using a piece of Plastruck square tubing as soon as I looked at my H/W car.  Cut off one face to get the right height, cut to length, paint black, glue in in place an you have an very noticeable improvement in the car with very little work.eja

...or I could use a piece of Plastruct channel stock that's the right size. I might even have some in my plastic drawer.

[Angus Shops]

It's also easy to move the couplers back a fraction of an inch to close the gap between cars. I drill a new hole at the back of the little mounting pad and secure the coupler with an appropriate Microtrains screw. Big improvement for those with big enough curve radii.

I'm also curious about the 'loops' on truck side frames...

Geoff

[jmlaboda]

I'm also curious about the 'loops' on truck side frames...

I have been questioning whether or not they should be there.  Every reference I have checked (prototype and model) does not have them so I really don't know what to think.  I am inclined to cut them off, myself, but really would like to learn more about what they are for and if this is actually a prototype detail that I simply have not discovered.

[Roger Holmes]

I asked about those loops on the trucks here on RW when the RPO first came out and no one has ever come up with any explanation.  I want to cut them off but am waiting for the RW gurus to weigh in.  I haven't seen a Milwaukee Road heavyweight with truck loops.

Enquiring minds want to know (tm)!