Bachman Bobber Vs Arnold Rapido Bobber

[Mark5]

So I picked up an Arnold Rapido bobber (1960s vintage) a few years back (ok, maybe over a decade ago!) thinking the proportions are decent and I could use it to make a stand in for this:

https://imagebase.lib.vt.edu/image_viewer.php?q=ns1606

Down side is that the Arnold caboose frame sits really high, and I haven't yet gotten around to considering what wheelset might replace the deep dish pizza cutters ...

The Arnold bobber has been sitting on my workbench for years, but when Bachmann re-released their bobber with improved wheels and couplers I though hell, I can just swap the body onto the Bmann frame and voila!

Alas, it turns out that these are incompatible ... does not compute.

The body on the Arnold bobber scales out at 10 feet wide, while the Bachmann body scales out at 8.5 feet (I believe the Atlas C&O caboose in the pics below is 9 feet wide). When I placed the Arnold body on the Bmann frame - what an overhang!

Long story short - failure.   

As you can see in the pics, the Arnold bobber sits really high (look at the platforms). All this conceivably could be fixed, but I've got better things to do (a long list of era appropriate projects). Since this model isn't even close to my era it ends here. Gonna off-load these things soon.

Hope ya enjoyed this flight of fantasy! 

Mark
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[johnb]

Hmmmm.....I need to review the dimensions of this....off the roster before WWII...

[daniel_leavitt2000]

The poor crewmen must be getting quite a breeze with that plank spacing.

[peteski]

So even though the Arnold tooling is decades older than Bachmann, it seems to have much more realistically done gaps between the boards.  Why so many new models are made with board gaps which make them look like cheap toys.  An N scale person could easily slide their hand right through the gaps in the Bachmann model!  And the gaps are deep too.    Design engineers now use state-of-the-art CAD systems and yet they keep on making toys with exaggerated details, not scale models.    What goes through their mind when they make the gaps 3 scale inches wide and deep?  Why is it necessary?  The much smaller gaps in the Aronld model (and in models of wood-sides cars from MTL) look great with much less pronounced board gaps.

Yeah I know, here I go again.    It just bugs me that they keep making those board gaps deeper and wider! In new (or refreshed) models. Some people complain about the ride height being too high, but the board gaps is what bugs me! 

EDIT: LOL, while I was typing this up, Daniel read my mind!  Not only a breeze, but the roof leaks like sieve!

[squirrelhunter]

Those aren't boards, they are corrguations!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So here's what I'd recommend.

Use the Bachmann underframe and scratch the rest of the car. It looks pretty simple.

[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  I agree - the Arnold car looks much better!  As for the ride height, I wonder if it was built to use a European 4-wheel chassis?

[peteski]

Peteski:  I agree - the Arnold car looks much better!  As for the ride height, I wonder if it was built to use a European 4-wheel chassis?

As far as I can tell from that photo the Arnold underframe doesn't look like it is from a typical European 2-axle car.  It looks to be specifically made for that caboose.  But maybe they used  larger diameter European wheels?

[Chris333]

I cut the sides out of mine a looooong time ago:

[andyl913]

I cut the sides out of mine a looooong time ago:

Amazing as always Chris. Now it looks like I'll have to do something similar to this with my bobber I have laying around.

[cne_craig]

Check Eric Cox's shapeways page.  He has replacement chassis for Bachmann(r24) and Arnold(r25 and r26) Bopper cars.  The r25 version lowers the height of the Arnold version.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/ESVXBGEGK/r25a-2-new-n-chassis-for-arnold-bobber-caboose-x2?optionId=6477171&li=marketplace

Cheers,
Craig

[wazzou]

He has replacement chassis for Bachmann(r24) and Arnold(r25 and r26) Bopper cars 


Cheers,
Craig

Kind of like IHOP/IHOB   

[Mark5]

So here's what I'd recommend.

Use the Bachmann underframe and scratch the rest of the car. It looks pretty simple.

Not wasting my time with that. I mean this is way outta my era. Both are now surplus.

@Chris333 - yeah buddy! 

Mark

[Maletrain]

I second the notion of using the Shapeways frames.  They look a heck of a lot better than the Arnold or Bachmann frames, and the ones designed for MTL 905 Z scale couplers are lower and more to prototype.  Then, either use the Arnold shell or scratch build what structure you want.

[nkalanaga]

Peteski:  I suspect they did use larger wheels.  I know those on the FA were oversized, one reason I think of the PRR's E2b electrics when I look at one.  They probably used existing European wheels, not knowing if there was enough of a market in the US to make tooling smaller wheels worth the cost.

That Rapido coupler isn't much bigger than the Bachmann knuckle...