Received my Intermountain Super Domes

[Bart1701]

I'd appreciate someone taking that image of both cars and lightening the area below the belt so the trucks are more easily seen.  I agree with Bill that the MILW's should be silverish.

Here are some shots that may help you see the trucks in more detail. The Maroon/Orange one is the Kato, the UP Yellow is the Intermountain.

Bart

[MRLX1020]

I see what Intermountain did here...they didn't tool up a new truck, they just created a mold with a brake cylinder bolster anchor and the outside swing hanger assembly that fits on a MicroTrains 3 axle truck.

Clever, if I say so myself...

But still, no triple axle Nystrom truck in N scale...

[milw156]

The GN cars had the same trucks as the ATSF.

I believe the GN cars were Budd products, as were the ATSF cars the model trucks were "borrowed" from, one less thing to tool

[nkalanaga]

They were, and kitbashing a GN car from the Bachmann ATSF version is simple.  If anyone ever makes a modern version of either, we'll probably see both, as the only real differences are the side panels and lower lounge interior.

Considering the Con-Cor made the other GN smoothside cars, I'm a little surprised that Bachmann didn't do both versions.

A little off-topic, but CCS/IM is losing business from me.  I like their passenger cars, and some are usable for GN/BN/Amtrak in my railroad, but I WILL NOT buy their GN Big Sky Blue cars.  I have a couple, and have seen more, and every one is far too dark - more like Conrail Blue.  I can live with odd BSBs on freight cars, but the GN took some pride in their passenger fleet.

I took my unusable 56-seat coach apart tonight, to see how hard it would be to repaint the blue.  Very hard, as it turns out.  Besides the window frames being printed onto the blue sides, the window "glass" is glued in, and is a very thin material.  Hard to remove, and probably even hard to replace.  Oh well...  I have the same car from Brass Car Sides, so that will just have to do.

[diezmon]

I got mine yesterday. It's pretty close.  I'm a little surprised that there's no way for passengers to enter the car, though.     Otherwise, I think they're pretty slick.   Eh, I'm easy.

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[Missaberoad]

I'm a little surprised that there's no way for passengers to enter the car, though.   

The prototype Milwaukee cars lacked vestibule doors aswell...

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5d/12/39/5d123948a945a78cdccaf4642ae6e318.jpg

[nkalanaga]

They did the BN and GN green and white quite well, although I didn't buy them.  I have kitbashed Bachmann models for the ex-GN cars, which are distinctly different from the MILW.  The differences in the dome are very noticeable.  Based on past experience, the GN Empire Builder scheme is probably also accurate, color- and lettering-wise.

If the Bachmann cars hadn't been available for years, I would have settled for these, and been happy to have a full-length dome.  As it is, Amtrak ran these on the North Coast Hiawatha, in Montana, so I can use one in Amtrak paint.

It's just the BSB they, and others, can't seem to get right.

[jcox3751]

Has anyone addressed the coupler height mismatch?

[peteski]

Has anyone addressed the coupler height mismatch?

And which one is at the correct height?

[thomasjmdavis]

Has anyone addressed the coupler height mismatch?

Oddly, the one with the lower coupler has a higher level diaphragm. 

[reinhardtjh]

I wish they hadn't cancelled the undecorated ones.  I wanted one for a NS OCS.  Technically it's the wrong prototype (I think, IIRC) for the one NS has but it's probably as close as I'll ever get.

[peteski]

I wish they hadn't cancelled the undecorated ones.  I wanted one for a NS OCS.  Technically it's the wrong prototype (I think, IIRC) for the one NS has but it's probably as close as I'll ever get.

If it was truly undercoated, you would have a heck of a time painting the clear plastic roof, leaving the windows unpainted.

[Ike the BN Freak]

I wish they hadn't cancelled the undecorated ones.  I wanted one for a NS OCS.  Technically it's the wrong prototype (I think, IIRC) for the one NS has but it's probably as close as I'll ever get.

Wonder if it was actually cancelled or was put on hold and will be done for the OCS series Lowell Smith is doing

[reinhardtjh]

If it was truly undercoated, you would have a heck of a time painting the clear plastic roof, leaving the windows unpainted.

Good point, although at the time I pre-ordered a year or so ago, we didn't know the window frames were going to be painted.  It's still going to be interesting trying to re-paint the roof to match:

Wonder if it was actually cancelled or was put on hold and will be done for the OCS series Lowell Smith is doing

I haven't heard.  As you can see by the picture above, there are a few significant differences..  Window pattern in the body, door in the vestibule, shape of the dome end.  The Lowell Smith line has done some foobies before so I'm sure it won't stop them.  I might just wait. I think the Bachmann dome is closer but they're getting hard to find, I think.  I haven't looked in a while.

[hegstad1]

Good point, although at the time I pre-ordered a year or so ago, we didn't know the window frames were going to be painted.  It's still going to be interesting trying to re-paint the roof to match:



I haven't heard.  As you can see by the picture above, there are a few significant differences..  Window pattern in the body, door in the vestibule, shape of the dome end.  The Lowell Smith line has done some foobies before so I'm sure it won't stop them.  I might just wait. I think the Bachmann dome is closer but they're getting hard to find, I think.  I haven't looked in a while.

For sure get the Bachmann dome.  Plenty on Ebay and cheap.  I think it's pretty good tooling as well.  Put on new trucks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bachmann-Amtrak-85-Full-Dome-Passenger-Car-N-Scale-53-1043-06/193191283860?hash=item2cfb190c94:g:AWsAAOSwjhJdv1K6