What eastern roads would you want to see on the IMRC 1937 AAR boxcar?

[bbussey]

I reiterate - should this come to fruition, we will not release a scheme that IMRC has released previously or has announced and canceled.  Any schemes will have not been released or announced previously.

[wm3798]

Short answer:  ALL OF THEM. 
I'm working on building a steam era fleet, I won't be buying too many more cars (very small layout, very small budget) so I don't need to be too specific.
It would be fun to have some fresh steel cars to run with my decrepit wood sheathed and outside braced jalopies.

Thank you for your consideration.
Lee

[robert3985]

I decided to take an inventory of my old IMRC car kits I've got stashed away, and I found seven 1937 AAR boxcar kits unopened in their boxes...along with several dozen reefers. 

This thread 's provided some impetus for me to get these boxcars assembled, detailed up, painted, decaled and weathered!   



TRW's the PLACE man! 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Mark5]

I reiterate - should this come to fruition, we will not release a scheme that IMRC has released previously or has announced and canceled.  Any schemes will have not been released or announced previously.

This makes sense. When I get a chance, will try to figure out some schemes that qualify. 

Personally, this project is great - Intermountain has a lot of good tooling that seems to be "parked" (example: they did a really nice bulkhead flat - only one release so far).

Mark

[dem34]

I decided to take an inventory of my old IMRC car kits I've got stashed away, and I found seven 1937 AAR boxcar kits unopened in their boxes...along with several dozen reefers. 

This thread 's provided some impetus for me to get these boxcars assembled, detailed up, painted, decaled and weathered!   


TRW's the PLACE man! 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Remember to get some fresh blades for those brake pipes.

[thomasjmdavis]

Remember to get some fresh blades for those brake pipes.

That's a really good point. I found a couple of kits myself. No doubt it is partly that my age hasn't been kind to my hands, but it seems to me that in the 20+ years these kits have been on the shelf, the plastic has become even more brittle than it was originally. Is there any way to "refresh" old styrene parts to make them a bit less brittle?

[dem34]

That's a really good point. I found a couple of kits myself. No doubt it is partly that my age hasn't been kind to my hands, but it seems to me that in the 20+ years these kits have been on the shelf, the plastic has become even more brittle than it was originally. Is there any way to "refresh" old styrene parts to make them a bit less brittle?

Not that I'm aware of. Its just something that happens to plastic with age. But I did stop having issues breaking parts by adopting the what I saw a lot of Japanese modellers do, by first cutting the gate from the sprue. Then cutting the part from the gate. This prevents cutting pressure from being transferred to the part itself. A train shop I stopped into the first time yesterday had a couple more of these kits floating around so maybe I'll do some experiments.

[Rasputen]

Bryan, can you share your list of schemes that IMRC never announced or ran?  It would make it a lot easier for me to give a meaningful answer.

Regarding kits, I personally wouldn't mind them but I don't think I have ever removed the brake wheel from the sprue without destroying it.  There is almost zero gate between the part and the sprue.

[bbussey]

I don't have the full list of deco schemes that IMRC hasn't done.  But this worksheet by Ed Hawkins on the Steam Era Freight Cars site has the ownership roster at least.

http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/prototype/frtcars/2017EdHawkinsMaterial/1937%20AAR%20Box%20Cars%20(1936-1947)(tabloid).pdf

[prr7161]

Here's the list from the Intermountain site:

https://intermountain-railway.com/n/nboxcars.htm

(scroll down a bit)

I'm not sure it is 100% complete but it could knock out some schemes.  Brooklyn Locomotive Works, at least, also did some custom runs including Erie; there may be other larger custom runs out there on the used market too.

[Tristan Ashcroft]

There's a lot of nice modeling there, but the backdrop is just really unconvincing...  Also, the car by the station just looks plastic.  A little weathering would probably help.

(in case anyone is out there over-obsessing about either of those sorts of things for their own layouts)

[OldEastRR]

An Intermountan Kit?... Yes.. major deterrent..
Anyone elses Kit?... No, Not at all..

Agree. Unless the parts are attached to very thin sprues it's no go trying to get them free w/o breaking most of them. Teeny tiny parts that need to be carefully placed in teeny-tiny (and sometimes not big enough) holes is great if you're under 30 w/ perfect eyesight. That does not apply to me.

One of the suggestions to produce only pre-1956 road names and paint schemes is interesting and I might buy a few, lesser southern railroads, for some.

But put me down for RTR. Tho I think letting the modeler be the one to provide the trucks would maker the cars cheaper and allows personal preference for trucks.  Body mounts OK, but there was no problem mounting MTL couplers on IM cars with preformed holes.

[robert3985]

My answer to cutting delicate injection molded parts from their sprues is this:

Photo (1) - MicroMark Fine Sprue Cutters and new #11 Scalpel Blades:


I've never had a problem with removing the brake wheels nor freeing the brake lines from their respective sprues on the several hundred IMRC kits I've built over the years, but...maybe the plastic has deteriorated somewhat over the years, and these old kits will be more difficult to remove the parts from their sprues.  We'll see!

However, I have had underbody details break after they've been "welded" in place, but usually the long, skinny brake parts are anchored on at least one end, so I haven't lost any because they remain attached to the underbody, so they were easy to repair using Tenax to "weld" them back together.

Now, since Tenax-7R "Plastic Welder" is no longer available, I'm using pure Methylene Chloride (aka Dichloromethane) I picked up at my local chemical supply store, and, it works just as well as Tenax did....much better IMO than MEK derived "welders" such as Plastruct Plastic Weld and others. If you decide to purchase some Methylene Chloride at the chemical store, make sure you get several 1 oz glass bottles, which should be available there, because the smallest amount I could get was 1 pint (app $35)...so now I have a lifetime supply of the best "plastic welder".  For some reason, I kept my empty Tenax-7R bottles, so they are now full of Methylene Chloride, with four dark brown 1oz glass bottles I picked up at the chemical store.

This discussion of Tenax-7R and its replacement is pertinent IMO because it's the very best "plastic welder" to use for assembling IMRC kits...quick, clean, no residue and strong joints...much better than MEK IMO.

I have heard that a single, thin coat of watery CA will strengthen fragile injection molded Styrene or ABS parts, but I've never tried it.  I'm not sure if applying it before removing parts from their sprues would be a good idea, or if it would fill the voids in complex parts such as the brake wheel, but it might be worth some experimentation.

As for me, I'm pretty sure I'll be replacing the long, skinny plastic underbody parts on any IMRC kits I assemble in the future with more realistically scaled brass wire, along with expanded steel running boards with Plano etched stainless replacements.

Incidentally, I'll be hitting 75 this year, and I'm blind in one eye.  Although I'm slower at it, the IMRC kits still come together for me.

Time to get back to my workbench!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Angus Shops]

Intermountain’s boxcar kits did require a modest amount of skill to assemble neatly, but their tankcar kits drove me crazy. I don’t think I ever managed to assemble one to my satisfaction. In particular, the long handrail that goes around the tank was impossible, at least for me - first you had to get it of the sprue in one piece…

On my layout home road boxcars are in a definite majority. CP in the Rockies in the late 50’s was shipping a lot of grain in boxcars, for example, and it would have all been in home road cars. Just because I’m a passenger train fan I make a point to choose foreign road boxcars that feature a passenger train advert such as “Super Chief to California”. Just for the fun of it.

.

[garethashenden]

I replaced the handrails with either brass or steel wire.