Grab Irons & Trucks

[Craig Martyn]

With all of the talk about detailing locomotives (i.e., grab irons) and our new trucks with metal wheels, I thought I'd post some photos...  All of the models were done by our friend Henry Baez and feature almost exclusively BLMA detail parts, along with the new 100-Ton trucks on his freight cars.  Good stuff...

Santa Fe C44-9W

[Craig Martyn]

SD70MAC's...

[Craig Martyn]

Freight cars with BLMA 100-Ton Trucks (#9005) and detail parts:







Compared to Atlas' truck:






Additional photos in the 'Detailed Models' section of our website.  As always, please submit your photos!

[Puddington]

That's workmanship Craig.....the units look excellent and the part as well..... love the 100 tonners !

[sirenwerks]

Ditto, Craig. Henry's work is tres nice. Not my era, but the brake line piping on the MT car is a nice touch.

[ednadolski]

Henry's work is fantastic.  Are those engines all custom painted?  If yes then it's really well done, esp. #725.   I wonder if it's actually easier to strip & repaint the models (or start win an undec) rather than try to match paint where the grabirons were shaved off?  Also, not to get nit-picky, but #725 could maybe use a bit more weathering on the pilots & fuel tank, to match the rest of the model.  Those BLMA trucks/wheels look great too.

I'm trying to think of a good way to do traction motor cables and air filters on those Kato Dash-9's -- any ideas?

Ed

[tom mann]

Has the ATSF car been lowered through modification, or just lowered by adding the trucks?  Because those MT cars sit high, and if I can get that effect with just your trucks, I will order millions of them.

[GaryHinshaw]

Speaking of millions, was there ever a decree on bulk packs?  These are sweet trucks that cry out for volume discounting.  

(Henry's cars and locos are great too.)

[Mark5]

Has the ATSF car been lowered through modification, or just lowered by adding the trucks?  Because those MT cars sit high, and if I can get that effect with just your trucks, I will order millions of them.

The trucks will lower any car that has MT trucks (or others for that matter) - the bolster area sits lower.

In fact, last night I was thinking these would be an easy way to lower MTL 89' flats, but not sure if it would lower them enough (future testing!).

Mark

[ednadolski]

Has the ATSF car been lowered through modification, or just lowered by adding the trucks?  Because those MT cars sit high, and if I can get that effect with just your trucks, I will order millions of them.

The trucks will lower any car that has MT trucks (or others for that matter) - the bolster area sits lower.

In fact, last night I was thinking these would be an easy way to lower MTL 89' flats, but not sure if it would lower them enough (future testing!).

Mark

Depends on the car, and in some cases it may be necessary to remove some of the floor material, to provide adequate wheel clearance.

Ed

[Mark5]

The trucks will lower any MTL car, and in most cases the pizza cutter clearance MTL had to design into the car will be enough to clear the non pizza flanges.

But, the amount of lowering may not be sufficient to achieve the desired effect. (the only experimenting I've done so far is with the Atlas 100 ton hoppers).

The bolster area is clearly lower on the BLMA trucks than any of the MTL trucks I compared them to.

Mark

[Craig Martyn]

Has the ATSF car been lowered through modification, or just lowered by adding the trucks?  Because those MT cars sit high, and if I can get that effect with just your trucks, I will order millions of them.

I'm pretty sure Henry only used our trucks on the ATSF car; however, I believe he did have to modify (remove material) from the frame for proper wheel clearance.