My LAST InterMountain purchase.

[Mark5]

Is 250 too many hoppers?  :

Brian

I know what you mean, over 370 IM covered hoppers here... 225 cylindricals alone. Appearantly, you can never have too many of them.

No wonder they keep cranking them out!

And I thought I was obsessive about open hoppers ...

Mark

[Erik W]

The easiest way to reattach the running boards is to use a dab of "Canopy Glue" -

HA!  That brings back memories.  I bought a bottle of that Canopy Glue myself.  It's great stuff.  What Marty is referring to is a glue used by RC enthusiasts to glue the clear canopies onto RC planes.  Canopy glue looks similar to Elmer's white glue when wet and dries clear and flexible.  We were having a hell of a time at IM with the etched metal roofwalks on the HO 4750 hoppers arriving bowed, warped or partially disconnected from the roofs.  This was due to the differences in temperature and humidity when the cars were assembled, to the climate in the shipping container in transit, to the climate in Longmont.  They would look fine at the factory in China but were screwed up when we opened the boxes here.

Link to Canopy Glue:
http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PAAPT56

Erik

[Denver Road Doug]

Wow, that might be "tip of the week", or even month maybe!

Funny thing is, I recently bought a box of old RC stuff for $3 at a garage sale that included a bottle of Canopy Glue. (among other things, including a Paasche airbrush set and some tools)  But the glue was all dried up...and I thought "no big loss, what the hell is canopy glue anyway?".  I'll definitely be purchasing some.

[GaryHinshaw]

Canopy glue - the official glue of ex-Intermountain employees.    (Maybe current ones too.)

Ribbing aside, thanks for the tip!  If IM hoppers weren't still the best ones out there, I wouldn't care.  Of course, the engineering on the Trinity roof walks avoids this problem altogether.  Kudos to whomever came up with that one.

[lock4244]

I know what you mean, over 370 IM covered hoppers here... 225 cylindricals alone. Appearantly, you can never have too many of them.

No wonder they keep cranking them out!

And I thought I was obsessive about open hoppers ...

Mark

It's not obsessive, I just can't stop buying them... oh wait, that's kinda the same thing  ;D

[Denver Road Doug]

Canopy glue - the official glue of ex-Intermountain employees.    (Maybe current ones too.)

Ribbing aside, thanks for the tip!  If IM hoppers weren't still the best ones out there, I wouldn't care.  Of course, the engineering on the Trinity roof walks avoids this problem altogether.  Kudos to whomever came up with that one.

Exactly.  Those 5161's are just altogether nice.  And the rest of their covered hoppers are still beautiful models.  I don't have 370 of 'em but I got my share...I'm guessing probably about 10% of my freight car fleet.

[flight2000]

I know what you mean, over 370 IM covered hoppers here... 225 cylindricals alone. Appearantly, you can never have too many of them.

No wonder they keep cranking them out!

And I thought I was obsessive about open hoppers ...

Mark

It's not obsessive, I just can't stop buying them... oh wait, that's kinda the same thing  ;D

I hear ya.  My weakness is the 4750cf and Trinity hoppers.  I have 72 and 78 (42 are BNSF cars to make a fairly decent size "worm" train) respectively of those two styles alone.  Fill in the rest with 3000cf two bay, cylindrical, Evans, 5701cf, 5800cf, etc, etc, etc....

The other reason I like I/M is the multitude of road numbers.  None of the ones I own are duplicate numbers.  I have a BN 4650cf 3 Bay that is a -53 stock number. WOW! 

Brian

[lock4244]

Brian, that is a very good point. IM's policy of 6 and 12 car number per release of a particular paint scheme is great for those that cringe at duplicate numbers. Though I'm pretty sure I don't have any as high as a 53rd of a release, there are alot of different paint scheme and lettering combinations of CN and CP cars that IM has done to keep me going. Then there are the CDN grain cars... if you think my fleet is big now, I only have roughly half of the CDN grain cars I'd like to have. They've even done a few based on pictures I've taken and sent them (Indusmin cylindrical and Potash Corp 5161).

[wm3798]

I've got enough covered hoppers to adequately portray an early 70's grain train, but I must say I like the lacy details of the newer ones...  I've got a handful of the Intermountain ACF cars, and some of the big 3 bay ribsides (old Deluxe cars?...can't remember)  But anyway...   The next major leap forward would be body mounted couplers.  The Accumates they used on the cars I have still have too much "wingspan"...

Lee

[lock4244]

Lee, I have a number of older 3 bay ribsides that were made by Precision Masters. I think the molds went to Red Caboose, but I'm not 100% sure. The RC's look an awful lot like the PM's.

[3rdrail]

Lee, I have a number of older 3 bay ribsides that were made by Precision Masters. I think the molds went to Red Caboose, but I'm not 100% sure. The RC's look an awful lot like the PM's.

They ought to, because Red Caboose bought Precision Masters.  ;D ;D

[wm3798]

I've got the ones done by Wild Mary Models  (Dallas Mallerich) back in the 80's.  They were in fact the Precision Masters cars... I remember because the jewel boxes for these sucked...

Lee