N Scale Ideas

[lock4244]

Hi, Joe.

How about the carbon black car?  This car has been discussed before as a good candidate for a new N scale model.  This is a car that ran on many different railroads all across the country.  There were quite a few owners of these cars and even though nearly all carbon black cars wore the same black paint, there were many lettering schemes - some with rather elaborate stenciling.

There are kits available for the 3000 cubic ft carbon black cars in HO scale from Funaro and Camerlengo:
http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/6310.html
and also Rail Shop:
http://www.railshop.net/index.php?cPath=22&osCsid=130ea7cd68a16f65421c6447fc24cdfe

For further info, there are good articles by Martin Lofton in the May 1993 issue of Mainline Modeler and by Ted Culotta in the March 2005 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.

Yup, you win, totally forgot about those. The hell with the sulphuric acid tanker... carbon black cars are much more needed. Just make it a little more modern than the HO cars... the Cabot one is BLT 47.

[Dave Schneider]

Many good ideas in this thread. I think that a Jordon Spreader (with various plow heights) and a generic Russell snow plow would be great. These fit the one or two per railroad model, and have been painted in a variety of bright colors (for what that is worth). The spreader is an intricate design, but these things go for $150 or more in brass. Not sure what people would pay for it in plastic, maybe $50? As for the Russel plow, Walthers shows no signs of reintroducing these and they seem to fetch in $30+ on eBay.

We could also really use this car. Every railroad had them but nobody makes a decent version (only some early 1970s tooling). The doors and/or ends could be either wood or steel. Some of these cars saw MOW service later in life, which greatly expands their era. This would have to be a low rider though as this is critical to their look.



Best wishes, Dave

[JoeD]

I understand the need for unit quantities and have tried to do some of that with the runner's packs.  The problem with doing 12, 24 or 48 cars in a series is the cost to do the priniting.  Each car would require another fixture for that number that would have to be located on the printer and dialed in.  This is a time consuming and expensive proposition when doing short runs.  If I could sell a few thousand 12 or 24 packs of something then it might make sense, but history and experience says only a fraction of those would be sold. Other companies can provide this type of product because printing in China is a lot less expensive.  I am working now on another option, do them without road numbers and print out sheets of decals, or dry transfers.  But, knowing the N scale market and their push for RTR only, not sure this would fly.  Of course the other option is to buy the cars you want and then replace the numbers...but that's another discussion for a later date.


Thanks for the input!

Cheers
 

Joe
MTL

[seusscaboose]

 I am working now on another option, do them without road numbers and print out sheets of decals, 

Joe
MTL

Don't make the mistake Walthers did.  They used the world's thickest decal paper when they released their passenger cars and a gallon of MicroSol won't help make them blend it.  Make sure you use thin paper or just work a JV out with MicroScale.

EP

[Upstate Gator]

Converted troop sleepers--should be an easy one!
Heavyweight baggage cars
Flexivans in IC

[sirenwerks]

Of course the other option is to buy the cars you want and then replace the numbers...but that's another discussion for a later date.

I think the no-number is the better idea, one less step for the modeler. I mean, hey, throw us a bone, we will be buying multiples of your product, and this ease of use could be the make/break of actually buying in quantity from you. I think it would be best if you work with a decal manufacturer to make sure decals are produced and ready when the car's released. None of this "I'll wait to see if your car sells before I make the decal" thing. If the decal's not ready, we ain't buyin' the car, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And then MT goes and thinks the whole unnumbered car thing will never work... You see the logic here, right?  And there should be 50 or so numbers to a set (or 2 sets of 25), and not just quantities of the numbers 1-2-3 etc. but pre-assembled road numbers to make it easy to drop them in, in one stroke. IMO dry transfers would be best, as they're easier to adapt, since they lack the need for solvents and have less process for the new modeler to learn. And they could be just the learning experience to move someone to real decals, not that MT's into schooling modelers...

[SkipGear]

Converted troop sleepers--should be an easy one!

That's a good one!!!

[haasmarc]

I am all for the NE caboose.  I have been asking MT to do it for years.  I was excited to see Bryan thinking about doing it.  Since I model Reading/CNJ/WM I need a lot of these.  I think Bryan should do them, especially if he is thinking multiple versions.  We would never get that from MT. 

I also like the NE heavyweight passenger cars.  Single window versions have never been done before in N-scale.
 
Marc

[asarge]

Converted troop sleepers--should be an easy one

The C&O Camp Cars were awesome!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Whoever said snow plows, I think it's a good call.

While the Jordan Spreader would be awesome, I think a good Russel wedge would do well. Lots of cool paint schemes, and no reason to worry about the "multi-pack" situation.

Also, because people wouldn't be looking to score a gross of them, the price (and therefore, profit margin) could be higher.

Extra points if it had working headlights

Extra, extra points if you decide to do a rotary instead.

[bbussey]

I am all for the NE caboose.  I have been asking MT to do it for years.  I was excited to see Bryan thinking about doing it.  Since I model Reading/CNJ/WM I need a lot of these.  I think Bryan should do them, especially if he is thinking multiple versions.  We would never get that from MT. 

I also like the NE heavyweight passenger cars.  Single window versions have never been done before in N-scale.

I'd love to do the NE caboose, but ESM wouldn't be able to get to it for a few years.  Including the XIH, there currently are four cars in the pipeline and I'm limited to releasing only one new model per year right now.  Micro-Trains definitely is capable of producing a credible model, and in a shorter timeframe.  But if the model hasn't been done by the time I have an open slot, I'd definitely be willing to tackle it.

Regarding the converted troop sleepers - definitely a no brainer and a winning choice, since the only new tooling required (I imagine) would be the side slides to the existing body cavity mold.

Some of the other bodystyles sighted have limited prototypical roadnames available, which may not be a good fit for MTL.

[slickwillie]

Of course the other option is to buy the cars you want and then replace the numbers...but that's another discussion for a later date.

I think the no-number is the better idea, one less step for the modeler. I mean, hey, throw us a bone, we will be buying multiples of your product, and this ease of use could be the make/break of actually buying in quantity from you. I think it would be best if you work with a decal manufacturer to make sure decals are produced and ready when the car's released. None of this "I'll wait to see if your car sells before I make the decal" thing. If the decal's not ready, we ain't buyin' the car, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And then MT goes and thinks the whole unnumbered car thing will never work... You see the logic here, right?  And there should be 50 or so numbers to a set (or 2 sets of 25), and not just quantities of the numbers 1-2-3 etc. but pre-assembled road numbers to make it easy to drop them in, in one stroke. IMO dry transfers would be best, as they're easier to adapt, since they lack the need for solvents and have less process for the new modeler to learn. And they could be just the learning experience to move someone to real decals, not that MT's into schooling modelers...

To cut down on the printing dilemma, Joe, how about making one number for the RTR crowd, and a runner pack with no numbers for the modelers among us. Chuck and I did a special run of MT black SP Overnight boxcars without numbers a couple years ago, with a Microscale decal added with about 30 numbers. Sold out in just a few weeks, so it shows the market accepts that approach...

[Mark5]

I'm thinking I'm the lone ranger when it comes to getting some locos to close couple ... :

Mark

[bbussey]

I'm thinking I'm the lone ranger when it comes to getting some locos to close couple ... :

Brass drawbars for the Es, Fs, PAs and FAs, especially if they always are run together and never are separated during operating sessions.  Going to etch some for my Life-Like NH Alco FA/FB sets at some point.

[Mark5]

I'm thinking I'm the lone ranger when it comes to getting some locos to close couple ... :

Brass drawbars for the Es, Fs, PAs and FAs, especially if they always are run together and never are separated during operating sessions.  Going to etch some for my Life-Like NH Alco FA/FB sets at some point.

How about Kato SD40-2s? I guess we'll have to wait for the "-2 project" (it's pretty clear to me that few others are concerned, so no "fix" will be coming out of Medford)

Mark