Best Of Scratchbuild Project - CC&F Twin Trailer Flat Car

[nkalanaga]

Could you use MT hitches as stand-ins until you get the correct ones?  Maybe cut the mounting pins off and rubber cement them to the deck, so they can be removed easily?  It would at least get the cars into service.

[BCR 570]

Quite possibly; would have to see if my LHS has them in stock.  Thank you for the suggestion.

Tim

[jpf94]

Thank you; I am humbled to be in the company of so many fine modellers here and to receive this honour is truly a blessing.  I am sure many feel as grateful as I to have our hobby during these difficult days.



It would be easier than trying to build multiple identical parts; if one is damaged in the future you can keep spares; and if a better model comes along, they can be replaced, with no emotional attachment.

This is perhaps the strongest argument for using the 3D parts.  They are indeed exactly what i need, and they will need to be able to stand up to the rigours of trailers added and removed between op sessions.


As James said, it would be nice if he answered emails.  Not knowing what's going on is worse for customer relations than having to admit problems.

Agreed, and I have mentioned this.  A simple email response to acknowledge the customer or keep them informed goes a long way.


So I will now have to wait for hitches.

Tim

****Briggs has responded to me on multiple occasions in the past week.  The issue is the owner of Briggs does not do internet.  He has Chris handle the correspondence.   

chrisd@briggsmanufacturingassociates.com

You should get a reply from Chris.

My experience anyway.

Joe

[peteski]

****Briggs has responded to me on multiple occasions in the past week.  The issue is the owner of Briggs does not do internet.  He has Chris handle the correspondence.   

chrisd@briggsmanufacturingassociates.com

You should get a reply from Chris.

My experience anyway.

Joe

Regardless who in a company handles emails (customer-communication), they should respond in reasonable timely manner from whatever email address they provide as a contact address to their customers. Even in a 1- or 2-man shop.  If the owner does not "do internet" then his email address should not be given to customers.

[BCR 570]

Lets get back on track here.

Could you use MT hitches as stand-ins until you get the correct ones?

I found a Micro-Trains hitch in my parts bin this evening.  Wondering where the package it came from is.  Will experiment with it as a temporary solution.


Tim

[nkalanaga]

Tim:  If your local shop doesn't have them, MT is quite reasonable about small parts orders, although I don't know what restrictions there might be on shipping to Canada.  If nothing else, MT could give you a part number, which would make it easier for your LHS to order them.

Glad you found one.  It's always better if one can try an idea before spending money on it!

I like your cars!

[wcfn100]

I think Train-worx sell his hitches separately.

Jason

[nkalanaga]

OK, that's another source for a temporary stand-in.  Thank you!

[samusi01]

Coincidentally, I picked up a pack of the MTL hitches Saturday from the LHS. p/n 499 75 905 (old: 1066) for six upright and another six retracted. Made the request a couple of weeks ago, so fairly prompt turnaround. RailModel Journal had a series of articles, starting May 2001, on various ACF hitch types with lots of photos. The magazine is now hosted over at Trainlife for your viewing pleasure...

Another impossible to get commercial variety would be the BLMA hitches. Similar in overall appearance to the MTL, but finer detail. Good luck finding them though.

[BCR 570]

I hadn't thought of hitches from BLMA or Trainworx.  Will have to see if I can find some pictures online so I can see what they look like.


Tim

[John]

I hadn't thought of hitches from BLMA or Trainworx.  Will have to see if I can find some pictures online so I can see what they look like.


Tim

BLMA

[samusi01]

John's picture looks like one of the BLMA spine car hitch sets; not knowing much about the prototype car, they may be too late. I dug through the inventory and came up with the following:



From top to bottom, it's Athearn, Atlas, BLMA, Micro-Trains, Trainworx. Sorry about the end cars (Athearn and Trainworx) getting a bit blurry. If you want better images of either let me know: those are the only ones I can get to easily. I'm not sure how readily any of them are available as parts save for Micro-Trains. Note that the BLMA hitch is one of the early ones, with a scale kingpin hole; I shave off the non-scale kingpin and replace it with a bit of wire. I don't recall if the later BLMA hitches (for early era, that is) went with the enlarged kingpin hole.

You may also look at N Scale Kits:

http://www.nscalekits.co.uk/89ftFlatcars.html

http://www.nscalekits.co.uk/flatcars.html

He links to some very nice looking etched brass hitches, but I'm not sure about availability: http://www.nscalekits.co.uk/MLEhitches.html

Sam

[BCR 570]

Thank you for posting your photo, Sam.  A very interesting comparison of available hitches.

I do have the MLE hitches but they are quite different from what I need to build.

Tim

[BCR 570]

Hitches (Part 2)

I am still waiting for printed hitches, so have decided to press forward with making my own as a back-up plan.  Making small parts like this is fiddly work and I use the technique of making more than I need and then selecting the best ones.

Hitch Head
After building my prototype hitch, I thought that the hitch head would look better if made slightly thinner, so I used .015" x .188" stock.  After cutting the heads to a scale length of 3'-3", I cut out the slots for the trailer kingpins:




I then cut the rear tapers on either side of the slots for the trailer kingpin:




The forward corners were then cut off at 45 degrees:




A small needle file was used to clean up the slots.  Here are the finished hitch heads (looking somewhat like a squadron of Millennium Falcons):




Angled Support Strut
These were assembled from lengths of .020" x .020" cut to 6'-6" in length and .010" x .100" cut to 3'-6":




After marking one end of the outer struts 12" in, the central plate was added:




The second outer strut was then added, using an angle block to ensure that the outer struts are even with each other:




Here are the finished angled support struts:




Retraction Racks
These were assembled from two outer strips of .020" x .020" and a centre strip of .010" x .020" with .020" x .020" spacers in between.  These pieces were placed against a steel rue and angle block to align the parts, and a strip of .010" x .020" was then glued across one end:




After allowing the glue to dry, the assembly was trimmed to a length of 4'-0" and then placed between steel rules.  A second strip of .010" x .020" was placed across the opposite end:




After the glue had dried, the excess styrene was trimmed away, leaving the finished parts:




Vertical Support Strut
These were assembled from .030" x .030" cut to 4'-0" for the outer struts, and .020" x .080" cut to 3'-0" for the centre plate.  The centre notch at the top end was cut out at this stage:




A steel rule was used to glue the first outer strut against the centre plate, with 6" at either end:




A second steel rule is used to ensure that the second outer strut is aligned with the first:




Finished Parts
This photograph shows the finished parts, which will be assembled to provide four hitches for my two cars:




Meanwhile the cars continue to perform well in occasional testing on my layout.

Tim

[prbharris]

OK, that's another source for a temporary stand-in.  Thank you!

Tim

It may be too late for the BCR cars that you are making - that look great. Anyway, here are the various hitches that we produce at N Scale Kits. The specific examples are newer and not included in the original range. Do get in touch if I can be of help.

What are the BCR hitches - I do not recognise them, as we have a library of the various types found on flat cars and wells, mainly based on Jim Panza published and unpublished work

Peter

Peter Harris
N Scale Kits
www.nscalekits.com