BLMA 52' Gon

[Mark5]

Picked one up in Wabash today. Been sick the last couple days so I hastily took these pics:



Compared to stock MTL gon:



Compared to Bluford body mount:



Compared to ESM body mount:



A couple quick observations -  the model looks really nice! The one I got does not roll very well though, not sure whats up with that and I haven't had time to look into it.

I think that due to the body mounts these will need at least a 12" min. radius (they did not like the 11" radius Kato test track).

I'm not totally happy with the way the couplers stick out, maybe they could have mounted the coupler box a little more towards center (I have not looked underneath to see if there is any reason the mounts could not have been done to reduce the "goose neck" effect).

I posted some comparisons to other recent body mounts for visual comparison.

Mark

[wm3798]

I got to look at the copies Ed brought to Eric's last night, and I dare say car is a 99% win.  The two issues I saw were the non-functioning drop ends (a reasonable compromise if the result is the lower profile and body mounts) and the extension of the couplers.  That being said, the fact that it's the appropriate body length and a good low rider, the extension is far less noticeable.

If only I had money, I'd buy a slew of them.

Lee

[GaryHinshaw]

...and think how great they'll look with BLMA scale couplers.   

[MichaelWinicki]

...and think how great they'll look with BLMA scale couplers.   

Question for those who know...

Say someone came out with a coupler that is for N-scale, but is probably close in size to a present Z-scale coupler, what difficulty would there be or is there in coupling and uncoupling cars?   

[Robbman]

Ahh... the coupler.  I knew that'd get a ding... if it was put any further back, there was a possibility of head of the screw holding the lid on interfering with the axle... especially on the A-end.

The drop-ends... I don't know what to say.  They are separate pieces... but since they're made just like a proto drop-end (i.e there's no hinges, just two latches on the sides that hold the end in place on the proto) they'd just fall down all the time.  So glued in place won out (the same was done on the Tangent HO model)... 

Something rarely mentioned about the gons is that there's two types of ratchet brakes... Equipco and Universal, as appropriate for roadname.  And while I realize it's on the bottom of the car... check out the underframe detail and brake rigging...

[Mark5]

I'm in the camp that doesn't care about the drop ends being non-functional.

The street price is nice on these.

[bbussey]

One of my Penn Central cars came with loose ends.  They slide into place.  The nice benefit of this design is that the ends can be used for kitbashing fixed-end gons.  I have some New Haven prototypes I'd like to tackle at some point.

I like how the floor/underframe is done.  It appears the bottom part of the floor is metal (with plastic brake hardware and cross beams), and the top surface is plastic?  Or is the entire floor metal?  And the body component consists of the two sides and end yokes, like a box with no top or bottom?  And the stirrups are thinner than I would have thought possible in ABS plastic.  Beautiful model.

[Bob Bufkin]

Don't mind the coupler sticking a little.  As far as drop ends.  Not all gons were fitted with these.  Perhaps they will bhe done in a future releaswe (hint).  Like these so much I went and ordered 2 more, a Wabash and a PC.  Things just getting better in N.

[FrankCampagna]

Some drop ends were welded in place later.

Frank

[Dave V]

Extreme hawtness...

[Dave Schneider]

Question for the Pennsy fans. What time period works for the circle herald scheme? I picked up a couple of these for autoframe service on the Beer Line and was wondering whether they would still be in this scheme in the early 1970s.

Best wishes, Dave

[asarge]

I really don;t care so much abpout the brake and quality un derframe detail. In a train it's not going to be noticeable, especially on this car. It's certainly a winner without that or the coupler length. BLMA and Robbman did an awesome job on this one. I kinda wish they woulkd get with Tangent and do the 4740!

[Dave V]

Question for the Pennsy fans. What time period works for the circle herald scheme? I picked up a couple of these for autoframe service on the Beer Line and was wondering whether they would still be in this scheme in the early 1970s.

Best wishes, Dave

The circle herald is known as "circle keystone," or scheme CK.  Jerry Britton has a great website that explains when specific schemes were used on PRR equipment:

http://kc.pennsyrr.com/freightops/schemes.php

CK was applied to freight equipment from 1930 up until February of 1954.  After that, a series of Shadow Keystone paint schemes (4 total) were applied until 1961, when the plain keystone with gothic reporting marks were applied.  

Photographs show very few CK cars surviving the Penn Central merger.  By the 1970s, any gons still in PRR paint would most likely be in plain keystone.

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks for the information Dave. Can I modernize the scheme on the gondola by just switching the herald? I also wonder whether a drop-end gondola would be used in auto frame service. I have done some searching on this, but there is so much Pennsy information out there it is hard to sort through all the various web sites.

Best wishes, Dave

[Iain]

How appropriate are these for '48?