Atlas General American RBL: A Thing That Exists

[squirrelhunter]

Just a side note, I did a direct swap of BLMA 70 ton roller bearing trucks for the ones provided and the car coupled just fine to my ESM X58, so I'm not sure coupler height will be an issue if you use BLMA trucks.

[peteski]

When was the Atlas PS-1 boxcar model first released?  That model has the MTL centering pin cavities inside the coupler pockets.  I think every Atlas model tooled with integrated coupler pockets since then has been MTL1015-friendly.

Interesting - I did not know that.  I think I only have couple of those cars, and I didn't do much with them (like take them apart) after I bought them.

[basementcalling]

While it seems that some of details on this new model are not quite up to par, it is good to see Atlas make conversion to MTL couplers easy.  I also applauded Scale Trains for doing the same on the models I own.  I think Scale Trains was the first company to do this.

Wait, I thought the horribly oversized boxing gloves their engines came with were almost impossible to replace? One reason I have yet to buy any of their locos.

[peteski]

Wait, I thought the horribly oversized boxing gloves their engines came with were almost impossible to replace? One reason I have yet to buy any of their locos.

On my "Big Blow" I opened the coupler boxes, removed the McOverScale couplers "bits", and installed MTL coupler "bits". Easy Peasy!  They even mention this conversion in the booklet included with the model. I was impressed (and I'm not easily impressed). 

 Like you said, those McOverScale couplers are Horribly Oversized.   I don't  own any other Scale Trains locos, so I don't  know if they are all that easy to convert.

[nkalanaga]

As did Squirrelhunter, I swapped BLMA trucks for the Atlas on mine, and coupler height is fine.  Very easy swap, just pull the pins out, replace the trucks, put the Atlas pins back in.  Be careful, though, as the body bolsters like to come off with the pins, if you simply pull on them.  The bolsters snap right back in, though, so not a big deal.

The Atlas trucks are nice, and roll very well, so will be kept for future use on something.

I wonder if these were supposed to have the low-bolster trucks, and the factory screwed up?  If the pre-production samples had the right trucks, Atlas wouldn't have any reason to look at the production versions before shipping them out.

[nscalbitz]

As did Squirrelhunter, I swapped ... If the pre-production samples had the right trucks, Atlas wouldn't have any reason to look at the production versions before shipping them out.

Really? Is that the prevailing level of competency in the US manufacturing these days? 
If it was right before, we don't need to check! 

So much for W. Edwards Deming and 40 years of production and service management (Quality Control and Assurance) theories I guess!
d

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Really? Is that the prevailing level of competency in the US manufacturing these days? 
If it was right before, we don't need to check! 

So much for W. Edwards Deming and 40 years of production and service management (Quality Control and Assurance) theories I guess!
d

Whoa whoa whoa.

Keep in mind that we're talking about a company that is 1/10000 th size.

I think we all need to cut these folks some slack. We're talking about things we buy for our amusement.

[wazzou]

Whoa whoa whoa.

Keep in mind that we're talking about a company that is 1/10000 th size.

I think we all need to cut these folks some slack. We're talking about things we buy for our amusement.

Ed, I'll certainly agree to a point but at the prices that these new release command, I think it's perfectly fine to expect a little better QC.
I mean, if you're happy with end ladders that are upside down and with trucks that lead to less than ideal ride height despite the same company owning molds for trucks that create a perfect solution, I don't really know what to say.

[Mark5]

I ordered a CR and a D&H, and they arrived today. The B-end ladders are upside-down. But they are press-fit and not cemented, it’s just that the contacts are VERY tight. I slowly worked the ladder component out by carefully prying at the eight pin locations with a jeweler’s flat blade screwdriver and a pair of tweezers.

Casting off Bryan's suggestion, I used a jewelers flat blade screwdriver and an "exacto" knife blade to pry it up. Move slowly and deliberately and it won't be too difficult. For those that are curious only the top and bottom rungs have pins (4 pins total):

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For me, the dicey part was getting the pins lined back up when putting them back on the car (what a pain!).

Luckily, I still had a pair of BLMA 70 ton ASF RB trucks available, so this is what the car looks like now:

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Interestingly, the floor is not cast as one piece - one bolster "popped out" a bit when I tried to simply pull the truck out. Therefore I recommend prying between the bolster and truck to remove the old trucks. I'm not sure what to do with the trucks it came with (I'm annoyed that I had to replace them). The wheels just don't cut it for me:

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I did not have any clearance issue with the BLMA truck, but if something arises I'll trim back the coupler plate like Bryan did (see his earlier post).

Mark

[Mark5]

Ok, looking at proto pics, it appears the ladder on my Wabash car was correctly applied. 



Now I have to go flip it back around. (luckily I only did one side so far).

Mark

[bbussey]

Mark, the ladder issue appears to be only with models without roofwalk on the A end.  That might only be the two Conrail cars in this release, as I don't recall any of the other roadnames having no roofwalk.

[nkalanaga]

nscalbitz:  That's not quite fair to Atlas, as they didn't manufacture the models.  They're the importer, and once a design is finalized, it is reasonable to expect the manufacturer to make the production models the same as the approved pre-production test parts.  If the factory substituted something, without telling Atlas, and the substitution isn't obvious, they can't be expected to open the boxes, especially with their limited staff.

I expect that the manufacturer is getting some rather pointed feedback from Atlas, and somebody at the plant will be taken to task for this, if it is a manufacturing foul-up.

If there were clearance issues with the BLMA trucks in pre-production testing, the "wrong" trucks may have been an attempt to make a usable model, at less cost than redesigning the underframe.  I imagine the ride height wouldn't have been noticed by most modelers.  After all, the car is still within Plate B height, so doesn't look too tall, compared with other models.  Unless one happens to research the prototype...

[thomasjmdavis]

Importer or not, one has to assume that Atlas, as the designer and specifier of the production, would know whether or not several thousand pairs of the ex-BLMA trucks were ordered for production to provide for the trucks needed for this particular model.  Am I correct in my recollection that after the second most recent Asian factory debacle, Atlas issued a statement that their products were now being made at 4 different factories- so that they would not be subject in the future to having their whole production shut down by the closure of 1 factory.  Are the ex-BLMA products made in the same plant that made the RBL, or are they made elsewhere?

nscalbitz:  That's not quite fair to Atlas, as they didn't manufacture the models.  They're the importer, and once a design is finalized, it is reasonable to expect the manufacturer to make the production models the same as the approved pre-production test parts.  If the factory substituted something, without telling Atlas, and the substitution isn't obvious, they can't be expected to open the boxes, especially with their limited staff.

I think that is a complete fiction.  It is inconceivable to me that any importer would not open several boxes, put them on a test track, and make sure they were up to spec. When I owned a small company, I personally inspected samples of EVERY product or part when they came in, whether they came from China or the woodworking plant around the corner, or the electrical supplier down the block, before any were shipped to customers. They are going to need samples anyway to show customers at train shows and no doubt will be showing up on Youtube any time now or on the next Trainworld video. 

[Mark5]

Mark, the ladder issue appears to be only with models without roofwalk on the A end.  That might only be the two Conrail cars in this release, as I don't recall any of the other roadnames having no roofwalk.

Thanks - I fixed it this morning. 2nd go around was much quicker.

[wcfn100]

I think that is a complete fiction.  It is inconceivable to me that any importer would not open several boxes, put them on a test track, and make sure they were up to spec.

It's not.  I had a manufacturer (not Atlas) tell me that unless they could see damage to the boxes, none of the N scale stuff was looked at before shipping.


You can see in the video that Atlas posted on FB that the sample Conrail car had the end ladders installed correctly.


Maybe they should have designed it to only go one way.

Jason