After modeling the steam era for so long, I've caught the intermodal bug. Who makes your favorite RTR (or easy kits) intermodal cars? I think I'd like to start with double stack containers. Any suggestions?
Pete, I suggest you go to stickymonks site as he produces intermodal equipment for HO, his site is advertised on the bottom of this page but I will post the link here for you Curtishobbies
The Athearn Husky Stacks are a good place to start. They are easy to build and I understand are now available RTR. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/140-5902 Wathers offers RTR and kit stack cars too. This one is interesting in that it is designed to carry either containers OR trailers. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-4301
In addition to the kits and RTR equipment mentioned above, Athearn also makes a nice kit of a Gunderson Maxi-III 5-unit stack car. A-Line also makes stack car kits; one is a Thrall Lo-Pac 2000 5-unit car( http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/116-26103 ), and the other is a Gunderson Twin-Stack 5-unit car( http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/116-27103 ). Neither car kit is anywhere close to being an RTR (paint, decals, trucks and couplers not included), but I would recommend them if you want something more challenging and distinctive farther down the road. If and when you decide to get into flatcars, Walthers produces a model of a Trailer Train 89' channel-side flat (pigs only; http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-4951 ). They are about to re-issue it, but I think still only as a kit. No biggie though, it isn't hard to assemble. Accurail makes a nice 89' TOFC/COFC flat that goes together easily and looks good(http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/112-8905). [ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: SP 8299 ]
As said before, the Athearn, Walthers & A-Line cars will probably be the basis of your fleet, Con-Cor also does a couple of stack cars but they are really not as nice IMHO, IIRC they also duplicate other manufacturers, so you're not missing much. If you start getting to the stage when you're adding more detail, then take a look at Plano who make replacement etched parts for some of these, some of these are just "drop on" etched replacements for the existing plastic walkways and they do look fabulous One thing to watch is that the intermodal scene tends to change faster than railroads in general, so if a specific date/era is important for your modelling then you have to take a little care, as ownership of stack cars and containers can change fairly frequently. A couple of useful web resources for you: TTX Corporation - has a good online equipment list feature Matt Hannes - Container Photo's Modelintermodal.com Enjoy [ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: Martyn Read ]
On the Plano etched walkways, i wonder if its possible to get a huge sheet of the stuff and cut out what you need yourself? Well i'd love to redo walkways with the stuff, the price seems like it would def add up to me... anyone have any opinions? i was just checking out there page and it seems they offer some bulk material. i think i'l check it out and see what the edges are like.
That sounds an interesting idea, let us know what you find out. The ones I have used (on well cars) are for the Walthers AP well kit, and for that one the rather cunning fold up handrail uprights included and the fact that it basically goes on with no effort other than removing the original plastic walkway & steps and painting the new uprights yellow made that one a good investment in my book All the best
I was fortunate enough to find an Athearn Gunderson Maxi-III 5-unit stack car on sale at a local hobby store for $3.98 a year ago. He had tons of them piled up and he was clearing them out. One guy was stocking up on them just for the wheels and trucks! The cargo cost a lot more that the cars themselves, but what can you expect for that low price? I've got some cars stacked one-high, and some cars stacked 2-high. I've noticed that a fully-loaded multi-modal can be taller than the standard NMRA limits, or at least pushes the upper envelope. Watch out for tunnels when you first run them. I had to add some weight to the cargo to bring the loaded cars up to NMRA standards, but that's easy to do. Look out for the specials! Especially his time of year when the over-stocked cars are being cleared out. Mark
I'm just throwing out a guess here, but wouldn't the NMRA height standards have been established like back when 40' cars were standard etc? I dont remember the plate, but isn't it E that excess height cars exceed? So like Yankinoz said, just like the real rr's had a problem, you've got problems too if you're tunnels are built to the "standard" height clearance
