Anyone else order the Nystrom trucks? They look pretty good but don't roll well at all for me and yes I have the correct axle length.
Any hints as to what might be needing a tweak? With your attention to detail, I am certain you've looked them over very closely, carefully.
Some of the guys I showed them to seemed to think perhaps the cones that the axle ends get inserted to needed to be reshaped. Other than that, not sure.
I have a zillion fox valley .540 wheelsets that won't work in mine , I was going to try a few different wheel sets sometime. Randy
I saw your trucks. Any hope of getting a Skytop car from you on Shapeways? I think several people would be ready to get one.
Dunno what happened to this shapeways project, but Bill Denton just posted over on Railwire that he has acquired/borrowed Jim Stillman's skytop masters and will be offering castings via his website (Skytopmodels.com). Cheers, -Mark
Good to know those molds are in Bill's hands. At least they will not be lost, as were the SDL39 once done by Jim Semikoski.
Hey folks. Happy New Year! Well, I'm back in civilization for a while so I'll be getting back to work on this soon. Glad to see that the molds were found! Nystrom trucks: okay, I read that the axle cones need to be reshaped. I pulled one out to remove the wheels from it and broke it - heh. So, any ideas exactly? Which model isn't rolling right or are none of them rolling right? Also, for those that purchased these from Shapeways and couldn't get them to work, let me know so I can refund your money. For the trucks, one option I am thinking about is to engineer them so that they can take the copper inserts found on the Kato Metra cars. I'd have to check the length on them though. I'm sure that would handle that problem.
I finished up the head of the car and adjusted the hatch on top some. I also completed the sleeping portion of the interior. In the process, I developed a new way to cut the window holes which was giving me a severe pain in the caboose. NExt up is to finish the atrium, then its interior. After that, I'll move to the undercarriage. Lastly, I will build provisions for lighting installation, including mounting the board underneath. That will definitely be some trial and error. Looking at the car's plans, I can't really tell how the beds work, so I just made... something. It's so small that I think few will scrutinize. HOWEVER: if you have any references as to what the actual interior of the sleeper version looked like, please let me know. I already know what the interior of the chair car version looks like, as well as the atrium in both.
I have a pair of the Nystrom trucks they don't fit any of the wheels that I have. I'm not looking for a refund... a working replacement will do better. I wish they would accept either Micro trains 36" wheels or FVM 36" .540 wheel sets. As far as lighting I prefer the battery operated Easy Peasy lighting from Rapido. There's no light flicker from dirty track, switches or whatnot. The interior of the car is typical standard Pullman layout.. nothing different or special just eight double bedrooms. Randy
Randy: Thank you for your patience. If you have a micrometer, can you measure the overall axle length on the Microtrains 36" as well as the outside to outside wheel dimension? I also put an email in to FVM about some dimensions that I am uncertain about. It turns out, the tests I did were on .526 wheels in the "narrow" model. There is a lot of play that I don't like so much, but it rolls free. I will be making specific versions for: .526", .540" and .553" Once I get those up in the shop, I will order some .540" and have them sent to you. I will just need to get your shipping address. How many pairs of trucks do you need? Thank you for letting me know. I assume you also cleaned the wax off of the trucks before mounting. If you have any pictures, that would be awesome!
I experimented some with the Nystroms and like them. I used FVM 3604 w/ .526" axles. I also made a jig to mill the bolster down a bit.
Hey, Starbuck: do you have any pics? I assume you milled the top of the bolster. I will probably leave it that thick since it corresponds to my version of the car.
Basically, my jig is just a block of wood with a notch in it that the truck nests down into and the block is clamped in my drill press vise. The burr is chucked in the drill press and adjusted and locked at whatever height is required and I simply slide the vise on the drill press table much like you would do using a router. It makes it easy to get consistant cuts over multiple trucks. The reason I cut the trucks down is for use on Bill Denton's (Skytop Models) resin cast shells. I don't remember exactly how much I milled off. It's written down somewhere but I think it was around .020". Jim
Just a quick update: The solarium is slow-going, but getting there. Getting the angles right is very difficult. My plan is, at the end of all of this, to have the following: - "Creek" series sleeper in both CN and Olympian Hiawatha versions - "Rapids" series parlor car Here's some trivia on the skytops (per Wikipedia): There were 10 cars manufactured: Cedar Rapids 186 - Milwaukee Road 1948 Parlor-lounge Retired in 1970. Now belongs to Friends of the 261. Coon Rapids 187 - Milwaukee Road 1948 Parlor-lounge Retired in 1970. Stored by the Escanaba and Lake Superior Railroad.' Dell Rapids 188 - Milwaukee Road 1948 Parlor-lounge Retired in 1970. On display at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, Florida. Priest Rapids 189 - Milwaukee Road 1948 Parlor-lounge Scrapped in 1970. Alder Creek 12 - Pullman-Standard 1948 Sleeper-lounge Sold to CN in 1964 and renamed Mahone (#1900). Scrapped in 1977. Arrow Creek 14 - Pullman-Standard 1948 Sleeper-lounge Sold to CN in 1964 and renamed Malpeque (#1901). Now stored in Montevideo, Minnesota. Coffee Creek 15 - Pullman-Standard 1948 Sleeper-lounge Sold to CN in 1964 and renamed Fundy (#1902). Being restored in Fargo, North Dakota. Gold Creek 16 - Pullman-Standard 1948 Sleeper-lounge Sold to CN in 1964 and renamed Trinity (#1903). Now stored in Montevideo, Minnesota. Marble Creek 17 - Pullman-Standard 1949 Sleeper-lounge Sold to CN in 1964 and renamed Baddeck (#1904). Scrapped; date unknown. Spanish Creek 18 - Pullman-Standard 1949 Sleeper-lounge Sold to CN in 1964 and renamed Gaspe (#1905). Scrapped in 1977.
