Nice job Joe and MTL on choosing B&O as one of the first roadnames to be released for your new hoppers. I hope you have plans to release Chessie and Western MD too so I can add to my FT collection. Also great job on the mining kits that have been relased the last couple months. I'm hoping to be able to get all of these in the near future too. I have plenty of hoppers and coal porters to put to use.
Great Job Joe D. I second the above as a devoted loyal Chessie fan. you can't ever make enough Chessie related rolling stock.
mTl's new Hoppers My Op[nion I received my new Mtl hoppers Monday Thanks to prompt service from Loren. They are very well detailed exactly like the n scale version with the metal underframe and the brake equipment at the correct end. one exception is that the hopper bay doors do not open as on the n scale version. They should track very well especially if you are using metal wheel inserts from Fox Valley. I have a question for you guys. Why does this hopper display at alternate corners two types of stirrups? Is this prototypic? Could be I guess, but i haven't seen it. Painting and lettering are very good but to me on the B&O hoppers the B&O could have been a teesy bitsy larger. Witness FR's B&O 2 bay's huge as hell. The most disappointing thing about these hoppers is the coal load that comes with them, folks they look like Sheet. You very definitely have to go aftermarket on these. Joe D. must have been in the bathroom on these.
Hi Harold, How do they look without coal inserts? Plastic coal inserts hardly ever look right... Just try to get some real coal and glue it over it using some black paint.
Do any of the Hay Brother´s products fit? (If not, I am sure there will be some on the way. Myself, I need to get some lump coal loads to go on hoppers I have. You guys know that coal comes in different sizes, from big chunks to dust? Also coal loads look different depending on how it was loaded, and if its freshly loaded or been traveling a while. I am just waiting for the right colors to show up. Again wish there were some 3 or 4 bay hoppers, and that I could get them 6 in a pack like our HO and N friends do. Composite hoppers in Z is a dream I will never ever see. Meanwhile I can only hope for Mopac, CB&Q, and Illinois Central hoppers.
Hi Harold, The different sturrips are prototypical depending on when they were built and what road they were bought by. The lettering was tripple checked with the drawings we had supplied for us...if you look at photo's you see different sizes used, so I think we both were correct. ) Sorry you don't like the loads... Cheers Joe
I just got my Q hoppers today!!!!!! Proper "Everywhere West" and "Way of the Zephyrs" . Brake details are wonderful. Really nothing wrong with the coal load. Coal comes in different sizes http://www.sizes.com/materls/anthracite.htm http://www.sizes.com/materls/coal_bituminous.htm Real coal has kind of a sheen to it, especially if it has been sprayed with oil. The BIG surprise was when I popped off the laod and found the INSIDE of the hopper was detailed!! Big A++ on that, now I can run my empty hoppers to the mine! My only wish, is that they would come out in 6 or perhaps 12 packs, with different numbers so I could build coal drags. Another wish would be to have 3 bay hoppers, but, I guess you cant have everything.
