I just received my order of the new ribside boxcar, and they look better then expected. The rib design look very much like the one on the waffle box car. On one of my boxcars the pin didn't go into the boster enought, so I trim it a little. Can I say AWESOME?
John, I don't think I've seen your CSX box cars before unless I missed it in another post. Please post some pics!!. I'm getting some waffle side box cars myself and doing them in CSX. Did you make your own decals? I'm still working on my SD-70 #700 The Spirit of Cumberland. I finally got most the material I need for the modification to turn it into a SD70 MAC. Joe
50' Z scale Boxcars on the Market! Finally! Micro-Trains has finally released the new Z scale 50' "MODERN" boxcar! Awesome!!! Even though times are tough, I got one of each! They look good. I am impressed! Prototypical Modern Boxcar Manufacturers: Micro-Trains has made 2 types. Unfortunately, the old 50' mold broke several years ago. But, now the new mold can take up where the old left off. Several years to catch up! Let's get going! Mark 4 Design has made 2 types also. The Waffle Side and the Hi-Cube. Both are equally as detailed as MTL's new 50' Boxcar! Mark has plans to bring forth new types of Z scale rollingstock in the near future! Keep your eyes peeled for updates! These two manufacturers got their stuff together! Keep up the great work! Hobo Tim
And Tim, if you look at the MTL website, they just announced that in I think December, we will see a plug-door boxcar as well. I think it's the same new FMC boxcar but with a different door. I can't check the MTL website from work unfortunately. Randy
50' Plug Door Boxcar! Randy, I just went to the MTL site again and looked closely at the December release photo of the plug door. You are either right, or wrong! You are right if MTL just makes a Plug Door to fit the existing 50' FMC boxcar. You are wrong if MTL comes out with a whole new body style of boxcar. My reasons being the Rib count on the photo of the December release is 8 where-as the count on the current new 50' FMC boxcar is 6. When I say rib count, I am referring to the number of ribs on either side of the door. A 6 count would render 12 total ribs on each side. An 8 count wound equal 16. I know, technical, technical! But, if not me, whom? :w20z6q: Hobo Tim
I thought excess height cars were supposed to have a strip at the top ends of the cars painted white? So shouldn't we paint the any of the high cube schemes with that white band on the car ends? I got 1 NS and 4 MRL cars from Loren, and I want to paint the doors blue, but I need to find a matching blue paint.
Robert, you would probably have to check the FRA or AAR specs, but I believe there are different heights for excess height cars and only the taller ones are marked with the white stripe you describe. So many of what we see today are probably the lower excess height cars that we don't even realize that they are excess height. Not exactly a technical description. ;-) Tim, I haven't looked closely at the photos and I don't think MTL has released the details, but a completely different car would be very cool. Randy
Joe. you must have my earlier post. Here is the link. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=62359&page=4 Robert, I have been giving a lot though weather the waffle car is a high cube or not. I will measure it against the Gunderson for comparison when it arrives. All the pictures I have of the waffle car it din't have the white markings, while all the Gundersons did have it. I must admit that identifying boxcar is extremely hard, so I am depending on our group for guidance on how to model it correctly. Look, it took me almost a year to tell the difference between all the geeps. It will take me a little longer to tell the difference between boxcars. Right now, I am just happy to have boxcars without walkways. I have not been able to post like before the laptop's hardrive crash. I been getting my fix by stealing my sons PSP, and using it to surf the net. They are ok to surf, but it's next to impossible to used it post treads.
Guys, we really need those loads they have in n scale. It would really look great when the doors are open. Have any try to contac Hays brothers about it. I known someone try to get them to make loads for the boxcar. I just hope someone makes some loads for this boxcars.
Don't feel bad, I am still learning all kinds of this stuff too. What I don't know is anything about the modern railroading, because I have always been modeling the 1950's when in N Scale. Now that I'm into Z, I have been doing modern modeling because the best running stuff is all modern. A year ago, I had no idea what ditch lights were used for. I thought they were so engineers could see a heard of moose crossing the tracks better. haha! Now I am finding out about excess height cars, and I still have to figure out track signaling.
These links might shed some light on AAR dimensional standards, ie. Plate B,C D, E, F . I know Plate F cars are painted with the white stripes at the tops of the ends, not sure if D's and E's are or not. http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=209 http://www.emdx.org/rail/Gabarit/ComparaisonGabaritsEuropenEtAAR.pdf http://www.nmra.org/standards/gauge.html Randy
Well, the gundersons finally made it to South Florida. They look great. They are definetly taller then the new ribside, and about the same height as the waffle car. I think Mark made some improvements. It is lot easier to assemble now. Not that the waffle was hard to assemble. It kind look like the ribside, except that it is a high cube and has a plug door. I hope to have Tim's Railbox decals nextweek I think the only thing missing on this kit is the decals. I am sure a lot hobbiest may not have access to a set of z scale decal. I am sure they will sell more if they include a set of decals.
