Yes Brian, I built it all. I made the brackets from brass that the pipes hang from.
Bobby
Bobby,
....did you create that larger size manifold piping that hangs down off the one side (the piping that aways seem to get broken on the stock model car)? I didn't see where you made reference to that on the other forum??
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
I thought I had done it by clicking on the "copy image location" and placing it here. But obviously that didn't work,...or perhaps I forgot to hit POST,....done that before
railandsailAnd now I see you did this beautifull work as well. Lets see if I can link a few of the finish photos you posted on that other forum.
Simply click the "share" arrow and paste here...
air and discharge complete by bobbypitts44, on Flickr
Plano roofwalk and kit # 10930 by bobbypitts44, on Flickr
Thank you for sharing your skills and photos with the M-R community, Bobby!
Regards, Ed
Hi Bobby,I'm the guy that was WILD about you liquid argon car builds...cyrogenic cars.
And now I see you did this beautifull work as well. Lets see if I can link a few of the finish photos you posted on that other forum.
All of my photos are on Flickr. I can't post a link from my Phone, but you can Google bobbypitts44 Flickr and it'll come up.
Hi Bobby, is there a link and/or photos of the build process any where?
And, did you replace the molded on plastic tubing and piping on the bottom of the car, with brass?
Plano now has a kit for these cars, but I don't think it includes the piping. I know Sean Steele did a build of this car too, and his pictures are on the Plano site.
It's another one of your great builds, that I for one, never get tired of.
Mike.
My You Tube
Hello guys. I've been a member of this forum for years, but all of a sudden I couldn't log in on my tablet. I thought I'd been given the boot. I found out I could log in on my wife's I phone. I didn't know that this good stuff was on the layout part, but was told it was. I'll be happy to answer any questions about my Flexi-Flow.
Click on his name and you can see his recent threads and post, maybe you can track it down that way.
Heck, send him a PM. Maybe he'll send you a link. I haven't looked lately, and I don't remember what photo hosting site he uses, but you used to find all of his stuff just with a Google search.
He was also on Diesel Detailer alot too.
I haven't checked in the ARF for a while now.
Yep, Bobby did a killer job on that flexi flo hopper.
Welcome to Atlas Rescue Forums btw.
I guess you have to decide whether some cheap toy train set cars are worth the effort. IMO, some are simply not, like the box cars with the roof walk molded on. There are often much better alternatives availalbe so you don't have to spend all that time which could be used for one of the other many projects a layout in-progress will be demanding.
The flex-flo is defintely one of those models you can't buy off the shelf and have a decent looking model without upgradeing the toy train version, or laying out a lot of money on brass.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
mbinsewi Wayne, that's exactly what Bobby Pits and Sean Steele did during the rebuilds they did of these cars. The molded tubing/piping on the original cars are flat on the inside. Mike
Wayne, that's exactly what Bobby Pits and Sean Steele did during the rebuilds they did of these cars.
The molded tubing/piping on the original cars are flat on the inside.
Mike
I would have thought there would have been some separate photos of his piping construction?....or did I just miss them??
A very nice rebuild discussion on this forum, by a guy who really does EXCELLENT work, Bobby Pittshttp://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/2615/ahm-flexi-flo-hopper-bash
This thread is going to inspire me to get back to my rebuild of a couple of these cars. I've had the Plano kits for a year, or so.
Except, I have a Case 988 rubber tired excavator (on the bench now), 10 spine cars that need decals and weathering, and 4 tank car projects/rebuilds using Plano parts and the 50' MDC/Roundhouse side ladder tank cars, ahead of anything else!
Of course, I could just set up another table/bench....mmmmm
I think if I had one, or a number of, those cars, and the piping was damaged, the best repair might be to re-do the whole works in brass, using wire and, where necessary, tubing. Soldered together, and pinned in-place, it would be a lot stronger. To simplify things a bit, the plastic fittings could be salvaged, then drilled-out and re-used.
Wayne
I do recall one problem with these cars,...that external piping down below on the side was always subject to damage. Most often when you find these cars used that piping is cracked or chunks missing. If you try to repair just simply cracks in the piping, it is not so easy? I don't know that I have discovered an adhesive that works well here, but then I have not yet done that much experimentation. Several ones I tried were not that sucessful.
railandsail Here is a good photo of a similar car,
Here is a good photo of a similar car,
railandsaila Details Kit for these cars,...wonder if it got into production?
On the Plano website, you can also see Sean Steele's build. I think it was Sean's project that prompted the "kit". Sean used stock walkways and railings, and did an extensive article about it, which I believe was on the "Diesel Detailer" site, but now you can buy the kit from Plano.
I bought 2 kits last winter. They are still waiting.
a Details Kit for these cars,...wonder if it got into production?http://www.planomodelproducts.com/10930/10930.html
Now I found a number of images of the 'HO model car when I googled "AHM Flex Flow hopper"
Here is one that references a posting on Tyco forums. Perhaps it was Tyco that made the plastic HO model?
PS: Appears to maybe be an AHM model,...according to this tyco forum discussion.More Picshttp://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=855
That is a very interesting AHM car. It does have a prototype or at least a solid prototype-suggestion...Believe it is correct only for NYC and related roads. AHM did roadnames like Frisco and your Enjay Plastics, but some flavor of New York Central is the only prototypical paints to be applied according to what I know. They were custom made for the New York Central and/or their subsidary Merchant's Dispatch in the mid/late '60s by ACF.They are known as "Flexi-Flow" Hoppers.../tyco/forum/uploaded/Tony Cook/nycb.jpg/tyco/forum/uploaded/Tony Cook/mdt1.jpg/tyco/forum/uploaded/Tony Cook/nycff1.jpg/tyco/forum/uploaded/Tony Cook/nyca.jpg
Covered Hopperhttp://www.panoramio.com/photo/61642262
Who was it that made a fairly cheap plastic version of this car?
I have a bunch of them that I intended to 'spruce up'.
PS: Can't even find a photo of that model freight car, but here is a similar car,
Here's a Tyco reefer with a moulded-on roofwalk and moulded-on hatch detail, too...
...with the original paint (possibly applied with a roller) removed, and an airbrush application of better paint and some metal grabirons and sill steps, it's a bit more acceptable...
However, the floors on these cars took on a bit of a sag (I'd already re-trucked them with Athearn trucks and had added body-mounted Kadees), and I decided to build new underbodies.While I pondered the best way to go about that, it occurred to me that a wood-sided refrigerator car in the '30s would be unlikely to have the steel dreadnaught ends that were on these four cars, so I decided to address that, too...
I also had three LifeLike wood-sided refrigerator cars which had similar shortcomings, although they were already 36'-ers. I had previously dressed them up a bit, with body-mounted Kadees and better trucks, but decided that they could look better still...
I also re-worked eight Athearn Blue Box boxcars, with new roofs, ends, floors and underframes, and rebuilt sides. However, that's a longer story, and part of a fairly extensive rebuilding programme of many cars. If you're especially bored or have time to kill, the whole shebang is well-covered HERE, with the Athearn car rebuild beginning on page 4 of the same thread.
As I mentioned earlier, my layout would be bereft of rolling stock without these rebuilds of older, mostly pre-owned, and cheap cars from the "used" section of my LHS. The Athearn cars, for example, were all a buck-or-less.
As always, YMMV but when it comes to old cheap tyco train cars - it's your call.
My ex-wife had an old Tyco train set from her childhood and told me I could do what I wanted with it. The box car had a molded on roof walk, it had talgo trucks and other deficiencies which made Athearn blue box cars look like fine scale models. In the end, I could couldn't see how I could work a miracle to turn that pigs ear into a silk purse. Maybe I am just not made of the right stuff but I could see it was futile for me to even try. Kudo's to those with the chops to do it and have it turn out to be a visually good looking model. It's not for the faint of heart like I was/am.
Most of my rolling stock is low cost stuff that I've rebuilt. That involves turning down flanges if needed, converting to Kadee couplers and adjusting coupler height, ensuring the trucks are adjusted to pivot correctly. Sometimes they need new wheels and trucks. As long as they function well. Looks are secondary.
On my pike, the Athearn BB pieces are the good stuff. I only own four high end cars. They're beautiful and they roll extremely well, but you get 1.5x performance at 5x the price.
Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority, run through Amtrak and CSX Intermodal
CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield
First thing I removed was the name. The Southern Railroad? Nope. That ain't gonna fly.
Not sure what I will replace it with just yet.
John is retired and loving it!
https://jmrailroad.wordpress.com/
JohnnyB might be new here but he intuitively knew enough to create a title for a posting that was all but guaranteed to draw Dr Wayne into the mix - well done!
Mantua/Tyco did create more than a few plastic car bodies that are excellent fodder for modification and improvement. Somebody in their tool and die area knew what they were doing, and perhaps dispaired at the what the paint and lettering department routinely did to their creations.
Dave Nelson
JohnnyB, to the MR Forums.
I suspect that since you're new here, your first few posts were likely moderated, which might explain the here-then-not-here photos.