jjdamnit Hello All, SeeYou190 JJ: Would you like another "special" Tyco operating dump car for your collection? If so, please send me a PM. I have one for you. Very kind of you!
Hello All,
SeeYou190 JJ: Would you like another "special" Tyco operating dump car for your collection? If so, please send me a PM. I have one for you.
Very kind of you!
.
JJ: I sent you a PM message about the car.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Kevin, got the message but for some reason I can't reply to it through the forums.
I can receive messages but cannot reply. Do you have an email you can message me?
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I sent you a PM with my email address. You will need to change the <at> to an @ and the <dot> to a period.
including an email in a PM apparently does not work so well.
nemesys I will convert all of them to body mount the couplers.
Smart move. Our club outlaws talgo couplers because they can cause derailments on long trains -- if the slack comes in quickly it can shove the truck right off the rails.
If it hasn't been mentioned before, Kadee makes a kit (#246) with the proper drill bits and a 2-56 tap. At $8 or so you can probably get the parts seperately for less, but it's nice to have everything packaged in one place.
https://www.kadee.com/s-scale-tools-and-accessories-c-274_282_317/246-tap-256-and-drills-50-and-43-p-333.htm
I'm with you on older cars... modern detail is nice but it's also f-r-a-g-i-l-e. On our club layout, simple old Athearn, Roundhouse, and Accurail cars fare the best.
Aaron
I like converting train set cars to Kadee body mount couplers as these cars can be had for next to nothing at train shows vs $20 to $40 for RTR cars. Usually, use #148 couplers and Kadee boxes.
There is a Greenburg show in 2 weeks and I think that I will pick up a few cars to convert and practice weathering.
Joe Staten Island West
As always, YMMV. My ex years ago had a Tyco set in a box that was preserved along with most of her childhood stuff in her parents house.
My standards were a good deal lower back 25 years ago and I did think about upgrading the several freight cars in that box. But there was really nothing special about them. Add to that the roof walk on the box car was molded on and looked pretty crude. The same went for the other freight cars.
In the end I decided it wasn't worth the trouble to upgrade cars that looked so toy-like, poor as I was then.
That said, I've seen some unique freight cars such as the light gray Santa Fe cylindrical covered hopper never made in a higher quality version that some have gone to the trouble to upgrade.
And of course my modeling era precluded some unique cars a too old to be of interest to me - including the helium car, interesting and unique as it is.
I like converting train set cars to Kadee body mount couplers as these cars can be had for next to nothing at train shows vs $20 to $40 for RTR cars.
There are literally boxes and boxes of 2-3 dollar freight cars at some of the bigger train shows - enough to choke a small landfill. I'm guessing the few that get bought are by parents with small children who don't mind spending a few dollars to get little Johnny some trains for cheap and no worries if they get abused cause they didn't cost much. But some may be of interest to club folks who need models that can also take abuse and not cost much.
It's a time vs money trade off. If you have lots and lots of time, you can convert more trainset train cars than you can possibly imagine. The down side is most still look very toy-like; if thats acceptable - go for it.
For those that want trains that don't look so much like toys but are on a budget, there are still lots of good deals on kits like Athearn, MDC, LL P2K (higher detail), Accurail etc. I was at the Timonium show last spring and there were lots of nice looking used freight cars for sale that looks mucn nicer than toy train level and priced around $8 to $10 and were equipped with KD's. I picked up a nicely painted Accurail 40' PC box car with the ACI lable, KD's etc for $10.
By the time you spend upgrading a Tyco freight car, it's going to be close to be in that price range anyway and not necessarly look that good.
The good news is there is a whole continuum of models out there including those who are tight budget minded.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983