A Roundhouse 3-in-1 Craft Kit build. More details and pictures at http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2016/02/jordan-spreader-kitbash-3-tank-cars.html
Kent in KC'nvrr49.blogspot.com
Nice, really nice
Hi Kent:
That's a really good job on the 3 in 1 kit!
I did one a few years ago but I can see by yours that I could have done a better job on the cylinders.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Very nicely done, Kent.
I mostly missed out on the 3-in-1 kits, but picked up bits and pieces from them over the years, and thought them to be good fodder for kitbashing.Later, I did pick up Walthers Jordan spreader kit and modified it a bit to suit my needs:
The pistons are music wire, attached to the blades using parts gleaned from disposable lighters. I used soft insulation stripped from small wire for the hydraulic lines.
Wayne
Nice!
I stumbled upon a real one in Ashtabula, Ohio, some years ago. No shortage of rust on this little fellow!
Regards, Ed
Nice work guys. I might just put that on my "to do" kit list. Is the 3 in 1 kit hard to do?
Here is what Wikipedia says about the inventor of the Jordan Spreader:
"Oswald F. Jordan was a Canadian road master who worked in the Niagara, Ontario area on the Canada Southern Railway, a branch of the New York Central Railway. Jordan designed the Jordan spreader and supervised a crew at the St. Thomas Canada Southern shop as early as 1900. He formed his own company, O.F. Jordan Company, and continued construction of Jordan Spreaders."
snjroy:
The 3 in 1 kits are sort of a cross between scratch building and kit building. I have built four of them. I believe there were eight different 3 in 1 kits. Each kit makes three separate models. If I recall correctly, the Jordan kit also makes a snow crab and a flanger. Some of the kits are only suitable for the early to mid steam era whereas others like the Jordan spreader were used for decades. If you want to model a more recent spreader you probably should substitute steel (i.e. smooth styrene) for the wood panels on the cab.
The kits give you a bunch of parts like boxcar shells, frames, trucks and windows and they show you how to cut the various parts up to make the models. You also have to supply some of the materials yourself.
They are fun to build but they are not anything like the old Athearn BB kits. The nice thing is that you have some control over the degree of difficulty in that you can make the detailing as simple or complex as you want. For example, Doctorwayne added several hydraulic cylinders as well as many other bits that did not come with the Jordan Spreader kit. It helps if you can get pictures of the prototypes but its not essential.
The bad news is that the kits are long since discontinued and are now relatively rare, although they do come up from time to time on eBay. There are a few 3 in 1 kits on eBay now but not the Jordan spreader.
There are two Walthers spreader kits available right now:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-NEVER-USED-WALTHERS-JORDAN-SPREADER-GREAT-NORTHERN-932-5355-CUSTOM-FINISHES-/231839146481?hash=item35fab0a1f1:g:whsAAOSwZG9Wl~cb
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/WALTHERS-PENNSYLVANIA-JORDON-SPREADER-KIT-NEW-SEALED-PKG-HO-SCALE-/172093300344?hash=item28118f5e78:g:E-kAAOSw5ZBWMr9w
These are taken from the Canadian web site so ignore the $Cdn prices.
This site has copies of the instruction sheets for the old 3-in-1 kits:
http://kitbash.ourpage.com/index-linked.htm
I had an old 26' MDC tank car, and using the instructions on this site, scratch bashed the frame into a pretty passable flanger (although i wound up going to a plan book for blades that wouldn't catch at turnouts, as well as accurate hardware for the deck). It was easy and fun,and I suspect with a little research, you can probably dig up the parts you need for several of these kits without too much trouble (only caveat is that they're not too rigorously prototypical).
http://mprailway.blogspot.com
"The first transition era - wood to steel!"
Nice work by everyone. I have been working on the same thing for a long time, never finshed yet because I was going to use some parts from the Athearn kit, like the blades, but never got to it yet. I made the flanger.
j..........