There was a lot of good information in this artical and I think it has helped me a lot with how to fix my busted up freight cars I have.
I will stop by Colonial Hobbies tonight and get some supplies and try to fix the broken knuckles I have and get some more train cars onto the tracks tonight.
Henry, Thank you! I am ordering one, and it looks like it will make a difficult task much easier.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190If anyone can find me a part number for this drilling jig, I would love to have it. For Athearn Tank Cars and Cabooses this would be very helpful.
https://ppw-aline.com/search?q=jig
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
PC101Then I found a drill jig (A-Line ?) to drill and tap the coupler center post and install a brass screw.
If anyone can find me a part number for this drilling jig, I would love to have it. For Athearn Tank Cars and Cabooses this would be very helpful.
NHTX Having owned some BB boxcars, I found that reducing the width of the portion of the car door that engaged the upper door guide eliminated the problem of door bowing. A few strokes of a file was all it took.
Having owned some BB boxcars, I found that reducing the width of the portion of the car door that engaged the upper door guide eliminated the problem of door bowing. A few strokes of a file was all it took.
I would do the door scraping thing as SOP on all my BB box cars just so my door would slide open and close as well. Never saw a bowed out door yet. Also bending the front edge slightly down before install and the catch ears inward on the metal coupler box cover after it was installed. I use to eye up and drill by sight for a screw in the coupler post. Then I found a drill jig (A-Line ?) to drill and tap the coupler center post and install a brass screw. Do not know if this screw was needed but I figured it could not hurt.
mvlandswI like to use the floor upside down.
That was a very useful technique championed by the club that built the New England Bershire And Western.
I have built a few with the floor upside down, but ultimately decided to develop my own set of improvements.
I like to use the floor upside down. The underframe can be glued securely to the flat side of the plastic floor instead of to the metal weight. This gives a better surface for any detailing and has a better appearance. The tab on the floor that goes in the slot at the door to retain the floor must be cut off. I usually glue the floor in but a friction fit works if you want to be able to remove the floor.
Mark Vinski
Harrison I wrote an article of how to do this(much more simple) on my blog.
I wrote an article of how to do this(much more simple) on my blog.
Nice, I just built 3 of these kits last night, and I have 3 more to build. I need to go get some #5 couplers and add them like you did though, that seems nice. And I need to get them some metal wheels and then they will be ready to go on my club layout! (We have rules about metal couplers and metal wheels)
What started as a love of Thomas the Tank Engine has grown into this... a passion for all things railroading!
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NHTXI found that reducing the width of the portion of the car door that engaged the upper door guide eliminated the problem of door bowing.
That sounds like the best solution if you desire an operating door.
Glad to hear I am not the only one experiencing this.
In addition to all the above, I add a spray of Dull-Cote and a black/brown wash to the trucks and couplers.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
zstripeI have quite a few Athearn box cars and never had one with bowed doors.
I am building another NMRA special Blue Box car this weekend. This one is for Gordon Odegard's PLATVILLE & CALAMINE.
The doors on this one bowed out quite a bit. I think the problem is definitely in the upper door guide.
dknelsonInteresting - it seems most people prefer to use fiber washers to lift a car body up than to use the appropriate offset Kadee coupler head.
I think the offset coupler heads raise or lower a coupler by about 0.030", so if you only need to raise the coupler 0.015" it makes it easier to use washers.
Note... I usually like my cars riding lower, so I will sometimes use an offset coupler and file 0.015" off of the bolster to lower the car.
More than one way to skin this cat!
Interesting - it seems most people prefer to use fiber washers to lift a car body up than to use the appropriate offset Kadee coupler head.
Now and then when I am in a certain mood I do clip off and re-arrange the AB brake system parts on the Athearn underframe to make them correct (usually when I also feel ambitious enough to add at least some of the piping and rodding). I am not sure why I do this. Nobody knows but me. I still scratch my head that Athearn not only got this wrong the first time (caused by reading scale drawings as if from below but actually they were drawn as if from above) but did it repeatedly for other cars in their line that had different underframe tooling. They had gotten it right on their old metal and wood floor kits, after all.
I still run plenty of Athearn cars and still have an "ample" supply of unbuilt blue box kits. Now and then I even see a particularly nice Bev Bel or other custom painted kit and add to the pile.
Thanks for the useful tutorial - I'm usually all in favor of spending hobby hours rather than hobby dollars.
Dave Nelson
riogrande5761tender loving car on the coupler department
Russell
ricktrains4824 Now, the 86' boxcars on the other hand, these I modify a bit more to provide better operational characteristics.
Now, the 86' boxcars on the other hand, these I modify a bit more to provide better operational characteristics.
Yes, the Athearn 86' auto parts box cars need additional attension on the coupler department. Mine may go on the block if an HQ version comes along; you never know.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
dstarr Since I use the Athearn coupler boxes, the coupler height always comes out low. A pair of #6 flat washers under the trucks will bring the car up to proper height.
Since I use the Athearn coupler boxes, the coupler height always comes out low. A pair of #6 flat washers under the trucks will bring the car up to proper height.
Good point David. I use the pink Kadee fiber washers on the truck tabs to raise the coupler height, usually just one per truck is needed. The washers also help to screw the trucks up snuggly to the underside, preventing excessive wobble that can happen on certain cars.
- Douglas
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Nie work on your fleet, Kevin. The ol' bb freight cars ,despite their inaccuracies have a well earned place on our layouts. Well, mine for sure. I'm probably going to go back and do a couple of your improvements on my fleet.
Metal wheels and Kadees as well as proper weight are standards on my cars. I don't bother with detail that can't be seen when cars are on the tracks.
Steel weights don't interfere with my own magnetic uncoupling system. Dan
While I insist that they run well, the most I have ever had to do is replace to metal wheelsets, and add Kadee couplers.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
I do things a little differently. I am OK with the stock steel weight, the Athearn coupler boxes and the Athearn trucks and wheels. I do check all 4 wheelsets for gauge, using the NMRA gauge. The trucks come out of the box in gloss black plastic. I paint them with red auto primer, Krylon or Rustoleum rattle can. I brush paint the wheel faces grimy black. Then I wrap the whole car in 2 inch masking tape and spray paint the undercarriage dark gray auto primer. Although the undercarriage isn't really visible on the layout, the paint does prevent the odd glimpse of a bright steel weight by onlookers.
I always check the coupler height after the car is together. Since I use the Athearn coupler boxes, the coupler height always comes out low. A pair of #6 flat washers under the trucks will bring the car up to proper height. And I always bend the sheet metal coupler box covers for a tighter fit. Long nose pliers are all I need for that. In the past I have had some coupler box lids pop off with amusing consiquences, but not the ones I bent for a little more tightness. If needed I file the sides of the coupler box to make the lids fit more tightly.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
ATLANTIC CENTRALWhy is the steel weight a problem? And the stock amount of weight is plenty, once you add the metal trucks.
I use Kadee electromagnetic uncouplers, or #308 under the ties permanent uncoupler. Both of these will attract anything that is magnetic.
Because of this, I take great pains to be sure the only magnetic piece on any of my freight cars is the coupler trip pin.
Screws, axles, weights, underframes, etc might all need to be modified or replaced to get rid of the ferrous parts.
One of the most difficult was my undecorated RTR BLI hopper cars. The steel weights were inside and very difficult to pry loose.
dti406....Also, since the doors are non-operating after your surgery, I would remove the claws on the door for the bottom door track, it is not prototypical, you could also use replacement doors from a number of suppliers, many times the undec Branchline, Atlas, IMRC, Red Caboose come with many sets of doors for you to use to properly replicate your prototype....
I'd also include removing both the upper and lower door tracks - they're both oversize, and the bottom one sits too high (which likely contributed to lots of us building loading docks that are also too high). You can use replacement doors or segment the Athearn doors and splice-in parts from surplus Athearn doors. A lot of improvements like that are included in the link which I provided earlier.If you want working doors, but with close-to-scale doortracks, use the system that the Front Range cars used, with a guide rod cemented to the inside of the door, running inside of a channel cemented to the inside of the car - I used the same method on these Red Caboose X-29s...
...and on a number of these Walthers 50' automobile cars...
I also found this Ertl r-t-r USRA doublesheathed boxcar at a train show. It came with working doors, and cost only a couple of bucks...
Wayne
I've found if I pinch the metal clip a bit, the draft gear coupler box has no issues coming open, although i've never cared for the design and because of that and other reasons, I rarely if ever buy Athearn blue box kits anymore.
I've been assembling Athearn BB kits for over 40 years and never felt compelled to go to such lengths as described by the OP in this topic, especially as better models have come on the market during the last 20 years.
My minimal work for a fairly reliable Athearn car (what few I have left) is to:
- file the bolster down so I can snug one truck so it swivels but doesn't rock.
- Add Kadee fiber washers to make sure the coupler height matches my Kadee height guage.
- Adjust wheels as necessary to fit the NMRA Mark IV guage.
Do a few basic things and the car will operate quite well.
But I've found for basic low detail kits, I prefer Accurail anymore for the few I buy and occasionally I do. Everyone has different standards and ways they use their hobby time of course.
SeeYou190Then I remove the nubs from the underframe that center the Athearn trucks. I will be using Kadee trucks, so these need to go. If you want to address the truck shortcomings with Intermountain or Proto wheels in the Athearn sideframes, leave these in place.
A well explained procedure.
On the trucks aspect, I have been just switching the wheelsets to metal, Intermountains in most cases. So I do not cut off the "truck nub" cyinder on the bolster that keeps the truck centered.
I typically find, on several brand HO kits, that the nubs are a bit too long to allow the truck screw to adjust the wobble of the truck properly. When too long, both trucks have excessive wobble, as the screw tightens against the nub before beginning to tighten the truck adequately to preclude excessive wobble. So I invariably file the nubs somewhat shorter before even testing the trucks wobble, leaving plenty of nub, of course, to keep the truck centered. If I guess wrong and have excess wobble when the trucks are initially added, I just remove the truck and file the nub a bit more.
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Hi Kevin:
I thought I was doing a pretty good job of bringing Athearn BB kits up to par but my efforts pale in comparison to what you do. I replace the wheels with Intermountains, adjust the weight to NMRA recommended practices, install Kadee # 148s and get the coupler height correct, but that is about it. I have never had a warped door and I do prefer to have the doors operational. Eventually I will get around to adding loads and figures in some of them.
Please understand that I am not suggesting that what you are doing is going overboard. I'm pretty sure you get a lot of satisfaction from doing the modifications just like many of us do when we are detailing a BB car. Your work is to be admired!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Great tutorial Kevin and nice improvements.
Once in a while I would have to straighten a warped floor, especially with their 55 foot covered hoppers.
After ensuring the floor is straight and level, I secure the steel weight to the floor by melting the holding pads onto the top of the weight with an old soldering iron. The whole structure is more rigid when the OEM weight is affixed permanently to the floor.
The metal coupler covers can be splayed a bit to not hurt the nubbies that hold them on. Scraping off the nubbies is what causes the covers to fall off. Once equipped with KDs, there wasn't much reason to take them off.
I don't pay too much attention to underside detail. My layouts are usually only about 50 inches high which prevents me from seeing much of the underside. Kind of a moot point for me to inspect it just for the sake of comparing it to the real thing.
Kevin,
Wow, that's a lot of work...........
My approach is much simpler.........
Why is the steel weight a problem? And the stock amount of weight is plenty, once you add the metal trucks.
I paint the weights, bend the coupler covers so they work (as others have suggested, so I don't think I'm alone there), I cut off the truck nubs, file the bolsters as needed and install Kadee self centering trucks, that have been refitted with Intermountain wheel sets (yes this is my over the top thing).
Sometimes I will replace the molded steps with A-Line steps........
And we are off, to the paint shop for some light weathering, usually very light.
I have nearly 100 Athearn blue box piggyback cars alone. They do have some other cosmetic mods.
But I have never lost a coupler cover yet..........and 50 car trains with them perform flawlessly.
I'm sure I have every bit of 200 blue box boxcars set up as described above, I'm not about to invest that kind of time........not broke, not getting fixed.
Sheldon