Started on a Inter Mountain Kit last night, it is a MILW -12 Cylindrical Grain Hopper. Far as the main body, kit is fine and lots of details.
Then I got to the trucks. You have to assemble them, and that not going well. I am not using the plastic axles the kit came with, put Proto 2000 33" wheels. When I install both wheels sets the truck twist so only 2 wheels are touching the desk top.
Is it because the PK's wheel sets are to long or are the trucks just badly made and should be replaced?
Thanks for the coming answers.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
I have not had that problem with wheel replacements on Intermountain kits however that being said I do not use P2K wheelsets, but rather Kadees.
Not all wheelsets work on all trucks, and there is no one "universal" replacement wheelset in my experience. [Way off topic - years ago the only replacement wheels with RP25 contour that would work in AHM freight car trucks was the wheelset from Train Miniature, itself hardly a great wheel. Oddly enough wheelsets that would work wonderfully in the Train Miniature trucks would not work in the AHM trucks, but the TM wheelsets did work in AHM. Go figure. Also way back, the circa 1960 shake the box Mantua freight car kits had a totally proprietary axle that accepted no replacement wheel that I ever found - even worse the bolsters were also entirely proprietary so simply replacing the truck was not an easy option - usually the entire underframe needed cutting and replacing -- some blue language often helped it seemed]
I suppose there is a chance the truck casting is somehow distorted -- to test that, is the truck OK if you use the original Intermountain wheelsets?
Is there a chance you need to use one of those reamer tools that MicroMark sells (actually a Phillips screwdriver can achieve similar results in a pinch)? There might be something in the bearing opening that causes the problem.
Dave Nelson
cudaken Then I got to the trucks. You have to assemble them, and that not going well. I am not using the plastic axles the kit came with, put Proto 2000 33" wheels. When I install both wheels sets the truck twist so only 2 wheels are touching the desk top. Cuda Ken
Ken,
#1, Do not use 33" wheels, this car requires a 36" wheel to be correct for a 100Ton Car and for the couplers to be at the correct height. I used IMRC 36" metal wheels for this car.
#2, Get rid of the trucks, IMRC now has a one piece truck on these cars and they are available from IMRC at a nominal amount.
Rick
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Some of the Intermountain trucks are just salvage. Most any other brand should work better, if the bolster and so forth allow it.
I have a IM 60' box car, the stock trucks are warped and derail on straight track, and no other truck seems to fit properly. 4-5 hours building a shelf queen.
Try something else, maybe P2K 100ton roller bearing trucks, like they put on grain cars. For that car, you should have 36" wheels.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
I just put together a couple of IM USRA composite gondolas. (Beautiful models, BTW.) I did have some truck issues with the Proto 2000 wheel sets but not like what you've described.
The wheels on my trucks didn't spin freely at all so I ended up purchasing a Micro-Mark truck tuner and that took care of the issue. That wouldn't address your problem though.
Tom
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Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Hey thanks for all the answers and the tip on the 36" wheels, and I happen to have a set.
I tried the Plastic set that came with the kite, same problem so it not the PK wheels set. I am going to try gluing the trucks together, rem as needed and see if that takes care of the problem. If not, I am going to try a Athearn set.
Has anyone her built this kit? Looks like the brake gear goes on top of the platform from the instructions. But there only holes on the underside? Just drill the holes out, or do the brake gear go on the bottom? Never seen a hopper like this one.
I've built almost 100 of their hoppers and I remember the trucks quite well. They can be crazy-glued especially the small parts, the sides and top "snap" together. If they're not completely put together they don't seat 4 wheels down at the same time, diagonal 2 if built as-is. The more weight you add, they all touch the track. The biggest problem I had was the truck's plastic, shiny black and not accepting most paints. I dipped them in Floquil primer, let them dry and air brushed them with Accu-paint or SMP. There are a lot of awesome trucks on the market today as noted above and the IM trucks can obviously be replaced with more reliable ones if you want a nice running car. The painted Cylindrical cars pre-drilled holes may have some paint in them that a small bit will clean out, don't force the parts.
Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!
Thanks for the tips Ho Modern Modeler. Any pictures you care to share?
Ken
It is official, trucks are junk. Glue held them til I tried to install the wheels.
You would think with this being one of the better kits they could at use trucks that where as good as the Athearn Blue boxes.