The HO version of the Tichy wreck crane was initially sold by Gould, and it was really a ground breaking achievement for the time. As I recall Bob Hundman of Mainline Modeler predicted that the Gould wreck crane was going to change everything about what prototype modelers would now expect to find in a plastic kit. Of course not too long after that he wrote an editorial stating that he had badly over estimated how important prototype modeling was to the hobby and that he hoped a new gardening magazine would help him stop losing money ...
I do recall reading that the Gould (now Tichy) HO wreck crane was well designed and things fit together well; not so much difficult to build as just time consuming and demanding patience.
Gould later put out an interesting USRA tank car which as it turned out, no railroad had actually purchased but it is still a great kit and great model and Tichy now sells that as well. One or two other cars in the Tichy line were initially offered by Gould; one is a flatcar if memory serves.
As I stated in another thread not long ago, if you ever have the chance to see the complete line of Tichy offerings -- or nearly complete -- as I have at Milwaukee's Trainfest, it is astounding what a prolific company they are and how massive their catalog is, in a variety of scales. They also have decals.
Dave Nelson
Shock ControlWell, yeah, they were pretty great. Did you see the documentary? I guess it depends on the era and region you are modeling.
I am a true junkie for music documentaries.
I tried to be a musician when I was younger. A hand injury in 9th grade put an end to 9 years of intense piano training. I was proficcient on five different concert band instruments, but specialized in trumpet.
I took up the electric guitar when I was about 15, but never learned many essential abilities. By this time I was deeply into math and physics trying to become an engineer.
By the time I was 20 I was married with two daughters, so it was necessary to get a real job where the paychecks come on time.
I still love to watch anything about the music industry, and think of a dream long lost.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I read your post Dave and will be looking for one of those Tichy catalogs. Reading your post got my curiosity up to check out all their other kits.
As far as guitars Kevin, I still pluck on my bass. The rock star dream was left long ago in my teens as well. I think every kid had that dream for a while in their youth. I still love the hand-eye coordination playing a musical instrument as a great pastime when I'm in the mood.
TF
Track fiddlerI read your post Dave and will be looking for one of those Tichy catalogs.
Seek and you shall find:
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Portals/0/Instructions/N_SCALE_CATALOG_2020_updated_ver4.pdf?ver=2020-09-08-193935-113
Good Luck, Ed
Thanks for the link Ed.
I downloaded it and now I have a paperless catalog in my collection
I remember being astounded by this model when it was introduced, and I still am.
One note: Wayne might want to recap precisely how he makes the hold-down spring for the boom, and the sliding weather doors.
And another note: Surely someone by now has figured out a way to either spring-load or sheave the various cables so the boom can be raised and lowered without the risk of tedious rat's-nesting and realignment. What's been done along those lines?
PRR called the "crew car" a "camp car" as it was the base of operations for a work crew - often in a camp on a siding near the work site with camp, diner, kitchen, office, tool, and supply cars converted from boxcars and painted MOW yellow or gray. Get some old wooden boxcars, a drill, hobby knife, window and door castings and go wild -
PRR-MOW-Crew-Cars-Harrisburg-PA-6-65.jpg (777×477) (trainsarefun.com)
A guess a generic name would be "bunk car"
Later old sleepers and dining cars would be demoted to work train service as well
ALT_65DEC12_08_A-P.jpg (1024×709)
Overmod...One note: Wayne might want to recap precisely how he makes the hold-down spring for the boom, and the sliding weather doors....
After an incident or two involving the boom cables, I decided that since all of the cranes on the layout are more suitable as "scenery", rather than cranes actually doing something, I added a simple spring, made from piano wire, to prevent the cables from going slack and jumping off their sheaves.All cranes, along with their attached boom tenders, are stored in boxes with one flip-down side, making it easy to both take them out of the box or put them back in storage.This is Walthers' American derrick, slightly modified to better ressemble several at the steel plant where I worked. It should have a reel for a magnet cable, as these cranes were often called-out when there was an in-plant derailment, with ingots or slabs needing to be picked-up
Here's the small piano wire spring at the base of the boom, which prevents the boom from flopping around and dislodging the cables from their sheaves...
The Tichy wreck crane, with a lot more cabling, was time consuming, but not too difficult to do originally. However, after an incident where pretty-well all of the cables were off the sheaves, it took much longer to correct. To prevent further such mishaps, I used a fairly long length of piano wire to keep the boom at a level suitable for travelling, with downward tension to keep the cabling tight and in its proper place. It originates inside the crane's cab, and extends out from under the cable drum...
...extending up through the boom's steelwork...
...almost to its end...
It's not especially prototypical, but at least not overly noticeable, (unless one is viewing these pictures).
The boom on this crane, which may be from Model Power (it has "Made in Austria" on its underside) is much heavier than the ones on the Tichy and Walthers cranes, so it hasn't yet had a similar de-rigging incident nor has it received a hold-down spring...
I added a few details to make it a little more North American-looking, and a little better detailed than it was originally - not bad bargain, I think, for a couple of bucks off the "used" table at a now-sadly defunct LHS (a five minute drive from here).Its boom tender was scratchbuilt on an Athearn 50' flatcar.
After a bit of research, I did learn that many (perhaps most) steam-powered cranes had on-board storage for a limited amount of coal and water, although I do have several tenders suitable for use with all of them. This accounts for the ladders on most cranes, so I added some platforms to their roofs. the Tichy cranes has moulded-on roof hatches, but I added ones to the Model Power crane, which was originally representative of a diesel-powered crane.
The doors for inclement weather slide in tracks made from Evergreen channel stock.
The platforms and hatches on the Model Power crane are even more noticeable...
Wayne
Having laced wire rope throught the sheaves, pulleys, and fairleads of a few 1:1 scale cranes... I'll take doing it to a model instead, but not by much.
SeeYou190Having laced wire rope throught the sheaves, pulleys, and fairleads of a few 1:1 scale cranes... I'll take doing it to a model instead, but not by much.
While I never had to do that job, I didn't enjoy handling cables when we had to pick-up dropped hot ingots. If one of the overhead tong-cranes couldn't reach it directly, we had to "saw" a longer cable under the ingot (often just stripped, so anywhere between 1500º/2000ºF). Once the ingot was dragged (often from outside the building) to where the crane could reach it with the tongs, the cable was scrapped.
Here's a view inside the mill...
...two complete run-through tracks for trains, and two tracks, to the right and a few feet lower, for the two cable-powered buggies which delivered hot ingots (2300º/2350ºF) to the mill for rolling.Thats one of the three pit cranes hovering over the buggy tracks...they had cable-operated tongs on a stiff-legged assembly that slid within guides in the cage that's visible - the tongs could be rotated 360º.
SeeYou190 Having laced wire rope throught the sheaves, pulleys, and fairleads of a few 1:1 scale cranes... I'll take doing it to a model instead, but not by much. -Kevin
Rich
Alton Junction
web site
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
I love that crane car Wayne and every bit of effort you put into it.
I ain't running yet but soon I'll be running to the mailbox like a little Kid waiting for this kit to hit my doorstep.