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MISSING ROUND HATCHES ON COVERED HOPPERS

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MISSING ROUND HATCHES ON COVERED HOPPERS
Posted by fourt on Thursday, January 7, 2016 1:05 AM

I have a 3 bay covered hopper that is missing the round hatches, does any company make any? All i can find are some square hatches from detail associates -6212

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Posted by kasskaboose on Thursday, January 7, 2016 8:15 AM

You could always cut out styrene circles, glue them on top, and paint to match the hopper.  One MR book mentioned that hopper hatches sometimes were replaced.   

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Posted by mbinsewi on Thursday, January 7, 2016 8:18 AM

There are a few on eBay, from a seller I buy alot from.  Good people.  They have DA#6228.

Mike.

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Posted by dknelson on Thursday, January 7, 2016 11:29 AM

It seems amazing to me that a variety of round covered hopper hatches is not commonly available as spare parts - but it appears not.  I checked Walthers, Athearn, Bachmann for parts.  Zilch.  I do not want to start up that "nobody models anymore" warhorse thread but jeez - no round covered hopper hatches in the parts sections of catalogs?  Amazing.  That should be rather basic (not least because not all prototype round hatches are the same as what came in those kits).

If you know other modelers ask around if any of them built the Athearn blue box center flow covered hopper kit which came with both long hatches and round hatches.  If they saved the unused parts they might be able to help you out.  Front Range offered the same choice with their short covered hopper kit, and perhaps other makes do (or did) too.  I have a box full of all kinds of covered hopper hatches and outlets that I saved from such kits. 

You could craft your own.  Do you have a Plastruct catalog?  They offer a variety of tube caps, flanges, flanged and flat cap heads, etc in their architectural line.  Something in there might approximate a round hatch cover or could be modified to come closer. 

Dave Nelson

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Posted by fourt on Thursday, January 7, 2016 2:18 PM

Might have to get those on ebay, or try to scrath build one and then make copies of it. Wish i knew where at in storage are my old atheran hoppers, i could use the hatch that i didnt use on them.

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Posted by NittanyLion on Thursday, January 7, 2016 8:51 PM

Atlas makes hatches.  I bought trough hatches from them a few months ago to replace the round hatches.  I'm pretty sure they sell the round ones.

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Posted by dknelson on Thursday, January 7, 2016 8:56 PM

NittanyLion

Atlas makes hatches.  I bought trough hatches from them a few months ago to replace the round hatches.  I'm pretty sure they sell the round ones.

 

 
Yes it does indeed seem Atlas offers roof hatches for their PS2 covered hopper - there is no image but they refer to 8 parts which sounds more like round hatches than trough types.
 
Still I'd call to make sure before ordering.
I had no idea Atlas offered so many parts before now.  Thanks for the tip.
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Posted by jrbernier on Thursday, January 7, 2016 9:06 PM
Atlas, Tangent, & Kadee all have 30" round hatches. Check the 'contact info' on their Web sites and give them a call. I have several packages of Tangent round roof hatches on my desk. Part #25001-06, IIRC...

JIM

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Posted by fourt on Thursday, January 7, 2016 9:23 PM

Thanks will have to give them a call tommrow, on a side note was looking at some pictures i took of the top of a covered hopper, and it had one square hatch, the rest was round hatches of two differnt types. guess they used what ever they had on hand to fix/replace them.

don 't see them on the kadee page

http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/HO-Scale%20Detail%20Parts.htm

found them on the tangent page

http://www.tangentscalemodels.com/product/part-sprue-ps4000-round-roof-hatches/

 

 

 

 

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Posted by ho modern modeler on Thursday, January 7, 2016 10:21 PM

dknelson
 
NittanyLion

Atlas makes hatches.  I bought trough hatches from them a few months ago to replace the round hatches.  I'm pretty sure they sell the round ones.

 

 

 
Yes it does indeed seem Atlas offers roof hatches for their PS2 covered hopper - there is no image but they refer to 8 parts which sounds more like round hatches than trough types.
 
Still I'd call to make sure before ordering.
I had no idea Atlas offered so many parts before now.  Thanks for the tip.
Dave Nelson
 

I've bought Atlas Plastics Hoppers with round hatches in HO recently and have more on order, they should be available.

Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!

 

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Posted by jrbernier on Friday, January 8, 2016 9:55 AM
Fourt,

Use the phone - not everything is on a Web site or Facebook...

Jim

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Posted by PennCentral99 on Friday, January 8, 2016 10:22 AM

fourt

I have a 3 bay covered hopper that is missing the round hatches, does any company make any? All i can find are some square hatches from detail associates -6212

 

Who makes the covered hopper? Is there a parts list? That would be the first company I would try to contact.

jrbernier
Fourt,

Use the phone - not everything is on a Web site or Facebook...

Jim

 
Agreed. Just because they don't list it, doesn't mean they don't have it. I have bought plenty of Athearn blue box kits and Atlas locos with parts that were missing or broken (boxcar doors, door guides, stanchions, grab irons). Pulled out the parts list, called them and asked if they had the parts. Sure enough, they do. Paid for them over the phone and arrive in a few days.
 
If you're needing round hatch covers for Athearn, it appears they are part number 19055 (my parts list is a little blurry).

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Posted by Catt on Friday, January 8, 2016 10:41 AM

Try this page,they also have the trough hatches in stock.

http://shop.atlasrr.com/p-2690-ho-5701-ctrflw-hopper-cir-roof-hatches.aspx

 

Johnathan(Catt) Edwards 100 % Michigan Made
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Posted by wp8thsub on Friday, January 8, 2016 12:51 PM

fourt
...was looking at some pictures i took of the top of a covered hopper, and it had one square hatch, the rest was round hatches of two differnt types. guess they used what ever they had on hand to fix/replace them.

Some modern hoppers, especially those used for plastics, are built with both the square and round types.  Replacement hatches that don't match the originals in style or color are very common.

Rob Spangler

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Posted by dknelson on Friday, January 8, 2016 4:09 PM

Well this thread has been an eye-opener - we went from being unable to find round covered hopper hatch covers, to being up to our armpits in them!   It is no credit to Walthers that they elect not to carry all these (non-Athearn) sources of spare parts in their catalog.  And a good reminder that increasingly one does have to do more hunting to get a thorough notion of what is available.

Dave Nelson

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Posted by PennCentral99 on Friday, January 8, 2016 7:30 PM

Fourt,

I found some left over from a previous Athearn blue box kit, they are painted Tuscon Red. If you want them, send me a PM with your mailing address and I'll give them to you.

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Posted by fourt on Saturday, January 9, 2016 8:25 AM

not sure who made the covered hopper car, bought it second hand at a hobby shop, it was missing all the detail parts, like the end railing, hatches, top and bottom, I have rebuilt most of the parts except for the top hatchs.

 Pencentral how do you send a pm? Thanks btw

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, January 9, 2016 8:46 AM

I sent you one to explain how to send one.

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Posted by PennCentral99 on Sunday, January 10, 2016 9:44 AM

fourt

PennCentral how do you send a pm?

After you "log in", the upper right corner of the page contains a "profile/settings" box. In that box are a "messages", click on it.  OR  Click on my name or avatar, it will bring up my "profile". With that, there's an option to "start conversation", click on it.

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Posted by fourt on Sunday, January 10, 2016 3:53 PM

Top of covered hopper i took a couple years ago, notice how many diferent hatchs it has.

 

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