12-29-2023, 12:35 AM
I spent the day working on the two hoppers. Last night I soaked both of them in Iso Alcohol to strip the paint. Today I started to assemble them. It appears as though both cars are the 'timesaver' models that have the underframes, weights and some of the brake gear assembled at the factory. They clain that you can have one of these assembled in under an hour.
Well, that if they have all their parts. I assumed (read: didn't check the box properly) that the one I bought last week would be all there. Unfortunetly all of the grab iron castings were missing. That meant I had to spend a couple hours custom bending and installing wire grabs on both model, not just one.
These hoppers have a crazy amount of grabs, probably close to thirty each. I did get a bit lucky as the end drop grabs could be substituted for Tichy ones, but the rest all had to be fabricated.
Then I installed the brake gear and train air line onto the black model. Using that as a guide, I fabricated the same parts on the brown one. I had hoped to get these models finished to the point of spraying primer onto them, but the extra fabrication took some time.
Well, that if they have all their parts. I assumed (read: didn't check the box properly) that the one I bought last week would be all there. Unfortunetly all of the grab iron castings were missing. That meant I had to spend a couple hours custom bending and installing wire grabs on both model, not just one.
These hoppers have a crazy amount of grabs, probably close to thirty each. I did get a bit lucky as the end drop grabs could be substituted for Tichy ones, but the rest all had to be fabricated.
Then I installed the brake gear and train air line onto the black model. Using that as a guide, I fabricated the same parts on the brown one. I had hoped to get these models finished to the point of spraying primer onto them, but the extra fabrication took some time.