Re the new Atlas assembled heavyweight passenger cars

[stevewagner]

Rob Pisani, an Atlas staffer and BLHS member, e-mailed me that morning and confirmed that, as I had very much hoped, the coaches’ roofs are removable – they were redesigned to snap-fit into the bodies. That means I’ll be able to add window shades to mine and perhaps to paint parts of their interiors.

“Rob also mentioned that ‘in some instances the factory over-tightened the screw that holds the coupler assembly (swing arm) in place. As a result, the coupler swing is restricted. A quarter turn or so with a screw driver should free it up just enough to ensure better operation. You can check this by gently trying to swing the coupler from left to right by hand. If it does not give at all, you’ll need the ‘fix’.’ Thanks, Rob!”

Incidentally, the northbound Laurentian I took notes on at Whitehall, NY on the D&H in the summer of 1962 included a green New York Central “single window” heavyweight coach, the 2427, very much like the three NYC cars in the first run of heavyweights from Atlas. One of the three Alco RS-2’s that brought the train to Whitehall left it there, but all eleven cars stayed in the train and presumably continued to Montreal: a wooden Canadian National express reefer, two D&H baggage cars (heavyweight 443 and lightweight 401), the aforementioned NYC coach, D&H diner 151 (rebuilt from a wood-bodied one), heavyweight D&H coach 229 (similar to the ones Atlas has made, but with sealed windows with rounded corners because it had been air-conditioned), lightweight AC&F D&H “World’s Fair” coaches 203 and 205, Pullman-Standard NYC coaches 3113 and 2136 with exterior stainless (like those made in HO by Walthers a few years back) and NYC Budd-built streamlined observation-lounge 66.

[lvrr325]

D&H 229 "C. J. Brierly" still exists, with the CNY NRHS and displayed at the NYS Fairgrounds just west of Syracuse, NY. The A/C modernization was done in 1943; car itself built in 1916; donated to the CNY NRHS in 1968, the D&H leased it back for a couple of years in the mid-70s to fill equipment shortages on the Adirondack before the turboliners replaced conventional equipment. Today with it's friction bearings the car's essentially landlocked, unless it's loaded on a flatcar. But it's in decent condition inside; it has more of a long-distance style reclining seat in it rather than the typical coach benches.

[marknycfan]

I have a NYC & a NH, I like them, no issues

[stevewagner]

I received my three Delaware & Hudson coaches yesterday evening. As Rob Pisani had indicated might be the case, the screws holding the swing arms for the couplers had been tightened two much. Fortunately, those screws are readily accessible without having to remove the trucks.

My one quibble with the cars is that their trucks are cast in a very shiny black engineering plastic. Painting their sideframes to match the underframe may be a bit of a chore. On the other hand, it presumably wasn't necessary to put separate bearings in them to improve their rolling qualities.

The handrails at the doors are also unpainted. For the D&H cars, at least, that's great, because that railroad, at least, didn't paint the full-sized ones.

I'm looking forward to running them behind an Atlas D&H RS-3 in the old black livery with yellow end stripes when I'm on duty at the model train store Saturday.

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2014 5:02:16 GMT -8 stevewagner said:

My one quibble with the cars is that their trucks are cast in a very shiny black engineering plastic. Painting their sideframes to match the underframe may be a bit of a chore. On the other hand, it presumably wasn't necessary to put separate bearings in them to improve their rolling qualities.

The best way to paint the trucks and have the paint really stick nicely is to sand blast the trucks first, wash, and spray them with Dupli-Color Adhesion Promoter and then your paint. If you don't have a grit blaster, the Adhesion Promoter will still help the paint to stick. FOLLOW the directions on the Adhesion Promoter and the paint you use will grab. May not be really super tough if you had been able to grit blast the delrin, but should be durable enough.

[gnfan]

[/quote]
The best way to paint the trucks and have the paint really stick nicely is to sand blast the trucks first, wash, and spray them with Dupli-Color Adhesion Promoter and then your paint. If you don't have a grit blaster, the Adhesion Promoter will still help the paint to stick. FOLLOW the directions on the Adhesion Promoter and the paint you use will grab. May not be really super tough if you had been able to grit blast the delrin, but should be durable enough.[/quote]

Could one just use sandpaper on the truck frames to rough them first followed by cleaning and the adhesion primer? I would think that would work almost as well as grit blasting the side frames.

David

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2014 13:16:06 GMT -8 gnfan said:

The best way to paint the trucks and have the paint really stick nicely is to sand blast the trucks first, wash, and spray them with Dupli-Color Adhesion Promoter and then your paint. If you don't have a grit blaster, the Adhesion Promoter will still help the paint to stick. FOLLOW the directions on the Adhesion Promoter and the paint you use will grab. May not be really super tough if you had been able to grit blast the delrin, but should be durable enough.[/quote]

Could one just use sandpaper on the truck frames to rough them first followed by cleaning and the adhesion primer? I would think that would work almost as well as grit blasting the side frames.

David
[/quote]


Sandpaper runs the risk of removing detail. It also doesn't get into every nook and crevice like the grit blasting. You also will leave directional scratches with sandpaper. Grit blasting is very uniform and dulls the delrin, while not removing detail or leaving scratches.