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Post by tankcarsrule on Feb 13, 2018 9:55:27 GMT -8
I sure as heck am not. Just curious if anyone was.
Bobby
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Post by riogrande on Feb 13, 2018 10:36:13 GMT -8
I still have some rolling stock that needs upgraded still - all in boxes from moving. Mainly all my Walthers quad coal cars and a few others.
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Post by The Ferro Kid on Feb 13, 2018 11:13:30 GMT -8
Oh yeah. "All metal wheels" is a goal I've been chasing for years, but with hundreds of Blue Box, MDC, and Accurail, not sure I'll ever get there. It helps that the newer high-end stuff comes with them, but then I still do buy Accurail kits. Almost any mail order I do includes packages of Kadee wheels of some sort.
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Post by Artur on Feb 13, 2018 11:31:16 GMT -8
I noticed that some new cars come with code 88 wheels, so I started to replace the standard metal and the couple plastic wheels that I have with code 88 metal wheel sets.
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Post by riogrande on Feb 13, 2018 12:00:51 GMT -8
Yeah, all metal wheels is a good goal, and if one has a small collection, it's easier to reach that goal than if you have a large collection. In my case, I've bought a bulk pack of Intermountain wheelsets and went about replacing many of the plastic wheels on kits or RTR cars that came with plastic wheels. I've also eliminated many through attrition (i.e. selling off quite a few models that had plastic wheel sets).
The vast majority of rolling stock I have purchased in the last 8-10 years comes with metal wheels such as Athearn/Genesis, Intermountain, ExactRail, Moloco, Wheels of Time and Tangent. Some of those have code 88 wheels, others code 110.
I have purchased a few Accurail and other cars and still have some kits or kit built cars such as Walthers that need metal wheels, and as I have time I will work on upgrading those cars to metal wheels.
So put me on the naughty list for having plastic wheels. As the new Windows 10 computers at work sometimes say: "Working on it"!!!
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Post by Brakie on Feb 13, 2018 12:02:04 GMT -8
I finished changing plastic to metal wheels around three years ago. Had I known I would be selling my BB and Roundhouse cars I would have saved the time and money.
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Post by autocoach on Feb 13, 2018 12:05:12 GMT -8
I have a large box of plastic RP 25 wheel sets available to anyone who is local (SF East Bay) and asks....
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Post by riogrande on Feb 13, 2018 12:06:51 GMT -8
I have a large box of plastic RP 25 wheel sets available to anyone who is local (SF East Bay) and asks.... Hah! You and many others. I have a few bags full of plastic wheels too left over from cars that I have upgraded over the past 10 years as well. Still have more to go however. I'd say most of the cars left are older Walthers cars, and a few other kit built cars. |
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Post by tankcarsrule on Feb 13, 2018 12:15:15 GMT -8
All of the plastic wheel sets that had brass axles, had the wheels trashed and axles put in one of my brass buckets. I rebuilt carburetors for 42 years, so I accumulated lots of small pieces of brass. I filled three five gal buckets to the top, and sold them for over four hundred dollars.
Bobby
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Post by bigblue on Feb 13, 2018 12:23:48 GMT -8
Do Kadee rolling stock come with plastic wheels?
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Post by riogrande on Feb 13, 2018 12:30:27 GMT -8
Kadee rolling stock comes with their own metal wheel sets which I believe are sintered type.
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Post by roadkill on Feb 13, 2018 13:13:17 GMT -8
I quit using plastic wheels at least 30 years ago.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2018 16:11:52 GMT -8
I still have a bunch of trainset quality cars with plastic wheels in a box somewhere. I don't know that I'll ever bother upgrading them though.
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Feb 13, 2018 16:18:51 GMT -8
No
Intermountain wheels go in as soon as the truck frame gets a 'tuneup' with 'the tool' and then Kadee couplers followed by weight as needed.
At least the plastic wheels can be used as more realistic freight car, truck or engine house detail parts than horn-hook couplers.
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Post by jbilbrey on Feb 13, 2018 20:21:50 GMT -8
I may have a few (likely less than dozen, and mostly kits I built in the 90's) freight cars with plastic wheels. I do keep the Accurail wheels around for when my son loses a wheelset on one of his cars, but the rest are ditched ASAP.
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Post by fr8kar on Feb 14, 2018 1:34:31 GMT -8
About twenty years ago MDC was apparently having problems with quality control. At the time they had already established a reputation for producing cars with 12 different numbers, something that was pretty uncommon for factory painted models. For whatever reason, they had run a few sets with one number duplicated, which meant there were ten unique cars and two of the same number. These sets were blown out cheap if you bought them direct. I took advantage of these offers and bought several sets. I kitbashed some cars, weathered others, even repainted or just renumbered some of them.
One of the sets I bought twice - in all 24 triple hoppers decorated for Norfolk & Western - has remained much as it was when I bought it. I added Kadees, painted the bare metal frames black and replaced the trucks with some better looking Athearn parts, but otherwise they were box stock. After all these years I have never put metal wheels on those cars. Part of the reason is these cars aren't that detailed. They also aren't a great match for anything N&W owned. And as seventy tonners these cars are a little too small for the train I've always wanted to model. But another reason is they ran just fine with plastic wheels. The sound certainly wasn't the same as with all my other cars, but it wasn't distracting.
I'm slowly replacing them with cars from Bowser, Bachmann, Accurail and Atlas. One day I think I'll put these sets on ebay. But I'm not breaking them up, even if there are only 11 unique numbers.
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Post by lvrr325 on Feb 14, 2018 6:20:45 GMT -8
I have plenty with plastic wheels, it's been a low priority to change them.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 7:32:03 GMT -8
Plastic wheels are a lifesaver and I keep all of them and use them in my track laying tool kit. When I lay track I use an old bluebox flatcar with sacrificial plastic wheels to check all my track. Metal wheels run over inperfections and sharp spots where plastic ones you can feel the rail bite into them. For instance I had laid some track and got out my trusty flat car and pressed lightly on it and could feel where a rail joint was bad. Sure enough I had a rail that was above the rail joiner and not in it. It's sometimes hard to notice because I'm using all code 70 rail.
Other times when I run over joints I can feel the rail bite into the plastic and know I need to burnish the end of the railheads in that area by taking the smooth metal handle part of those cheap flexible metal files. I also use the plastic wheels to check all my new micro engineering switches because sometimes the rails on the switch point rails are bent and don't butt up to the stock rail perfectly. I guess the bent ends of the switch point rails is a common problem on ME switches. When the plastic wheels roll through it smoothly without the rail biting into it I know it's good. Plastic wheels help me prevent wheel wear and save money.
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Post by theengineshed on Feb 14, 2018 8:56:26 GMT -8
Plastic wheels were banned by our club years ago. They wear and leave residue on the tracks...
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Post by riogrande on Feb 14, 2018 9:00:02 GMT -8
About twenty years ago MDC was apparently having problems with quality control. At the time they had already established a reputation for producing cars with 12 different numbers, something that was pretty uncommon for factory painted models. I have a couple of WP box cars which have different numbers - it's the last couple that MDC printed differently to get individual numbers. You can tell the technology wasn't great because the last couple of numbers look different, same font IIRC but lighter print. |
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Post by gevohogger on Feb 14, 2018 10:27:42 GMT -8
I had mostly plastic wheels up until about fifteen years ago. Never had any problems. First cars I changed to metal were the high-sided covered hoppers, for appearance reasons mostly, because the plastic wheels looked too small and toylike. Once I hired on at the RR I had a closer look than I ever did before, and it soon started to bug me. So the first cars I changed were the ones that were supposed to be 36".
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Feb 14, 2018 10:40:36 GMT -8
If my club hadn't banned plastic wheels, I'd still be using them. If I still had a home layout, I'd still be using them. Why? Because I'm too cheap to change 'em. I'd rather have a $150 loco or two $75 passenger cars than $150 in metal wheelsets.
To me, there isn't that much of an improvement in performance to warrant the expense. In my 10 years of running plastic wheels on my own layout, I never had the problem of dirty track. I only cleaned track annually but ran weekly with 3 to 6 operators. About the only thing metal wheels did for me was show a shiny wheel tread instead of a black plastic one.
Now don't think that I prefer plastic wheels. If someone gave me a bag full I'd put them on my cars in a heartbeat. But I'm not much of a freight car modeler, so I just don't care that much about making them as close to 100% as possible. Locos, cabooses, and passenger cars? Heck yeah; I invest $$$ in those to get 'em right. Freight cars? Meh, not so much.
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Post by packer on Feb 14, 2018 23:10:20 GMT -8
Nope.
I have been tempted to try a few things with them, so I haven’t tossed them yet. Maybe get some rod of the same diameter of the metal axles and make a load or something.
I wonder if one could make a metal “tire” to go around the plastic wheel. Probably wouldn’t be economically feasible.
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Feb 14, 2018 23:19:51 GMT -8
packer,
The old C&BT Shops car kits actually did have metal "tires" on an otherwise all-plastic wheelset. They were half axles that had the plastic cast into the metal tire, and you had to insert a small brass rod into each axle end and glue them together. Sounds easy, but you had to not only get them glued together 100% square and straight, but you also had to gauge the wheels at the same time. They were a PITA.
The problem with doing a metal tire on an existing wheelset is that it would have to be thin enough to not change the diameter much yet thick enough to survive being applied to the wheel and robust enough to be able to be used, cleaned, etc. Flange transition would also be a problem. It would be easier to plate them like Walthers did with their passenger cars, but I have no idea if they'd stand up to any kind of wear (probably not).
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Post by scl1234 on Feb 15, 2018 4:47:31 GMT -8
I wonder if one could make a metal “tire” to go around the plastic wheel. Probably wouldn’t be economically feasible. The metal wheel around a plastic core was tried on locomotives by AHM in the early/mid 1970s... My Humble Opinion: "Don't.....just don't!" |
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Post by The Ferro Kid on Feb 15, 2018 8:07:49 GMT -8
AHM got around to most bad ideas sooner or later, at least mechanically speaking. BUT, I am grateful to them for having done what remain the best renditions -- if only because nobody else has done them in plastic -- of the original NYC Flexi-Flo hopper (even though they never did it in NYC paint) and the clamshell-top B&LE / P&LE gondola.
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Post by roadkill on Feb 15, 2018 8:33:28 GMT -8
I wonder if one could make a metal “tire” to go around the plastic wheel. Probably wouldn’t be economically feasible. The metal wheel around a plastic core was tried on locomotives by AHM in the early/mid 1970s... My Humble Opinion: "Don't.....just don't!" C&BT Car Shops did their wheels that way too, and they also weren't any good  . |
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Post by lvrr325 on Feb 15, 2018 9:02:55 GMT -8
The diesels that Roco made for various people (GP38/40, SD24/35, E7/9, Shark, FA) had metal wheels with a plastic core, on one side usually as it was how they insulated for pickup from both rails. The Atlas in particular I find I often have to CA them back in place now that most of them are old and well-worn.
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Post by Chet on Feb 15, 2018 9:39:34 GMT -8
When I started my layout over 30 years ago, I also started building up my rolling stock, which has a majority of old Athearn Bule Box kits. Many were undecorated and custom painted for my freelance railroad.
I had an assembly going and as a car had the painting and lettering completed, Kedee Couplers were installed and Kadee wheels replaced the plastic wheels. In many cases, sprung Kadee trucks replaced plastic trucks. Kadee were the easiest to get back then, but as new metal wheels came on the market, I would pick up bulk packs from Intermountain or other manufacturers.
No plastic wheels at all on my layout.
My club also does not allow plastic wheels.
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Post by roadkill on Feb 15, 2018 14:00:34 GMT -8
The diesels that Roco made for various people (GP38/40, SD24/35, E7/9, Shark, FA) had metal wheels with a plastic core, on one side usually as it was how they insulated for pickup from both rails. The Atlas in particular I find I often have to CA them back in place now that most of them are old and well-worn. Been there, done that . |
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