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Post by tracktime on Oct 13, 2013 21:41:25 GMT -8
Beautiful model Tom! Thanks for the great explanation and photos. Your post definitely"saves" my sole Accurail ACF 4600 from joining the swap meet pile. And it beats paying $39 or more for a nonexistent highly detailed RTR one.
Also, for SPDRGWfan, the DRGW ACF 5200s are "fatter" cars, so I'd just stick with the Athearn ACF 5200s for those.
Cheers,
Harry
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Post by riogrande on Oct 14, 2013 8:04:47 GMT -8
Beautiful model Tom! Thanks for the great explanation and photoos. Your post definitely"saves" my sole Accurail ACF 4600 from joining the swap meet pile. And it beats paying $39 or more for a RTR one. Also, for SPDRGWfan, the DRGW ACF 5200s are "fatter" cars, so I'd just stick with the Athearn ACF 5200s for those. Cheers, Harry I never noticed the "fatter" aspect or heard it discussed for the Athearn CF5200's. I do know that it has the angle iron stiffener and the D&RGW car does not have it - rather the prototype has a twin bead stiffener on the top chord; the Athearn CF5200 model appears to be cruder and more dated than the stock Accurail CF4600 model. Years ago before a fairly major upheaval in my life I discussed how to get a visually correct CF5200 D&RGW plastic pellet hopper with Eric Cote of Accurail. The discussion was partly about the measurements of the Athearn car which was dimensionally too long by a scale foot IIRC, vs the Accurail CF4600 hopper which was shorter (don't recall by how much). Eric's arugment made sense to me, since both models were off dimensionally (width was discussed at the teim, only height and length), with some modifications the Accurail would make a decent visual stand-in for the CF5200 plastic pellet hopper. I do have some good articles on the evolution of the CF5200 along with the RR's and which versions the railroads are. To get the Accurail visually as a good match, two major changes were needed. 1) kitbash bottom hoppers from 3 to 4 bays, and 2) replace molded on roof walk with 11 stanchions per side, with Plano 13 stanchion per side roof walk. (the Athearn car is IMO more dated than the Accurail in term of stock molded on end cage and styrups, and it has the angle iron stiffener. Shaving off the anle iron isn't super hard but adding on the beaded stiffener along the upper chord isn't as easy so using the Accurail with the molded in twin bead stiffener seems the easier route. I had some events that put my plans to do that model on hold indefinitely; since then my close up vision has gotten worse. I hope in the coming year I can find a semi affordable home where I can get set up and working again; no space in my shoebox basement atm, and recent flooding hasn't helped. X! This brings up a point of missing models in the HQ realm, the CF5200 is over due for a newly tooled replacement but barring that, the Accurail car makes the most sense to me. |
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Post by tom on Oct 14, 2013 17:52:53 GMT -8
Beautiful model Tom! Thanks for the great explanation and photoos. Your post definitely"saves" my sole Accurail ACF 4600 from joining the swap meet pile. And it beats paying $39 or more for a RTR one. Also, for SPDRGWfan, the DRGW ACF 5200s are "fatter" cars, so I'd just stick with the Athearn ACF 5200s for those. Cheers, Harry Thanks. Like as I said earlier my 4600 languished up in the attic for I do not know how many years. Great to see the car running and with the finer details the car should last a long time as there is no need to replace it if another manufacturer comes out with a new 4600. Re-detailing doesn't always save a model....years ago I had a number of Con-Cor Airslides that I re-detailed with new wire grabs and Plano walkways but when the Athearn models came out I quickly junked these models. |
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Post by Gary P on Oct 16, 2013 4:56:49 GMT -8
Tom and Bobby (and others that are willing to share their modeling pics with us) Thank you for sharing, and for helping others like me with your modeling tips. While I am no where close to the talent you guys and others have shown here, your posts are an inspiration to me. Please keep on sharing! It gets me excited to see models with such detail, and to see where it started out and what can be done with just a few detail parts and some modeling time. Thanks again to all that have contributed to these types of posts. I love the pictures!  ===> edit: Darn typo's!  |
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Post by fr8kar on Oct 16, 2013 5:38:46 GMT -8
Beautiful model Tom! Thanks for the great explanation and photoos. Your post definitely"saves" my sole Accurail ACF 4600 from joining the swap meet pile. And it beats paying $39 or more for a RTR one. Also, for SPDRGWfan, the DRGW ACF 5200s are "fatter" cars, so I'd just stick with the Athearn ACF 5200s for those. Cheers, Harry I never noticed the "fatter" aspect or heard it discussed for the Athearn CF5200's. The Athearn car is an ACF 5250, which is a Plate C car. The Accurail car is an ACF 4600, which is a Plate B car. The difference between Plate B and Plate C stands out a little better when you put an Atlas or Intermountain ACF 4650 next to the Accurail ACF 4600 since the two cars are closer in capacity than the 4600 and 5250. The 4650 is wider, taller and shorter in length than the 4600. I am not familiar with the 5200 cubic foot car, so I don't know whether it's a Plate B or C car. Depending on which one it is, I'd start off with a model that at least matches the prototype cross-section and go from there. It would be much more difficult to try to correct width and height issues than I have patience for. At some point I will build a model of a Great Northern ACF 5250 with high brake and full ladders. I'm not sure if I'll start off with the Bachmann or the Athearn car. Either way, it should be quite an undertaking. |
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Post by riogrande on Oct 16, 2013 15:06:49 GMT -8
rch, As for CF5200, pellet I mistakenly labeled the Athearn 4-bay plastic's pellet hopper CF5200 while responding to another post rather than CF5250 which actually was my 1st instinct... but my memory being rusty I just couldn't remember for sure. Too much other stuff on my mind lately like a flooded bedroom. So the plate sizes are not in question here. Article about the CF5250 is below. www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/480/35013/november-1994-page-35Anyway, my original thought was to try to build the D&RGW CF5250 4-bay plastics pellet car out of an Accurail CF4600. The Athearn car is off length wise which while the Accurail car is off height wise. Either way, the dimensions are a bit off so it seemed logical that the Accurail car would be the easiest route to a CF5200 which looks like the D&RGW prototype - namely no angle iron stiffener, rather a twin bead stiffener, and kit bashing the 3 bays into 4. Lastly replace the Accurail 11 stanchion latter style roof with the earlier 13 stanchion roof walkway with the Plano part. Whether or not this ever comes to fruition well see. What we need is for a better, more up to day version of the CF5250 out in HO - it is long overdue. |
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Post by fr8kar on Oct 16, 2013 15:32:37 GMT -8
OK, so if you want to build a Plate C car, I cannot understand why you would start with a Plate B car. You'd actually be better off using two Atlas or Intermountain late 4650s and splicing them together to get the correct length. The profile of the Accurail 4600 will never be correct for a Plate C car, so you'd be wasting your time with it.
I'm with you on the need for an upgraded 5250. At least we have a few to start from, which is more than can be said for other prototypes.
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Post by riogrande on Oct 16, 2013 17:34:10 GMT -8
OK, so if you want to build a Plate C car, I cannot understand why you would start with a Plate B car.You'd actually be better off using two Atlas or Intermountain late 4650s and splicing them together to get the correct length. The profile of the Accurail 4600 will never be correct for a Plate C car, so you'd be wasting your time with it. I wasn't fixating on plate C vs B sizes, however, I was aware of those differences. But on a related note I knew when I was planning this "way back when" that the stock Athearn CF5260 car was dimensionally too long, as the Accurail CF4600 was too short. In otherwords, using either would be "off", although raising the CF4600 a bit might compensate for it some. Anyway, thats the way it was when I started out, good or bad. I know people of "good faith" sometimes disagree on "standards" so I can deal with that. People often run freight cars which are dimensionally off and use those cars as "stand-in's". People seem to be willing to run the Athearn CF5250 with it's "too long" body and same goes for other freight cars like the "too wide" Accurail 89' flush deck flat car. Hopefully this will all be a moot point if someone offers a more up to date model of the Athearn car. Hopefully they will! |
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Post by shoofly on Oct 17, 2013 10:50:40 GMT -8
For me personally, to model a later 5250, I'd start with a pair of Front Range 4650s, splice them together (With a little help from Donnell's end mill :-). Use the Athearn floor and replace the Front Range outlets. Trim off the molded on roof walk stuff and replace with Plano. Use some of the Detail Associates ACF end cages and loading hatches. I think the end result will look pretty darn good. I like the horizontal stiffeners on the Front Range model better then Atlas and Intermountain cars IMHO. It also helps I have a ton of these cars on hand anyway. A few techniques that could be carried over are here: www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/317/23661/december-1988-page-47Chris P. |
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Post by Brakie on Oct 18, 2013 8:35:26 GMT -8
I am not sure where my "bragging on my self" is coming through but I do admit to being proud of my models and sometime surprised when they turn out OK.
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First great looking hopper and second I didn't see any bragging by you.
Now with that said if I could model like that--well,I would brag seeing my modeling suffered with the limited use(I slowly regain 70% usage) but,still limited due to the thumb and forefinger.
No shame or modesty here. lol
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