Capsule Review - Kadee HGC 100-Ton Trucks
Apr 20, 2014 11:13:28 GMT -8
valenciajim, Colin 't Hart, and 2 more like this
Post by wp8thsub on Apr 20, 2014 11:13:28 GMT -8
I decided to try out a pair of Kadee's ASF 100-ton roller bearing trucks, the new-ish "self centering" "HGC" (high gravity compound) variety. I had a specific use in mind for these which I'll get to.
Image from Kadee's site for item #569, HGC two-piece truck.
I've never been a fan of Kadee's metal sprung trucks. Subjectively, they don't roll as well as I'd like, and the separate springs are far too fine in cross-section to look right to me.
Image from Kadee's site for item #513 and #555, metal fully sprung trucks.
One advantage of the metal trucks is the weight they can add down low, which can be helpful in situations where it's difficult to add weight elsewhere. The HGC plastic is also heavy, so it takes perhaps the best thing about the metal trucks and allows for much more realistic spring detail. A plastic casting also allows for (again subjectively) nicer detail rendition than the old cast metal with its inherent small voids. The plastic trucks are also EXTREMELY free-rolling. I could give a solid push to the car thus equipped and watch it coast on mostly level track for about 100 feet before gliding to a stop.
These days, I normally purchase Intermountain or ExactRail machined metal wheelsets. I prefer them to cast metal like Kadee since they have smoother treads and are less likely to accumulate dirt. The metal axles also seem to roll more freely than Kadee's design in most plastic trucks, but I was willing to tolerate the Kadee wheels in this application, especially after seeing how well they rolled. I polished the blackener off the treads with a wire brush in a motor tool. In normal op session service the resulting shiny treads tend to stay clean on my layout for years.
Here's the reason I tried the Kadee trucks. This is an old Front Range hopper to which I added wire grabs and brake piping (I retained factory paint when this car was finished, before all of the current freight car research tools were available online, so we'll leave that aspect of the model alone). I still have a number of these cars hanging around, despite the poorly thought out body and truck bolsters. These old FRP cars can require considerable tuning to make them derailment free and to get the couplers at the correct height. The stock trucks don't look that great, and other brands don't always work especially well without modification to the trucks and/or the car.
Enter Kadee's self-centering truck design. It requires only a flat mounting surface. The bolster halves fit around a bushing that screws to the body (not visible in the photo above), which forces all of the truck motion onto the truck itself. Whereas the stock truck/body bolster interface required careful tuning and screw tightness to prevent derailments on superelevated curves, the Kadee trucks were easy to work with. They move nicely around the bushing while keeping the car from rocking excessively through superelevation. All I had to do was file the body bolsters down until I had the right coupler height, then attach the trucks with the supplied screws. On most brands of cars you probably wouldn't have to change the ride height.
So far I really like these trucks. They look good and work well in a situation where I didn't necessarily like the other options. I haven't tried other brands of wheelsets in them, but assume they would fit based on other brands of trucks where multiple brands work. For now I'll leave that for someone else to try.
Image from Kadee's site for item #569, HGC two-piece truck.
I've never been a fan of Kadee's metal sprung trucks. Subjectively, they don't roll as well as I'd like, and the separate springs are far too fine in cross-section to look right to me.
Image from Kadee's site for item #513 and #555, metal fully sprung trucks.
One advantage of the metal trucks is the weight they can add down low, which can be helpful in situations where it's difficult to add weight elsewhere. The HGC plastic is also heavy, so it takes perhaps the best thing about the metal trucks and allows for much more realistic spring detail. A plastic casting also allows for (again subjectively) nicer detail rendition than the old cast metal with its inherent small voids. The plastic trucks are also EXTREMELY free-rolling. I could give a solid push to the car thus equipped and watch it coast on mostly level track for about 100 feet before gliding to a stop.
These days, I normally purchase Intermountain or ExactRail machined metal wheelsets. I prefer them to cast metal like Kadee since they have smoother treads and are less likely to accumulate dirt. The metal axles also seem to roll more freely than Kadee's design in most plastic trucks, but I was willing to tolerate the Kadee wheels in this application, especially after seeing how well they rolled. I polished the blackener off the treads with a wire brush in a motor tool. In normal op session service the resulting shiny treads tend to stay clean on my layout for years.
Here's the reason I tried the Kadee trucks. This is an old Front Range hopper to which I added wire grabs and brake piping (I retained factory paint when this car was finished, before all of the current freight car research tools were available online, so we'll leave that aspect of the model alone). I still have a number of these cars hanging around, despite the poorly thought out body and truck bolsters. These old FRP cars can require considerable tuning to make them derailment free and to get the couplers at the correct height. The stock trucks don't look that great, and other brands don't always work especially well without modification to the trucks and/or the car.
Enter Kadee's self-centering truck design. It requires only a flat mounting surface. The bolster halves fit around a bushing that screws to the body (not visible in the photo above), which forces all of the truck motion onto the truck itself. Whereas the stock truck/body bolster interface required careful tuning and screw tightness to prevent derailments on superelevated curves, the Kadee trucks were easy to work with. They move nicely around the bushing while keeping the car from rocking excessively through superelevation. All I had to do was file the body bolsters down until I had the right coupler height, then attach the trucks with the supplied screws. On most brands of cars you probably wouldn't have to change the ride height.
So far I really like these trucks. They look good and work well in a situation where I didn't necessarily like the other options. I haven't tried other brands of wheelsets in them, but assume they would fit based on other brands of trucks where multiple brands work. For now I'll leave that for someone else to try.
