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Excursion car

Started by p51, January 25, 2017, 04:45:55 PM

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ksivils

Mount Blue also makes two different sized excursion cars. They make nice kits, easy to assemble if you read and follow instructions. I've built a variety of the company's rolling stock kits, just not the two excursion cars.

Terry Toenges

#16
I was able to create my own excursion car from a Bachmann On30 trolley.

Here's a preliminary shot. It needs painting and railings on the ends. I took an old Bachmann On30 Christmas trolley that had quit running and converted it. After I took the pic, I realized I had set the roof on "off center".
I removed the old skirt, wheels, motor, bumper, operator/headlight piece, holiday decorated windows, red clerestory windows, and interior lights and circuit.
I used an exacto knife to cut off the various nubs and screw bolsters sticking up on the bottom of the base. I trimmed the underneath plastic gussets off the platforms on each end.
I took a Bachmann old time HO flat car frame and cut a little off each end. It now fits flat under the body.
When I removed the gates and fronts of drivers platforms (with the headlights in them), that left an elongated hole on each end.
I had some Kadee #5 couplers and boxes but the elongated hole was way too big for a screw. I used some talgo truck adapters turned upside on top of the platform. I was able to screw the coupler boxes on by going up through the hole and into the adapter, with the "ears" on the
adapter bridging the hole and resting on the platform.
I have the top catwalk off because I'll paint it a different color when I do the painting.
Fortunately, the couplers line up with my other On30 cars.
It all worked out quit well.
Feel like a Mogul.

Terry Toenges

#17
The underside of the trolley. I don't have the frame attached yet. I tried On30 passenger car trucks but they were too big. I would have had to find a shorter frame to move them closer to the center so they could have some swivel to them. Also, they made it sit too high and the couplers would have been too high.

Maybe I can augment my car with one or two of the new excursion cars or hunt around for another non-working trolley that someone want to part with.
Feel like a Mogul.

Terry Toenges

I got my excursion car "trolley" done. I'm just waiting for the people that I ordered to arrive. The paint didn't come out the greatest but painting never was one of my strong points. It's a backwoods operation anyway.
Little Jimmy was always hanging around, asking for something to do to make a little money. He said his pa had run off with the widow lady down the road and had left him and ma and three brothers and two sisters with almost nothing to eat and no money to buy anything. I told him I could pay him a little something if he wanted to do some painting.
Since our newly completed tourist car needed a paint job, I showed him where buckets of paint were in the back of the shed. He got right to work while I went off and did some other chores. He worked all day on it and did an ok job. He was real happy when I paid him and he told that now they could eat for a few days. ;)



http://sarget.com/trains/traintips/traintip-bactrolleyconvert.html
Feel like a Mogul.

dutchbuilder

Terry, What you could do is to scrape of the paint of the horizontal pieces sticking out of the body.
I don't know the right name in English.
It will break up the big green surface and horizontally accentuate the sides.

Ton

Terry Toenges

I see what you mean but that would probably be hard to do. Pinstripe tape might be easier if I wanted to go that route.
Feel like a Mogul.

Terry Toenges

When I looked at Mount Blue Model Co's site, they recommend using Athearn's HO Commonwealth trucks under their On30 18' passenger car kits. That's what gave me the idea of just using an HO frame. An added benefit was that I got the truss rods, too.
Feel like a Mogul.

dutchbuilder

Quote from: Terry Toenges on February 28, 2017, 12:00:34 PM
I see what you mean but that would probably be hard to do. Pinstripe tape might be easier if I wanted to go that route.

I used the last piece of a breakoff knife blade.
And then not the knife edge but the brakeoff surface.
Works fine.

Ton

p51

I see that Trainworld has them on pre-order, but no timeframe for them yet for retail purchase.
I'll for sure buy at least one, paint it grey and put pre-WW2 Army markings on it.
-Lee

J. S. Bach

I just got a call from Trainworld that the excursion cars are in and ready to be shipped; my car is on the way.
Later Gator,

  Dave

"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do." ~P.J. O'Rourke

p51

Quote from: J. S. Bach on March 24, 2017, 02:06:36 PM
I just got a call from Trainworld that the excursion cars are in and ready to be shipped; my car is on the way.
Great! Let us know how it looks when you get it.
-Lee


J. S. Bach

Quote from: p51 on March 24, 2017, 03:14:21 PM
Great! Let us know how it looks when you get it.
It arrived yesterday and looks nice. No pictures as it looks exactly the picture in the Bachmann catalog (and I am lazy!!). Included in the box is a
postcard-sized memorial to Lee Ryan. I do like it.
Later Gator,

  Dave

"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do." ~P.J. O'Rourke

p51

Quote from: J. S. Bach on March 28, 2017, 08:23:27 PM
Quote from: p51 on March 24, 2017, 03:14:21 PM
Great! Let us know how it looks when you get it.
It arrived yesterday and looks nice. No pictures as it looks exactly the picture in the Bachmann catalog (and I am lazy!!). Included in the box is a
postcard-sized memorial to Lee Ryan. I do like it.

Great.
When I went to the national train show in Portland, I was so hoping Lee Riley would be there so I could personally thank him for pushing On30 and getting the ET&WNC ten-wheelers into production in On30. But sadly, he didn't make that event and passed not long afterward.
I assume they're on the passenger car frames, from the pre-production sample I saw a while back in person...
-Lee

J. S. Bach

Quote from: p51 on March 29, 2017, 07:41:50 PM
I assume they're on the passenger car frames, from the pre-production sample I saw a while back in person...
They appear to be on a passenger car frame; there are cut-outs for the stepwells. I checked it against a passenger car and a boxcar; definitely a passenger car frame.
Later Gator,

  Dave

"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do." ~P.J. O'Rourke