Several months ago, I had posted a general note, what the next future Accurail NEW TOOLING kit project maybe.
Some, did not believe that Accurail would undertake such and went on how the RTR Vendors would do next.
Well…Ain’t so…
Accurail will be releaseing a ALL NEW Tooling 36’0" Fowler Wood Outside Braced, Wood Braced End and Single 6’0" Wood door XM.
In other words, a new 4 piece tooling, using existing roof and underframe tooling.
And here’s the link and picture:
http://www.accurail.com/accurail/1100.htm
The outside braced boxcars are one of my favorite Accurail offerings. They really are quite handsome and the kit price is nice, as well. [Y][8D]
Tom
Well I guess we 1970’s + people finally got a bone from Accurail with their nice CF4750 covered hopper. But Accurails core models seem to be mostly earlier year models so this fits. Should be good for the 1920’s and 1930’s crowd who comment there isn’t much being made for that time frame.
They have some really good toolmakers, because those outside braced cars have ALWAYS looked great, and to make a reliable mold without that standout detail is no easy task.
–Randy
WAAY out of my era, but nice to see new kits being made.
Wow, even more 36’ cars from Accurail. I guess modeling the '10s, '20s, '30s, and '40s must be growing in popularity…
It’s good to see that they’ve changed their minds about the Fowler cars.
Several years ago, I had an e-mail conversation with Dennis Storzek regarding adding some variety to their wooden cars with more different ends and roofs.
I also brought up the issue of New England Rail Services plan to release most, if not all, versions of the Fowler boxcars (different ends, doors, ladders, grabirons, etc.). The design was to be modular, so the “Z” bracing would be cast separate from the sides and ends, allowing the full profile of the “Z”. I think that the ends and roofs were also to be separate, but the whole project seem to collapse when the dies, coming from whereever they had been made, were lost in a train wreck.
Several years later, they were found, but despite several attempts to contact NERS, I never heard anything more on that project.
Because of that, I casually suggested to Dennis that a Fowler car, simplified to suit Accurail’s production methods, might be a good seller.
“I doubt we’d ever produce the Fowler cars.” was the reply to my suggestion. “Everybody who’s done them has been jinxed.” I think that he was referring to NERS’s experience, but LifeLike’s Proto 1000 offering of Fowler cars had a few glitches along the way, too. The Proto 1000 cars had free-standing plastic grabirons (somewhat oversize due to the medium), and a price tag, in Canada, at least, of close to $40.00. I have roughly a dozen of them, none bought new, and some as body shells only, and all needed their grabirons replaced…lots of cutting, filling, and re-drilling - 78 holes per car for grabirons, and another 12 for sill steps. The grabs are a non-standard width, too, so needed to be bent from wire. I’d welcome another dozen or so of those cars, preferably undecorated, so I can letter them for my home road…with wire grabirons and steps added in my
I wonder what possessed Life Like to do it as a P1k instead of P2K. They could do pretty fine grabs in plastic, just look at the tank car kits. They even proved they could do variations within the same kit - the 50 foot automobile cars could represent two designs, if you cut out the marked sections of the sill extensions.
–Randy
I think (but forgot to mention) that the Fowler cars were from LifeLike Canada, and were r-t-r, well before, I think, the Proto2000 cars became r-t-r.
The grabirons were similar to those on the tank cars and other Proto2000 offerings - fairly fine, but still noticeably over-size. In fact, it’s my opinion that the plastic grabirons were one of the main reasons that so many modellers had trouble assembling the Proto2000 cars, and perhaps why LifeLike switched the line to r-t-r. I couldn’t afford the r-t-r versions, nor the kits, but when the former appeared in my LHS at that time, the kits, and a lot of partially built ones, ended up on the bargain table, and I was able to greatly expand my roster.
The tank cars and stock cars all got wire grabs, and while it involved extra work, the wire parts are much easier to handle and install than the plastic ones and look better, too.
While Proto eventually offered a r-t-r version of this paint scheme, mine (two similar cars) were stripped of their original paint and lettering, and all grab irons, sill steps and the tank railings were replaced with metal parts. The lettering was done with C-D-S dry transfers (now available, in decal form, from Ozark Miniatures)…
This stock car was built from a kit on the store’s “used” table. It was unpainted and in a clear plastic bag, with no instructions or id
Ah yes, forgot those LL Fowler cars were LL of Canada. I will admit,t he first time I tried one, I gave up on the tank car kits because of those grabs. But a few months later I went back to it and took a fresh approach - I now have a small fleet of them, all built from the kits. Just needed a few tricks - and the not so obscure trick of drilling out the holes because they were made to fit the grabs but then the paint reduced the size. Amazingly, through storage and transport, none has broken any parts.
–Randy
Randy,
My first Proto 2000 tank car took me about 8 hrs to assemble. And, IIRC, it was my 2nd overall kit; my first being an Accurail boxcar. Quite the jump in detail - LOL. My 2nd Proto 2000 tank car took me only 5 hrs.
Of my 17 tank cars, over half are Proto 2000 and most of them I assembled as kits. Yes, they were challenging but I enjoyed and learned from the experience.
Tom
I told a couple of my friends who model the SOO line in the steam era, and they got VERY excited about this car. Didn’t realize Fowler cars were so desirable. I’ll have to get a few.
I’m not certain that it includes all of Soo’s Fowler cars, but their predominate ones were the so-called “sawtooth” version, in reference to the outside framing style, which extended below the sidesills.
This kit, from Speedwitch, is an example…
…and the cars which I saw at the IRM a few years ago were also of that type…
If Accurail is using some existing tooling for these cars, I suppose that there may be a chance that they could do a version with the sawtoothed sides.
Wayne