8.5" long. Diaphragms missing or never there. Stove pipe in the roof and 17 funny round ventilator units about 1/4" diameter in two rows along the curved coach roof (apparently “arched roof” is the correct term. The extra ventilator is right behind the stove pipe. Only two ventilators remain, the rest are just holes in the roof. Any idea if these types of detail parts are still available?
Window configuration suggests a diner. Also, one window glass strip remains, parted company with the car side but the shadow pattern shows where it was once glued in. I cut it in two in order to fit the longer bands of windows and filled in the last pair of windows on one side with a fresh bit of clear plastic from another project.
Closed vestibules at each end.
Two axle trucks (edit from the correction below) with transverse leaf springs and two sets of double coil springs moulded into each truck frame. 33" wheels. Horn and hook couplers mounted on tangs on the trucks. Couplers fit from underneath into a moulded in draft gear box and are retained by a metal plate screwed on with an ever so slightly too long #56 slot head screw. Nothing a tapped through hole and slightly longer screw didn’t fix. I fit Kadee nylon screws because they grip well in plastic and are easy to cut to length.
I fit kadee #148, metal wheels and new stainless #56 bolts threaded into the bolster studs moulded into the car floor. A bit weird is a second underfloor containing two concealed sheet steel weights surrounding the bolster studs, now glued in place. The truck bearing surfaces fit through holes in this subfloor and ride on the car body bolster studs. Required four washers between the truck and the car body bolster studs in order for the trucks to swing clear. Obviously some sort of spacers are missing.
A quick respray with Tamiya maroon and some dullkote and it’s a good match for the original paint around the decals, which I masked off. Looks and runs
Well 8.5" is only 60’ long in HO scale so that eliminates a lot of makers. The round roof with many holes for vents, and four-wheel trucks (I assume you meant four-wheel trucks, not four-axle trucks) would indicate it’s probably an old MDC / Roundhouse model from their Harriman steel car line. MDC was taken over some time back by Athearn who did also produce these cars for a while. If the end doors aren’t there and it’s just open, it’s probably an MDC car rather than Athearn.
My variation of that old saying, on account if my profession, is why use a picture when 10,000 words will do. I’d love to post photos but I’m not signing up for a photo posting service. Sorry bout that.
Thanks for the links. “My” car is older than the Athearn version. It’ll be the one you suggest, no end doors. Nice little car all things considered. And Moose Jaw is at the imaginary end of our line…pretty much.
Mystery solved about the odd number of roof vents, mismatched left to right, I mean. The person who assembled this kit, or added the details, fit the stove pipe one hole too far forward leaving a vent hole behind it where it should have gone.
The Palace Car Company offer interiors for just about any make of passenger car.
This is Model Die Casting’s Harriman postal/baggage car, somewhat re-worked with a fishbelly underframe and and some scratchbuilt underbody details. I also removed the cast-in doors, as they were a little too small for my tastes, and replaced them with scratchbuilt ones. The windows were plated-over, while the roof vents are rivet parts meant for leather work…
I also have a Harriman coach, but it’s slated to become a doodlebug.
Decorative rivet tops sounds like a resource to explore. I can’t really see me duplicating those roof vents out of styrene. Thanks for the inspiration.
