I am going to attempt to super detail my first freight car and have no idea where to look for parts.
The kit is a blue box athearn car.
Thanks
I suspect it is either a Pullman Standard PS-2 4740CD(rib sides) or American Car & Foundry ACF 5250CF car(smooth curved sides). Plano has metal roof walks for both cars, and Detail Associates has ACF detail parts, and things like grab irons & cut levers. I replace the stirrup steps on my ACF cars with metal A-Line ones as well. You might also want to add ‘towing’ loops for moving the cars at elevators.
The PS-2 4740CD was produced from the mid 60’s through 1972 and is a classic 100 ton capacity grain hopper.
Tfhe ACF 5250CF was another car from the same era, but had larger capacity and 4 discharge bays. Many of these cars also had pneumatic discharge tubes on the bays and were used for plastic granules service. ACF offered this car and a 5701cubic foot capacity car for plastic granules/pellets service. The 5250 was a low clearance ‘Plate B’ car and the 5701 was a Plate C car. Most of these cars were bought by private shippers, but several railroads purchased them as well. The Athearn kit for this car includes the ‘trough’ hatches commonly used for grain loading, and the ‘seal tight’ round hatches found in granules service. I know that C&NW had a fleet of these cars at one time(sort of a dual-purpose 100 ton covered hopper).
Jim
Tangent Scale Models has parts for various outlets and end cages for the PS4740 (a much superior kit than the dated Athearn Kit). Tangent also has various parts for the PS4000 and 4750 that could also be adapted.
Plano makes more than roofwalks, check their website for other parts that can be used for lowering brake wheels and other things on Covered Hoppers.
By the way they are called “sill steps” and not “stirrup steps”
Rick J[2c]
Not to stir up too much trouble, but if the subject is the old Athearn 4740 “rib side” hopper, it could be cost-effective, and certainly less work, to start with the Tangent model. Of course, if the goal is to enjoy the process of doing the work, that may defeat the purpose of the project.
I would have to agree that if you want to bring the old BB 4740 to current standards, you will have as much money into it as a new model! Just the roof walks and end cages will be a good chunk of change,
The ACF car is a better upgrade candidate. A new roof walk, metal grabs/steps and maybe towing castings/loops will upgrade the model pretty fast.
BTW, the reason I mentioned ‘stirrup’ rather than ‘sill steps’ is that you will not find the A-Line parts using ‘sill steps’. I like to use ‘metal’ steps as they are more ‘rugged’ - the plastic steps are just too frail for normal layout use. They look great on a display model. At our club, one can find a ‘trail’ of plastic detail parts from high end freight cars along the track…
Jim
Thanks Jim, I appreciate the information
No trouble, I just don’t want to spend the money on a Tangent model. They are detailed pretty well, I am looking to enjoy the process. But thanks for the thought.