Hello, I had aquired a set of Athearn gunderson husky stack cars, HO 48.( bodies only) They appear to be all A&B cars. Would anyone know where I could find all the details for these? I can do the trucks and walkways but have no details like hand rails, air tank , weights, or etc. Thanks for reading. Lou
BigLou,
[#welcome] To The Forums.
Are You sure they are Husky stack Cars and not 3-pack or 5-pack Gunderson cars? Husky stack 48’s, were stand alone cars, so there would not be a A&B per se. As far as parts go, does it have the container guides on each side and front and back? They made those in Kit and ready to run. There were no extra’s in the kit either.
Good Luck! Maybe E-bay.
Take care! [:D]
Frank
Husky stack stand alone cars do have AB designations but it refers to which end has the brake wheel, same as a box car, hopper, tanker, etc… As for the missing details, check with athearn, ebay, and plano model products. Plano has end posts that are made from brass and are very durable. Plano also sells etched metal walkways for these cars if you decide to go that route. I’d use lead shot for weigh if you can’t find the athearn ones.
On my railroad, all stack cars run loaded. So weight can be inside containers.
Ed
Somebody’s been shopping on eBay! [:-^]
I saw a few listings on eBay recently for the shells-only Athearn well cars. Thought about buying a set myself, but I figured after the cost of getting all the other parts, paint, decals, etc, I might as well buy a complete pre-decorated set to begin with.
You can probably find the instructions for your particular model at this website:
http://www.hoseeker.net/athearn.htm
In the middle box with all the pull-down menus, select the appropriate one to see a scanned copy of the assembly instructions. From there, you can get an idea of what other kind of parts you need.
Not sure if you can get a complete set of actual parts from Athearn or wherever, but you might be able to cobble together most everything from other sources. Trucks should be easy enough to get, any generic roller-bearing truck will probably do. Others have mentioned that Plano makes replacement walkways (and maybe frames for your particular model) - that’s probably your best bet for those parts. The other stuff (brake equipment, grab iron stanchions, etc) could come from the scrap box, Details West/Detail Associates, or be scratch built easily enough. Decals from Microscale, of course. Some models have the car connectors as an integral part of the weight - if you don’t have those particular weights, making the connection between units might be a bit of a challenge.
Hmmm… now that I think about it, I think I might have to find one of those undecorated shell sets for myself! [;)]
Tony,
I was a Intermodal crane operator for CSX Intermodal for some yrs.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
Frank, A stand alone unit won’t have an A or B unit designation, true. But they do have A and B ends to designate which end has the brake wheel. One doesn’t lose points in life if one is wrong. Have a good one.
Why yes i have been on Ebay. LOL, I talked to a guy at Railroad Hobbies in Roseville Ca. The person thought they were Athearn gunderson husky stack.( definitely 48’s) I have just the bodies only. Purchased some 50 ton trucks, but haven’t really tried to assemble based on lack of parts. Maybe i can post a pic of exactly what they look like. Thanks to all of your replys! The rookie lol…Lou
Hmmm looks like just regular gunderson husky stack cars at 48’. Yep would be a fun project, which I’ll take on, but sometimes it might be better to just buy the set. This way they will be a one of a kind and I enjoy the tinkering at times…stay tuned. I’ll post a pic for sure…see ya Lou
Based on personal experience I would pass on Athearn well cars and go with Kato 53 foot cars if it meets your Era Much better running.
Walthers run of those cars in 1993 are much better than the Athearn one’s and a lot heavier, with a thicker weight for the bottoms of the well. The spine cars, are also better from Walthers, the body is all cast metal, which track very well, even when empty. I purchased quite a few of them in the ninties.
A little tip: Put sand in the bottom container when You run them or do what I did, and use magnets in the bottom’s and sheet tin for the tops, when placed in the cars, they all stay together and if You use the container crane, the magnets in the crane spreader bar, will hold the containers in the air, by the sheet tin I glued to the inside container roofs. I used the 3/8 round magnets, 3 on each end. Got 400 for 5.00. They give a fair amount of weight to the containers and stay together. I have quite a lot of containers, no 53’s though out of my era., plus when I bought them…they sure were a lot cheaper, than now.
Take Care![:D]
BTW: Should You not have any luck with looking for some parts, shoot me a PM and I’ll see what I can do. I have quite a few parts for Intermodal cars, that I will not use. All the cars I bought were kits, so I do have some parts left.
Frank