HO Metal wheels...shiny silver treads?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have been looking at upgrading most of our HO fleet to one brand of metal wheels. The key criteria being a shiny silver color.

I have lots of Kadee metals wheels and they are nice and have proved extremely reliable over the years. They also can be polished so the blackening comes off the tread giving a nice silver color. But some new Intermountain cars we just got track very well with little friction. The Intermountain wheels are all metal where only the wheel itself is metal on the Kadee wheels. So I think being all metal helps.

But Intermountain wheels are brass. So you can’t really polish them up to a silver shine like you can with the Kadee wheels. If you do, you get the yellow brown color of brass [xx(]

NWSL has solid nickel silver wheels which might be what I’m looking for. However I noticed they now all come weathered. So while they are now solid nickel silver instead of being plated, they are weathered. Meaning to get shiny treads I’ll have to remove the weathering from the treads.

I think JayBee still makes metal wheels as well. But I’m not too familiar with them.

Ideally what I’m trying to find is an all metal wheel that already has a shiny silver color. All metal meaning unlike the metal/plastic hybrids of Kadee. And shiny silver meaning preferably nickel silver over brass. Plated wheels could work, but plating usually wears off over time. And typically plated wheels are brass underneath.

I don’t really care if the entire wheel is shiny since it is easy to paint wheels in a wheel mask. The mask leaves the tread shiny and unpainted and ends up looking very realistic.

I just have to find the right wheels…shiny silver.

The sizes we use are 33" and 36"

What do you all use for metal wheels? Does anybody polish the treads like I do to have shiny silver treads?

2

My Intermountain wheels are silver. You might want to try Reboxx, they are semi scale however.

3

You might also consider checking Atlas and Kato wheelsets, both are very good quality.

Mark

4

one little detail that is often overlooked or ignored by most modelers is quite noticable in real life. in my little town about 40 miles north of St Louis, trains often come through here going north on the old Wabash that have bright, shiny rims on all the wheels. sort of like white wall tires. this is no doubt the result of going through retarders at a hump yard that clasp the wheels to control the speed of the cars.

the cars in these trains are obviously off the TRRA at Madison or perhaps the A&S both of which make up trains for the NS and have large hump yards. i’m sure the wheels don’t stay that way for very long since the bare steel would rust up right away unless they get humped again soon but it would be an interesting touch to model.

grizlump

5

Don’t forget Branchline. They have a good selection of wheels in several styles and sizes. All excellent quality and just what you are looking for.

6

The Intermountain wheels I have are made by Reboxx, and are solid nickel silver, not brass.

Proto 2000 wheels are cast, but solid nickel silver, with plastic axles.

I prefer Reboxx, because of their “semi-scale” profile (.088" tread, as opposed to the “Standard” .110"), and the narrow profile looks much more realistic, especially on open-end cars like hoppers and tank cars. Furthermore, you can match axle lengths to the trucks you are using, for maximum performance.

I quit using Kadees, because the blackening they use comes off on the rails, and being porous, they collect more “crud”.

With Reboxx wheels, I never polish off the wheel treads - they don’t need it. You do have to paint the wheels and axles, though. As you say, a wheel mask makes that easy.

Here’s a tip for painting with a wheel mask: before hitting the wheels with the airbrush, dab a tiny bit of Vaseline or other grease on the tips of the axles. Then when you’re finished, just take a tissue and wipe off the grease, leaving nice shiny bearing surfaces. (Takes about 6 seconds for a full mask load of 8 wheelsets .)

7

I’ll have to look into Reboxx. Sounds like just what I need. And our track is good enough for the semi scale wheels too.

Thanks for the tip.

8

Matt,

You may not think so but I prefer Bachmann Metal wheels over Kadee wheels because they are blackened (not weathered) and the treads are left clean for good operation.

9

Oh and i forgot to say, bachmann makes 36" and 33". And the rims are clean like grizlump said. The braking system on any hump yard would do that to the wheel because they use hydralic pads to squeeze the rim to slow the car on its way down the hill.