I have a chance to buy a MDC/Roundhouse Atlantic (4-4-2) kit. Are MDC/Roundhouse kits good for a first-time kit builder, or is a Bowser kit easier?
New Haven–
The older Roundhouse loco kits are generally easier to put together than Bowser kits, mainly because Roundhouse doesn’t have all the complex ‘eccentric’ valve gear to assemble. I built several Roundhouse kits back when they were available, and with tinkering, they can be turned into good little runners. One thing I would do–since the Roundhouse wheel treads are brass and not nickel silver and therefore oxidize rather quickly–is to pick up a pair of Tomar track-slider pickups for the loco and tender and install them after you get the loco assembled. This will improve the pickup about 90% and give you a nice, smooth running loco.
If I remember correctly, the 4-4-2 was available with three boiler assemblies-- a kind of ‘generic’ Southern Pacific, ATSF and Pennsy. About all you need for assembly is a file and a screwdriver. They’re nice little lokies, IMO.
Tom [:)]
I have been looking for one for some time now. Is there more than one?
NHI5:
I’ve never put together the Atlantic myself, but I have done the OT Mogul. I also have an 0-6-0 in a corner of the roundhouse that someone else assembled, which I try to rework now and again.
About how old is this kit? MDC made numerous changes over the years, and the later ones seem to be much improved, with compound gearing, plated drivers, and better motors.
MDC is easier than Bowser, but the mechanisms follow similar procedures. Some MDC kits had valve gear, but VG riveting isn’t the demonic exercise it’s promoted as. The main headache is getting the parts together in the right order; the actual riveting process isn’t so hard with proper tools. (order the Bowser tool for best results, I’d say).
MDC crankpins are snap-in plastic pins. It seems odd, but works very well in practice.
The major effort with any loco kit is in assembling the mechanism free of binds. If you’re not happy with it, go back and find the bug, then squash it. Once the mech is together, you’re over the hump and the MDC kits are quite simple.
I really need to finish my Bowser writeup…
IIRC, someone posted a shop that still had some for sale a week or two ago. They listed 4 different kit models. 2 had brass wheels and 2 had NS wheels. It’s probably back on page 4-6 by now.(here in the general section) Don’t remember the name of the thread.
Edit- http://www.internethobbies.com/mdcrounlocki.html
http://www.jaystrains.com/HO-HOn3/Locomotives/hosteam.htm
Found these.
Kitbash Depot has them. I questioned Dan Bush of Kitbash Hobbies about the drivers.
His reply:
#s 430 and 440 have nickel silver drivers. The others are brass.
Search Google for kitbash depot. It will show right up. I cannot post the URL. Someone flags it and Trains.com deletes the post, plus gives me a warning.
Others have no problem.
Rich
Try here: http://www.kitbashdepot.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=21_75
Rotor
Rotorranch-That’s the place I was trying to remember from the other thread.
Looks like this: 
. I don’t how old it is, but I can get it a bargin. Sorry if the pic is small.
New Haven–
Looks like the Harriman style Atlantic (SP/UP). It makes into a nice-looking, nice running engine. Enjoy!
Tom [:D]
Yep, still have one, mine was reworked years ago with a Kemtron valve gear kit (remember those?) and firebox modifications to eliminate that huge empty space under the cab. Does indeed build into a fantastic model. To be accurate, I should have gone with smaller drivers, the same as SP did when they rebuilt theirs.
Dave
Dave–
Precision Scale in Montana picked up most of the Kemtron line, as part of their superb brass detail accessories, I’d bet you can still get that valve gear kit. Actually, if I remember correctly, the 4-4-2’s that used to wheel the Sacramento portion of the “San Joaquin Daylight” between Sacramento and Stockton, kept their high drivers until scrapping. I could be wrong, but those little gals were sure high-steppers, LOL!
Tom [:D]
I have a Precision Scale catalog with the Kemtron cross reference part numbers if anyone is interested.
Rich
http://www.internethobbies.com/mdcrounho2621.html This seems to fit my tastes better. (I always seemed to like praries)
Just bought it! Thanks to Loathar for giving me the URL. I will keep you all posted when it arrives & as I complete it.
NHI5:
Hey, cool. Keep us posted. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
New Haven I5:
I built three MDC Prarie kits just a few years ago; two of the ASTF style and one of the SP/Harriman style. Standard Hobby was clearing these kits for under $40 each. I now wish I had purchased every kit they had available. All three were enjoyable to build. I would suggest you buy a fresh set of jewelers files as the longest part of the assembly process will be cleaning up the various cast parts (lots of flash). Another tool I found useful was a spring loaded center punch, the type that you push down onto the work until the spring mechanism inside snaps forward (very handy for setting rivets). Its also a good idea to sharpen the point on the punch so the tip fits more positively inside the hollow rivet end.
The SP/Harriman kit ends up looking a little spartan, especially under the cab. Since I installed DCC sound decoders in the tender, I made the wires look like oil and water pipes running between the tender and cab. This greatly helped disguise the lack of detail under the cab. After reading an article in MR about upgrading an MDC 2-8-0, I also replaced the original can motor with a double shaft motor so that I could install a flywheel (the author of the article cobbled up a flywheel on the original motor but I preferred the simplicity of a double shaft motor). The original gearing was also replaced with NWSL 1:72 gearing using the original motor mount (again not agreeing with the author of the MR article). The flywheel and very short gearing make these locos glide over most dirty track. The new gearing also allows these locos to crawl around at less than 5 scale miles per hour for hours without stalling and reduces the top speed to around 50 scale miles per hour.
Other improvements included adding electrical pickups to the insulated drivers and adding all wheel pickup to the tender (much easier than it sounds). I used a Radio Shack PC Board Etching Kit to fabricate a PC board to mount
The kit came yesterday, which was a surprise. I have only one problem, how does the motor and the gear plate connect to the frame? I was thinking about soldering it. Is that a good idea?
B.T.W, I think it came with a nice can motor!
New Haven–
DON’T SOLDER IT!! You’ll just distort and melt the metal. There should be a long screw that goes up from the bottom of the driver frame that holds both the gear-plate and motor on. The directions with the kit should show you exactly how. Those MDC kits are made so that you can just keep your soldering iron on the wall and out of the way. File and screwdriver, my friend.
Tom [:)]
I’ll look for that.