Has anyone ever used their metal wheelsets? I’m curious, since the starting price per axle is better than the Proto 2000 wheelsets from MB Kliens.
If anyone has any, has used them, or can tell by looking, what is the axle length (compared to the P2Ks, Atlas, Branchline, Bachmann, atlas, IM) and are they RP25 or semi-scale?
I asked them and they said they only knew that they are 33", which really isn’t good enough for me.
Thanks
A lot of River City Railroad’s items seem to be MDC/Roundhouse. They sell several types of car kits in “project” sets that are missing couplers and wheelsets. I have bought several packs of the 33 inch plastic wheelsets with brass axles (steel axles interfere with magnetic uncoupling). I thought I had bought some of the metal wheelsets, but can’t seem to located them at the moment.
Thanks for the reply. If you come across those metal wheelsets, please do post back with what they are comprable to.
So far my best guess is holding various 33" wheelsets between me and the screen, trying to eyeball it. So far it looks to be close to the P2K wheelset in terms of axle lenght, but with the contours of the older MDC kit wheelsets (were those RP-25?).
Looking around I also found Model RP-25 power wheelsets.
Anyone have any experience with them? Are they 33 or 36 and what is the axle lenght?
The Reboxx company has a chart of all the axle lengths they sell grouped by manufacturer. Assuming that they have done an accurate job with their measurements, you can look up the manufacturer, in your original instance MDC, and come up with the axle length. And then you can compare that number to the lengths given for the other products you mentioned.
I’m not sure that I understand completely how they arrive at the replacement lengths, given at the right side of their chart. For example, they have the Bettendorf plastic truck with metal axles and wheels (item 2903) with an axle length range of 1.025 to 1.037 and are listing a replacement axle with a length of 1.025. But they then have a Bettendorf metal sideframe (no number listed) with a measured axle range of 1.020 to 1.028, but are recommending a replacement axle length of 1.050.
One thing you might want to take into consideration is that all the MDC axles listed are 33 inch wheels, but have a bunch of different axle lengths, so you would need to know exactly what you are buying. From the picture in your link, it looks to me like what you would have been getting is metal axles and wheels, which would mean to me that it is probably the 2903 item on the Reboxx chart. But it could also be the 2902 item that has slightly shorter axles.
http://www.reboxx.com/Documents/Wheelsets/33%20Application%20Chart.pdf
All so Packer, remember they are up for bids starting at $8.95 plus shipping. If they are any good you are more then likely not to get them for the starting prices.
I am paying $7.95 for 3 pairs of PK’s at my LHS.
Cuda Ken
At the Timonium show last summer, I bought a 100-axle box of IM 33" metal wheelsets for $52, that’s just over $1.00 per car - if you think you might (at least eventually) have that many cars to convert, it’s a lot better deal than $2.65 per car at Cuda’s small-package price.
Ending cost per car with shipping was $3.02, so not a steal.