During the last few months, I had built some kits from Tichy Train Group and I have got a hitch for that kind of kits. Now I would like to build an HO 40’ box car in CNR livery but couldn’t find a suitable kit for the 1937 AAR design. There are some nice painted & lettered kits and RTR available but I already have a fair number of them, maybe too many, and I now want an unpainted one that I can paint and letter myself.
I already searched on the Internet but I couldn’t find what I am looking for. Is there anyone on this Forum who knows a manufacturer for such a kit either in styrene or resin?
Your best bet is Intermountain, but they only sporadically stock undecorated car kits. They do make the 1937 AAR car you want.
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All I use are undecorated car kits, so Tichy and Kadee are over-represented in my fleet. Athearn Blue Box Gondalas, Flats, and Pulpwood cars are still pretty easy to find undecorated and can easily be upgraded to Intermountain style details.
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Westerfield and Funaro & Camerlengo are helpful. Sunshine is pricey and hard to get. Some bargains on brass rolling stock can be had if you are willing to look and wait.
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I really do the best at train shows. There are usually dealers with a few undecorated kits to be had.
I had already looked at both but couldn’t find what I am looking for. I will look again. Funaro and Camerlengo has a nice CNR reefer kit though.
I could do that for sure and I have a bunch of Athearn BB, Accurail, Branchline that I can use but they don’t have the level of details I want and I will not have the pleasure to build from a “pile” of parts.
I can only agree with you. I was in a major LHS which also sell online recently and the owner told me that kits are not selling anymore. The vast majority of his customers are gone the RTR way. He still keep some Accurail and Tichy kits and a small inventory of old Athearn BB but that’s all.
Doesn’t Atlas Trainman line offer the '37 AAR in undecorated as a kit? Or isn’t that the type of kit you seek?
IMWX is the '37 AAR kit that I built (mine was lettered Southern). I found it an enjoyable challenge although I tend to agree with those who argue that some of these types of kits try to make plastic do what metal does better when it comes to delicate detail parts such as stirrup steps. I see from the internet that IMWX offered the car in CN.
Intermountain makes their own 1937 AAR Boxcar kit, that has seperate ends, they also have the Red Caboose 1937 AAR Boxcar kit with the molded on ends. (The Red Caboose car is the old IMWX car). I use replacement sill (stirrup) steps from Yarmouth Model Works on all my 1937 AAR Boxcar kits. http://www.yarmouthmodelworks.com/index.php/ModelDetailParts/Stirrups
Here is one of my 1937AAR Kits, where I used the replacement sill steps, along with a Viking Roof from Des Plaines Hobbies.
I forgot about the Atlas Trainman line. I have a bunch of Atlas Master Line cars that were undecorated kits. I was always disappointed in the Atlas Master line kits. They got 95% of the way there, but just kept me wishing for what they should have been. If you are going to charge the same amount Kadee charges for thier PS-1, you better deliver!
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Anyway, yes, the 1937 AAR car is in the Trainman line. The 1932 AAR car is in the Master line. Neither is catalogued as available undecorated any longer on the Atlas website.
It seems they only kept the Branchline kits until the stock ran out, all the newer runs seem to be RTR only. Yardmaster kits were Trainman line, Blueprint kits were Master series.
I have a dozen or so Blueprint kits I’ve built, none had any issue with the components, and the paint jobs and lettering on all of them have been quite nice. I can’t really complain about the Yardmaster kits I’ve put together, either. Much simpler to build, of course. I like the way they do the ends so they can put the proper type of end on each version. The fit is perfect if you ream out the holes in the body a little because the pins on the ends will be by necessity slightly tapered (to come out of the mold). Also nice tough that one end gets 5 pins and one get 4 so no messing up putting the B end on the A end of the body. All painting and lettering on my Yardmaster kits is also crisp and solid.
I ordered 4 of the R70-20 Undec Mechincal Refrigerator cars three years ago and they finally showed up early this year. The boxcars get run more often than these cars.
Also, the Atlas 1937 Car has molded on detail, so I don’t consider it as kit making material. Many of the Atlas cars are delivered as undecorated kits, you have to watch carefully and let your pusher know to order them as Atlas does not list them many times but they are ordered, I have gotten a lot of the Atlas kits, even the old Branchline cars come as unded kits.
