I am wondering, after completing the building of an another train car, and attempting to put it back in the box it came in, why is it they do not make the boxes long enough to accommodate the length with the couplers?
1/16th of an inch would be all thats needed.
O well if this was the biggest issue in my little life I would probably kill myself from boredom.
They make the boxes to fit the unassembled model so it doesn’t get damaged from shifting around during shipment.
Many times I have had to cut notches out of Athearn boxes so the assembled model would fit back into them with the couplers attached.
I have some unassembled, ‘Craftsman-type,’ car kits that come in flat boxes that wouldn’t hold the fully assembled car floor, never mind the car. They’re only about ten millimeters thick!
My take is to put the car into a cassette, either for storage (racked up on the wall) or for transfer to the layout. The box joins the recycle stream. The only exceptions are some (not all) locomotive boxes.
I know I’m somewhere out beyond the three sigma limit in this matter, but I don’t have a spare closet for my empty boxes. and can live without the fire hazard.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Easy answer, don’t store em, run em. My computer says I have around 1400 cars in my inventory (keep that file locked from my wife). They are either (a) on the layout, (b) in staging areas, (c) on shelves in the staging area. But I never keep rolling stock in boxes after they are complete.
Bob
Yes, but if you’re in a club that goes to train shows with a portable layout you sometimes need to move rolling stock back and forth between home, the club, and the show location – having the boxes to put the rolling stock into for the move prevents damage.
Yes, but there are commercially-available big boxes which can contain scores of cars in one box rather than in scores of single-car boxes.
Mark
I save empty “large” pizza boxes, put a sheet of 1/8" thick foam rubber matting (available from JoAnne Fabrics) on the top and bottom, and presto - a cheap, secure container for HO rolling stock! The shorter the cars, the more you can fit into it.
Find a place in town that caters to the card collector (baseball, football…etc)
They have a 5000 count card box that has 5 compartments that are each approx 17"x3"x4" deep
Each tray will hold around 120 scale feet of HO cars 2 layers deep (including foam padding) when the cars are on their sides
That averages out to each box holding 30 40’ box cars or 20 50’ cars
Here are a few links
http://www.bcwsupplies.com/products/Trading-Card-Boxes/Super-Monster-Storage-Box-5000-Ct.htm
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1887079&CAWELAID=110511109
For individual 40’ cars, a box that checks come in is a good fit, as with original boxes, I add a couple packing peanuts if I am going to take it for a ride. As you said, 50’ers come in the same size box and don’t fit with their couplers on. Some can be angled, some will fit if you cut notches in the bottom, then slip the cover over, others are a pain. I have some boxes that frozen meat comes in from a “deliver to your house” outfit. Can either put individual car boxes in them or could make some foam strips to divide the long way and some short strips to go between car ends, haven’t done that yet.
Good luck.
Hmm, I’m trying to think of which ones I have that DON’T fit in the box. Since I’m still building my layout, I’m not about to leave all my completed kits sitting on top. I had them in some rollaway platic drawers (which fit nicely under the layout), but to move I put them all back in their boxes with shop towels for ptortection (shop towels don’t leave marks on the paint and don’t ‘fuzz’ and leave bits attached to drap irons and steps and truck sideframes). The only things I have that don;t fit back in the box after assembly are P2K locos. My Blue Box hoppers fit, my Stewart/Bowser hoppers fit, my Accurail cars fit, and my Branchline cars fit.
–Randy
Nah, the real reason behind too small boxes is that they’re designed by the same evil cabal that decreed that hot dogs come in sixes and buns come in eights. It’s all a plot.
Lou
[}:)]