K-27 minimum radius is 18″. The car weighs 1.6 ounces, which puts them a little shy of the NMRA recommended weight, but in practice, 1.6 ounces has proven to be about ideal. In general, these cars operate as well or better than any ready-to-run cars Blackstone has produced to date.
I compared the cars with drawings published in the new Slim Gauge Cars Second Edition book (Carstens Publi- cations) and found the cars to measure up very well. Body and frame length, tank and brake wheel diameter, piping and truck wheels base were among the sample dimensions I checked and the Blackstone cars were on the money in all of them. I was particularly im- pressed with the fineness of the grab irons, stanchions, piping, brake chain and rivet detail. The sides ladders are made of engineering plastic and are rigid enough to look good, but seem to have enough flex to survive normal layout use. Over all, both cars show a high at- tention to detail and are neatly assem- bled, with no obvious glue marks or loose parts. Blackstone has made it a habit to include extra detail parts, and for the tank cars these are the material placards. These came in two styles on the prototype, and where placed any number of places on the cars, depend- ing on era and style of car. By provid- ing them loose, Blackstone has allowed the modeler to place them in the cor- rect location per the prototype. In addition to having models of the two different prototype cars, I also had the two different finishes Blackstone offers. My narrow frame car came in a matte black finish with all the correct lettering for the 1924-1947 period, done in what UTLX called “Chrome Yellow.” When new, these cars were quite glossy, but it didn’t take long to lose some of that sheen, and the Black- stone decoration replicates that nicely. The GRAMPS car is the weathered ver- sion, and this is a great rendition of a car that has been on the road awhile. It is so nice you might be tempted to put
it to work on your layout as is, but I think I’d add some oil spillage around the dome, and down the sides. Factory weathering jobs can be a mixed bag, but these cars are very well done, and a super starting point for a little weathering artistry by the modeler. They are also available in unlettered, unweathered versions. Finally, should you want to put your cars in a different era, you can take a cue from UTLX and dab black paint over the number and give it a different one. These “patch” paint jobs show up clearly in photos of the prototype cars after renumberings. The ULTX tanks cars were a staple of D&RGW and RGS freight trains from 1924 until abandonment, and the new Blackstone cars duplicate them with high detail, excellent operating characteristics and beautiful decora- tion. I foresee a bunch of HOn3 tank car trains operating over a bunch of HOn3 Windy Points. The unweathered UTLX narrow frame or Van Dyke tank cars are priced at $67.95.—CHRIS LANE
Wabash 40-foot stock car kit: HO scale Mfd. by Yarmouth Model Works, 3560 Pine Grove Ave., Port Huron, MI 48060 and 85 Hiawatha Street, St Thomas, Ontario, Canada, N5P 2T5;
yarmouthmodelworks.com.
www.
This new manufacturer has released a kit which represents a 40-foot, sin- gle-deck stock car owned by the Wabash Railroad.
When railroads needed additional or new stock cars to replace older stock cars they often selected some of their existing boxcars and rebuilt them into stock cars. Many railroads did such re- building,
including the Wabash. In
1932, the roster of the Wabash Rail- road included 1,185 older, small capaci- ty stock cars. The railroad decided it needed more modern larger capacity stock cars so during 1933 and 1934 the Wabash car shops in Decatur, Illinois rebuilt 600 of its single-sheathed auto- mobile cars of series 40000-40999.
Start
www.nwsl.com
training here.
Go to
www.greatesthobby.com and get links to hobby resources and reference materials, lists of train shows and events, and information about planning and building your first model railroad layout. We’ll even help you find a shop or club in your area willing to coach you one-on-one. It’s everything you need to know to start enjoying your new hobby. Getting started in the World’s Greatest Hobby has never been easier!
www.greatesthobby.com 877-426-5082
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 83
www.truescene.com www.azatrax.com
www.azatrax.com
CARSTENS BOOK STORE
Online at
www.carstensbookstore.com
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