On Wed, 22 Aug 2001 13:14:58 -0500 "Bruce F. Smith V.M.D., Ph.D."
<smithbf@...> writes:

Hi All,

In spite of Byron's glowing review, I just had to pick up a
Branchline
ACF/URTX reefer in NKP paint this weekend...OK, so the price of
$7.50
helped ;^) From my evaluation of the problem with the sides..it
seems as
if they are too thick and this causes the problem at the ends. I
realize
that most of us on this list can fix this in our sleep, but we
aren't the
buying public these days. It seems like such a stupid mistake -
didn't
anyone at Branchline actually build a production kit to make sure it
was
OK?

Many times, but things change during production but not all changes can
be compensated for. The thickness of the sides is but one problem
causing the fit problem. The other is the length, at least on the cars I
played with. My solution was thinning the thick end and then shortening
as much as necessary to fit exactly, which is not as hard as it sounds,
unless you have the shakes.

I hope this combined with the 40' boxcar doesn't kill them as a
company.

I don't think the 40' boxcar "problem" hurt them at all. After all, they
openly called attention to the problem and announced that they were
redoing the tooling to make the models correct. The only thing they
haven't done is offered to trade bad kits for good kits. I'd like to see
a similar solution for the reefers.


In addition, y'all may have noticed that a photograph with

the
door latch bar in the correct position is nicely featured on the box
cover
(oops!).

That photo surfaced long after the latches were cut in steel and I can
blame myself for not picking that up earlier. It was that way on the few
drawings I did see, and even on the early but poorly cast samples they
sent me. I think I was offended by the sink marks and incomplete fills
that I didn't bother to look any further. All that doesn't mean that it
would have been corrected anyhow, it would entail quite a bit of work at
that point. I'm sorry the entire door latching mechanism wasn't part of
the same casting, just like every other reefer door latch casting made.
Then the solution would have been very easy.

Also, didja notice that the "drawing" part of the box cover illustration
was not even for the same car, it was the flat u/f car built by General
American? Or did I say that before?

BTW, should the NKP car have the type A or type B ice
hatch?

That information should be on the end wrap label. It is on all other
labels. I think it's a type "A", but it might be a type "B." But some
good soul, of which I am not one, will pipe up with that little bit of
trivia.

On to another reefer. I'm putting together a few of the IM premium
R-40-10
models (Thanks Richard!) and the "gothic" paint scheme (reweigh -
Tucson,
1962) has me puzzled. I think IM molded the floor in orange to
allow the
sill details to be in the correct color, but this leaves the floor
BRIGHT
ORANGE! When dropping the underframe onto this, the black of the
underframe parts on the orange is simply astounding! Having picked
up
Tony's PFE book this weekend (a little light reading) I still cannot
figure
out what the bottom of this car should be painted...I looked at the
paint
diagram in the back, but I've learned that different paint diagrams
often
use terms differently, and "underframe" usually refers to the steel
parts
only. I know it would get dirty FAST, but would the bottom of the
floor
boards have been unpainted, orange, or black (car cement)? I'm
leaning
towards the third choice and just giving the car a good jolt from
below
with my airbrush...

Paint the underneath (technical term including both underfloor,
structural underframe, and brake rigging) basic black with some
weathering and dare anyone to prove it wrong, or even care.

Coming tomorrow - the "reefer madness quiz"...I shot a wood
sheathed
reefer this weekend...so its time to play "identify that car" as
soon as I
scan the pics!

I hope you used an elephant gun to shoot that reefer, it takes a lot to
bring one down. I also hope you didn't shoot it in your pajamas, you'll
have a hell of a time explaining what a wood reefer was doing in your
pajamas.

BSR


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