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beautiful old kit

Edward Dabler
 

I have one of the Ulrich War Emergency gon's lettered ATSF still running on
my layout. I bought it from a store in St. Louis sometime around 1955.
There's a hobo seated in one end of the car. He's been riding there for about as
long as I've owned the car. I guess the railroad police have never seen him.

Ed Dabler

In a message dated 2/7/2007 1:01:31 P.M. Central Standard Time,
robev1630@... writes:

Ed & Garth,
I have one that runs on the Midwest Mod-U-Trak layout at Naperville. I
haven't heard any bad comments about it.
Rob Manley
----- Original Message -----
From: Garth G. Groff
To: _STMFC@... (mailto:STMFC@...)
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] beautiful old kit

Ed,

I had one of these which I picked up at a used table at some train show.
Yes, it was a nice kit, but very brittle. The zamak in mine must have
had some zinc in it. When I started to assemble the car, the sides broke
into several pieces.

Kind regards,

Garth G. Groff

ed_mines wrote:
Ulrich made a kit for a die cast WWII emergency gon that built up into
a beautiful car. It must have been considered fantastic when it first
came out.

The kit included a lot of little pins to hold it together. I used
Ambroid cement.

The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides -
something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.

I stripped of the original paint and lettered the car with decals.
Finding a small PRR Keystone wasn't easy but Walthers had a lot of
sets.

I think that model is as nice as any of the resin kits or the Tichy kit
for those cars.
ed_mines
 

Ulrich made a kit for a die cast WWII emergency gon that built up into
a beautiful car. It must have been considered fantastic when it first
came out.

The kit included a lot of little pins to hold it together. I used
Ambroid cement.

The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides -
something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.

I stripped of the original paint and lettered the car with decals.
Finding a small PRR Keystone wasn't easy but Walthers had a lot of
sets.

I think that model is as nice as any of the resin kits or the Tichy kit
for those cars.

Ed
Garth G. Groff <ggg9y@...>
 

ed_mines wrote:

Ulrich made a kit for a die cast WWII emergency gon that built up into a beautiful car. It must have been considered fantastic when it first came out.

The kit included a lot of little pins to hold it together. I used Ambroid cement.

The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides - something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.

I stripped of the original paint and lettered the car with decals. Finding a small PRR Keystone wasn't easy but Walthers had a lot of sets.
I think that model is as nice as any of the resin kits or the Tichy kit for those cars.

Ed



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Garth G. Groff <ggg9y@...>
 

Ed,

I had one of these which I picked up at a used table at some train show. Yes, it was a nice kit, but very brittle. The zamak in mine must have had some zinc in it. When I started to assemble the car, the sides broke into several pieces.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

ed_mines wrote:

Ulrich made a kit for a die cast WWII emergency gon that built up into a beautiful car. It must have been considered fantastic when it first came out.

The kit included a lot of little pins to hold it together. I used Ambroid cement.

The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides - something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.

I stripped of the original paint and lettered the car with decals. Finding a small PRR Keystone wasn't easy but Walthers had a lot of sets.
I think that model is as nice as any of the resin kits or the Tichy kit for those cars.
ljack70117@...
 

Zamac must have zinc in it to be called zamac.
Thank you
Larry Jackman
Boca Raton FL
ljack70117@...
I was born with nothing and
I have most of it left

On Feb 7, 2007, at 1:13 PM, Garth G. Groff wrote:

Ed,

I had one of these which I picked up at a used table at some train show.
Yes, it was a nice kit, but very brittle. The zamak in mine must have
had some zinc in it. When I started to assemble the car, the sides broke
into several pieces.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff
Scott Pitzer
 

I found a partially-assembled Ulrich gon at a train show and I just
saved the sides, thinking, "this will be heavier, so I can do an
empty." Yeah, I'm sure the weight difference is minimal. (The
alternative at the time was Sunshine.)
I made a subfloor the same size as a laser-cut wood floor (made for
the P2K gon.)
Before I got any further, I built the Tichy car, and since then I can
only see the detail shortcomings of the Ulrich (especially the end
sills.)
Scott Pitzer

--- In STMFC@..., "Garth G. Groff" <ggg9y@...> wrote:

Ed,

I had one of these which I picked up at a used table at some train
show.
Yes, it was a nice kit, but very brittle. The zamak in mine must
have
had some zinc in it. When I started to assemble the car, the sides
broke
into several pieces.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff

ed_mines wrote:
Ulrich made a kit for a die cast WWII emergency gon that built up
into
a beautiful car. It must have been considered fantastic when it
first
came out.

The kit included a lot of little pins to hold it together. I used
Ambroid cement.

The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides -
something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.

I stripped of the original paint and lettered the car with
decals.
Finding a small PRR Keystone wasn't easy but Walthers had a lot
of
sets.

I think that model is as nice as any of the resin kits or the
Tichy kit
for those cars.
Jon Miller <atsf@...>
 

Zamac must have zinc in it to be called zamac.<
This metal made during the Korean war years seemed to have a lot of contaminates in it (I was told by throwing old metal into the pot). Some kits would be just fine and the one next to it would crumble. We called it Zamac rot or something like that. If the metal was pure it would last forever (well almost).

As the Chinese seemed to have revived metal casting I'm wondering if we will see metal freight cars again <G>!

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS
Charlie Vlk
 

Im Deutschland es ist called "zincpest"......
Model Power has been making a line of diecast metal freight cars for a number of years....why, I can't imagine... but they have. They are of indeterminate prototypes,
at least by my casual examination. Their new Ore Car is partially diecast and seems to be an attempt, at least, at an accurate model. I haven't seen any comments on
it on this list....
The Athearn 65' Gondola in N has a diecast metal body of fairly fine detail...unfortunately hidden by a dip paint job. Must be harder to paint metal than plastic.
The state of the art for diecasting metal is close to or equal injection molded plastic.... but sometimes the advantages of metal over plastic are marginal. It is more difficult to
apply parts to a metal casting (the mounting holes are usually drilled individually in a separate operation rather than cast in as part of the molding operation). In N sometimes there is so little material that the weight advantage is marginal.....and in HO may result in too-heavy pieces.
Charlie Vlk

>Zamac must have zinc in it to be called zamac.<
This metal made during the Korean war years seemed to have a lot of
contaminates in it (I was told by throwing old metal into the pot). Some
kits would be just fine and the one next to it would crumble. We called it
Zamac rot or something like that. If the metal was pure it would last
forever (well almost).

As the Chinese seemed to have revived metal casting I'm wondering if we
will see metal freight cars again <G>!

Jon Miller

.
ljack70117@...
 

Zamac rot is caused by lead in the metal. Lead and zinc will destroy each other. During the Korean war copper was in short supply and so the zamac producers got old car radiators from thejunk yards. There had lead solider on them and "BINGO" you had zamac rot.
Thank you
Larry Jackman
Boca Raton FL
ljack70117@...
I was born with nothing and
I have most of it left

On Feb 7, 2007, at 1:54 PM, Jon Miller wrote:

Zamac must have zinc in it to be called zamac.<
This metal made during the Korean war years seemed to have a lot of
contaminates in it (I was told by throwing old metal into the pot). Some
kits would be just fine and the one next to it would crumble. We called it
Zamac rot or something like that. If the metal was pure it would last
forever (well almost).

As the Chinese seemed to have revived metal casting I'm wondering if we
will see metal freight cars again <G>!

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS





Yahoo! Groups Links
Anthony Thompson <thompson@...>
 

Ed Mines wrote:
The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides - something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.
Not really true, Ed. Several kits for house cars had stamped metal (usually brass or tinplate) ends, including the Athearn metal house cars. If anything, cast metal ends were LESS common than the stamped ones.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history
tmolsen@...
 

Garth & Ed,

I have one of the Ulhrich War-Emergency gons also lettered for N&W. Back in 1966 when I was a member of the old Silver Valley Railroad Club in Camden New Jersey, I put it together, but felt it needed a little more weight to track better.

I put several pieces of type slugs that I had gotten when I was still working in printing and put them down the center of the car. Then I loaded the car with coal, after which I put a pair of Central Valley trucks under is and took it to the club.

The Standards Committee had to pass on every piece of equipment before it went onto the club layout. Well, it tracked beautifully, but when they weighed it, I was told that it was a bit heavy. How about 11 ounces! Normally, they would have bounced it, but since it tracked so well and conformed in every other parameter, they grudgingly rubber stamped it okay and it went onto the layout! I still have that car and will eventually change the trucks and put the Kadee scale couplers on it. I have never over-weighted a car since, but it still looks good today, but with that weight, it is still a "Battleship"!

Tom Olsen
7 Boundary Road, West Branch
Newark, Delaware, 19711-7479
(302) 738-4292
tmolsen@...
Westerfield <westerfield@...>
 

I still have one of the Ulrich's, too. A wonderful kit. - Al
Rob & Bev Manley
 

Ed & Garth,
I have one that runs on the Midwest Mod-U-Trak layout at Naperville. I haven't heard any bad comments about it.
Rob Manley

----- Original Message -----
From: Garth G. Groff
To: STMFC@...
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: [STMFC] beautiful old kit


Ed,

I had one of these which I picked up at a used table at some train show.
Yes, it was a nice kit, but very brittle. The zamak in mine must have
had some zinc in it. When I started to assemble the car, the sides broke
into several pieces.

Kind regards,

Garth G. Groff

ed_mines wrote:
> Ulrich made a kit for a die cast WWII emergency gon that built up into
> a beautiful car. It must have been considered fantastic when it first
> came out.
>
> The kit included a lot of little pins to hold it together. I used
> Ambroid cement.
>
> The car had stamped drop ends which you can see from both sides -
> something pretty unusual when the kit was first released.
>
> I stripped of the original paint and lettered the car with decals.
> Finding a small PRR Keystone wasn't easy but Walthers had a lot of
> sets.
>
> I think that model is as nice as any of the resin kits or the Tichy kit
> for those cars.
>
>
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