Yahoo has been mostly good to me but searching is a NO. Could someone direct me to comments on the Accurail hopper before I order some?

--

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

Jon Miller asked:
"Yahoo has been mostly good to me but searching is a NO. Could someone
direct me to comments on the Accurail hopper before I order some?"

What specific questions do you have?


Ben Hom

Jon,

I'm not sure what you need to know. It's definitely the best plastic
HO model of the USRA twin hopper. The Tichy model has better detail,
but the panels are incorrectly spaced.

Tim O'

    Ben, I think Tim answered my question, if most agree with that comment! 

"It's definitely the best plastic
HO model of the USRA twin hopper."

    I understand the typical Accurail items like molded grab iron, etc.

-- 

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

Jon Miller wrote:
"I think Tim answered my question, if most agree with that comment!
'It's definitely the best plastic HO model of the USRA twin hopper.'
I understand the typical Accurail items like molded grab iron, etc."

True - the Accurail model is probably the best compromise between accuracy and price. For USRA twin hoppers in HO scale, it's definitely a question of what bothers you more - incorrect panel spacing, molded on details, incorrect paint schemes, high MSRP, or generally poor execution. Here's a rundown of what's out there in descending order of price (general comments only - you're on your own for specific analysis for given prototypes):

Bachmann (RTR, MSRP $32.00): For $32.00, you get a model with molded on grabs, chunky details, and paint schemes that could have been executed better.
http://shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=258_324_325_326

MTH (RTR, MSRP $29.99): Actually, it's pretty good, nicely detailed with separate grabs and detailed brake system. The main problem with this model is the lack of accurate paint schemes - this release contains questionable (ex: PRR Shadow Keystone for a 300-car class largely retired by the adoption of this paint scheme) or completely bogus (WM, CN, VGN, UP) paint schemes. At least they got the correct car class this time for the B&O cars, and the P&LE cars do have the correct scheme for panel-side cars rebuilt back to flat sides. YMMV - it's a bit much for me to spend $30 on a model to have to dump it in stripper to get it right.
http://www.mthtrains.com/ho/spotlight/02_2014/a

Tichy (Undecorated kit, MSRP $14.50, sometimes available RTR and decorated from Intermountain): Exquisitely detailed, but flawed - the two center panels are wider than that of the prototype (see a side-by-side comparison with the prototype in the files section). You have to decide if this bothers you or not.
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_freight-car-kits/p/4027/Default.aspx

Accurail (Kit, MSRP $15.98): As previously noted, molded-on details but not grossly oversized; wide variety of paint schemes (some not for USRA cars); 2400-series (as built paint schemes) cars will need to have brake details backdated; some 2500-series cars will need Andrews trucks. Best compromise between price and accuracy.
http://www.accurail.com/accurail/2400.htm
http://www.accurail.com/accurail/2500.htm

Varney/Life-Like ("RTR", can't throw a rock at a train show without hitting one): Included as someone will invariably bring it up. Half-century old tooling; undersized. Dirt cheap, though, and may be valuable for kitbashing Bob Karig's early common standard hopper. (However, once I get this project done, [fill in the blank] company will issue the model that Bob championed.]

Walthers also offered a USRA twin a few years back - no idea where they got their tooling. Photos of the model looked a lot like the Accurail model.




Ben Hom

True - the Accurail model is probably the best compromise between accuracy and price.

Thanks Ben, for that complete rundown.  I saw a new ad from Accurail for some Pennsy cars and lacking all my books (here) this three pack looked good.

http://accurail.com/accurail/CATALOG/2014/2014_December.pdf

-- 

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

Jon Miller wrote:



"I saw a new ad from Accurail for some Pennsy cars and lacking all my books (here) this three pack looked good."
http://accurail.com/accurail/CATALOG/2014/2014_December.pdf

Jon, if time stopped for you in 1941, these won't do. This black hopper car scheme wasn't adopted by the Pennsy until 1957 for new cars. Also, as I mentioned in the rundown, I don't like PRR USRA twin hoppers (Class GLD) in the later paint schemes as they were pretty rare by the time these were adopted - 30 cars in 1955 (Freight Car Color/Shadow Keystone); 4 cars in 1958, gone by 1960.

Manufacturers love the USRA twin because you can issue them in a lot of legitimate paint schemes, but model railroaders are fooled into thinking these cars were the most numerous on a given road's roster. This is far from the truth - the PRR only had 300 of these cars. To put this in context, there were over 30,000 Class GLA twins (Bowser).


Ben Hom

Ben, and anyone interested:

I have 3 built Tichy cars (B&O and C&S) and more kits. They're very good
looking models, in spite of the dimensional problem. But they are delicate
and lightweight -- they'd never survive at the train club.

Tim O'

Bill Welch wrote:



"What do you think the chances are that if I bet I was the only one active in this Group that despite the panel problem I prefer the Tichy USRA hopper, would I lose any money? The ease of detailing without having remove poor details is what it is about in this case. I have built all I plan to for NC&StL and CC&O but still need to build more for the L&N."

You'd probably lose money. As I stated before, your choice of model depends on what bothers you the most. I'm sure there are folks here who are perfectly happy with their Tichy USRA hoppers. Personally, I hate detailing hoppers, and have done far more "tan dot" than "green dot" cars to be able to meet the needs of the various groups and people for whom I build models. As always, YMMV.


Ben Hom

I have both Tichy and Accurail USRA hopper cars, two of each I think, but, since they don't exactly look alike, I put them in different number series.  I remember adding lots of brake detail to the old MDC covered hopper cars.  Seemed well worth while since the detail is so visible.  Why would open top hoppers be different?

Clark Propst wrote:
"For my purposes I’d like to see a IC and/or a CB&Q 2 bay hopper, or at least learn how to model the CB&Q car. There was a presentation about them at Naperville a couple years ago, but the presenter didn’t explain the process, or maybe I didn’t retain the information?"

Which specific IC and/or CB&Q 2 bay hoppers? Or a fleet of them?


Ben Hom

Clark,

CB&Q had some 1944 "war emergency" hoppers with wooden sides in series 194000-194999. Some of these lasted into the 1970s with their wooden sides intact. Subsidiary C&S owned USRA hoppers in series 18000-18299, some lasting to around 1980.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff