Frisco 42' Flat Car is now on sale...

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

At long last, the Texas Western Railroad Association is pleased to announced the availability of the Frisco 42' flat car. You can order it using a check, money order, credit card, or PayPal at The Texas Western Railroad Store (http://www.twmrc.org/agoracart55/agora.cgi).

As a reminder, the flat is a joint project from Red Caboose and Intermountain. The ready to run version comes with Kadee #5 couplers, Accurail Bettendorf trucks, and Intermountain metal wheel sets. The car is painted yellow with black lettering and comes in four road numbers.

A kit version of the car will be available later this week, along with wooden deck kits. The kit comes less couplers and metal wheel sets.

The wooden decks are available as of 2-8-10.

Best regards,
Mike Corley
President
Texas Western Railroad Association

[Charlie Dix]

Is this an HO model?

Charlie

[friscomike]

Hey Charlie, good point. It is HO scale. Best, mike

[Rick McClellan]

Can't wait to get mine.

Bob Hoover (friscofriend) said that the yellow and the side lettering was perfect and he is real picky. He must have received his already. Glad to hear that.

If you have not ordered yours yet, I recommend you save some $$ and get at least one. These things were as ubiquitous as the 40' box with the "Ship IT on the Frisco!" logo. They were everywhere on the Frisco.

[friscomike]

Howdy,

Bob had his picked up at the Plano train show.

Hope this rain doesn't slow the mail...

Best,
mike

[mvtelegrapher]

Ordered two for me today. I remember seeing some around here in MOW service long after the big green took over. I think I have shots of a couple.

John Chambers

[klrwhizkid]

I just ordered two RTR. Waiting to buy at least one kit as well.

Can't wait to get them in my hot little hands!

[meteor910]

Mike - Tell me about the wood deck kit. Is it the LaserKit 326 or something different?

Thanks. I have two RTR's coming. Looking forward to them.

Ken

[friscomike]

Mike - Tell me about the wood deck kit. Is it the LaserKit 326 or something different?

Thanks. I have two RTR's coming. Looking forward to them.

Ken

Howdy Ken, We are supposed to receive the decks later in the week, so I can confirm at this time. I suspect they are the LaserKit offered by Red Caboose in the past. They really look nice on the model. ~mike

[meteor910]

Mike - Good! That's a nice deck kit, a nice addition to the car.

Ken

[tmfrisco]

I also ordered two rtr and will order some kits also. I enjoy putting the
red caboose kits together. I already have three of the original kits with two completed. Great model.:)

[Wes S.]

Am anxiously awaiting release of the kit version; I prefer to "roll my own."

I intend to order at least two. One of them will be built into a loaded coil car like the one featured elsewhere on the forum.

[Rick McClellan]

Mike !

The flat cars arrived yesterday and they look great. I like the yellow color (slightly faded, I think) which should weather well. Also like the razor sharp lettering. Think I will stick with the new deck color for the time being. Not a bad shade of tan that represents wood fairly well.

The cars may be a little light, forgot to weigh them last night. No matter as I can add weight to the underside of the car. I use the automotive weights from NAPA that have he two sided tape on them. They need to be cut down a little to fit in between the cross members.

What is the next project? Billboard 52' gondolas? PCF Reefers (222xxx, 333xxx series)? 1400/1700 series cabooses? 50' plug door box cars?

[tmfrisco]

I am still waiting for my cars to arrive, but I did want to let everyone know, if they are interested, that the decks are now available. The kits show not available still, but I will keep watching.:) Terry

[FriscoFriend]

In my honest opinion the wood decks make the car! A side by side comparative picture is almost astonishing. Sure the plastic is OK, but the real ones had wood and that is mostly what the eye sees.

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

So, it is time for us to start planning our next car. The club members moaned when I suggested another Frisco car, but the bottom line is, whoever comes up with one first...so:



A car that's shell is currently manufactured by somebody, preferably Red Caboose or Intermountain.
A car that has not been released before
A car that is accurate
A car that will sell...


Any suggestions?

Best,
mike

[klrwhizkid]

It's a shame that there is no ready modeler's source for Frisco heavyweight passenger cars...

otherwise:

USRA Single Sheathed Boxcar

ACF Center Flow Two Bay Covered Hopper

[meteor910]

Mike -

How about a USRA double sheathed 40ft box in QA&P colors? We have at least two pics somewhere in frisco.org of QA&P 531.

Accurail makes a decent and affordable version of the USRA DS box that it could be based on.

Ken

[FriscoFriend]

Intermountain does have the shell for the ACF 2 Bay Centerflow and if it is the car that I am thinking of they did produce it back in their kit only days and it had the old roofwalks that were not photo etched. Also, someone, either Intermountain or Athearn is nw making an Airslide hopper that may be a possibility.
The best idea for the modern era modeler is Rick's yellow boxcar but as he mentioned no one has yet to make a die for it. Another thought that I have always had would be to get Kadee to make a modern version of the 40' PS1 with the short ladders, no roofwalk, and large coonskin.

[Rick McClellan]

A few thoughts on cars that are already in the market . . . .

1. Ertl Dbl Sheathed Box Car - The Ertl car body is pretty nice and would be my preference over the Accurail car. I have never heard of anyone dealing with Ertl but I am sure the tool is sitting on a shelf somewhere is China. We SLSF modelers of the 40s/50s need a lot of these. Six to ten road numbers is a good start OR six road numbers and an unnumbered.

2. Proto 2000 52' gondola in FRISCO billboard lettering - The car has been released before but not in this paint scheme. Modelers in the 60s and 70s will need a bunch of these cars.

3. Athearn 40' Vans - Not sure that the current (and former A-Line/Milepost Hobbies) van is an exact Frisco prototype BUT two or three paint schemes would be FANTASTIC not to mention modelers of other railroads would need these as well. Not just for Frisco modelers. I think this would have a large appeal, especially if we did
a. Pigs Are Beautiful
b. White van, red herald
c. "Ship IT on the Frisco" reefers
And did them all in two numbers, maybe an unnumbered. Please do not consider the old Athearn Van with all the grabs on the front. Bad protoype for us Frisco nerds.

4. The new Athearn Boom Truck in yellow with a red Frisco coonskin on the door. I saw these yesterday and almost got a Rock Island version. Not sure of the prototype, just really liked them.

5. Exact Rail makes a low side 4427 covered hopper that (I think) is the same hopper in the SLSF 813xx series. I really need my book for this one but if someone could check, I think the Exact Rail car is the Frisco car. These might be a little pricey BUT we only go around once in life so let's live. SIX NUMBERS FOR ME !!!!!! Pass the peanut butter. . . .

OK that is all for now.

[Rick McClellan]

Intermountain does have the shell for the ACF 2 Bay Centerflow and if it is the car that I am thinking of they did produce it back in their kit only days and it had the old roofwalks that were not photo etched.


I think I still have several of these in kit form and they had etched metal roofwalks . . .

[meteor910]

Agree with Rick - I have a couple of the Intermountain Frisco ACF "Center Flow" cars and they do have the etched metal roofwalk - very nicely painted the car body color. Nice kit.

Ken

[Sirfoldalot]

I like Ken's idea of a QA&P #531 box for us folks who like the "older - shorter" cars, or Keith's idea of a single sheathed car.

[Rick McClellan]

I weighed these cars and found they weighed approximately 2 ounces, quite a bit less than the NMRA recommended 4 ounces for a 6 inch car. I used my old Xuron Rail Nippers to cut my tire weights (from NAPA, very similar to the A-Line weights with the sticky tape) down so they would fit inbetween the center beam and the cross beams. I was able to get 1.25 ounces of lead under the car which helps out tremendously.

These cars are a great addition to my car fleet.|-|

[meteor910]

I received my yellow 42ft SLSF flats today. Very nice! If anything, the grabirons on the ends are even finer than those on the red RC kit. The deck, when weathered a bit, will look fine. I'm going to wait a while before deciding to put on the wood laser deck or not.

Mike - Thanks for your hard work to make this needed car become available. Well done.

Ken

[tmfrisco]

I also received my two models today, and they look great. I am glad they were available again because it was nearly impossible to find any. They will go well with my three red ones.:) Terry

[klrwhizkid]

OOH LA LA! They are gorgeous! I wish I had more capital to invest, but I'm already running on mac & cheese (I had to give up peanut butter and jelly, then peanut butter) to get the ones I got.

Thanks, Mike for all your loving work that went into these fine models (I got mine today).

[meteor910]

Colorful twins!

These aren't the best pics, but .....

Red oxide SLSF 95305 is as built from the Red Caboose kit with no weathering - only Kadee couplers, Cal Scale brake line hoses and the LaserKit wood decking have been added.

Yellow SLSF 95644 is right out of the box, as just received from Mike (Texas Western RR Assn). Haven't done a thing to it.

Note the LaserKit wood decking extends a bit outside the edges of the car deck.

I've not decided yet to add the LaserKit deck to the yellow cars, or to just weather up the tan deck a bit. Any thoughts?

Ken

[klrwhizkid]

I think that the right wash should help the plastic deck, along with a little weathering - why bother with replacing the plastic deck with wood.

[Sirfoldalot]

Here's 2-1/2 cents worth.
I like the wood deck, but, I don't care for the fact that it "sits" on top of the plastic - just doesn't look quite right.

Now, it may have been discussed before and maybe I forgot, but why does it have that center portion showing the way it does?

BTW - It's a really nice looking car and in my time frame and length. :)

[yardmaster]

I've not decided yet to add the LaserKit deck to the yellow cars, or to just weather up the tan deck a bit. Any thoughts?

Ken


Ken,
This should date things, but I once pickedup a LaserKit deck at Tinkertown when my brother-in-law still lived in Richmond Hts. I slapped it on top of a "Blue Box" CRI&P flatcar (the number data was right for the 1943 Official Register), and with some sanding of the original plastic deck, I thought it looked good enough. Probably not to scale, but okay for my purposes.

I also hit with several heavy washes of "Weather-It" and used a dull #11 blade and razor saw to distress some of the board edges.

Best Regards,

[Ozarktraveler]

Better late than never... I just ordered mine today...

I went with the RTR since our house in Cinci hasn't sold. We're still in a 1-b/r apt. with limited access to my modeling supplies. I might have anyway, with the upgraded couplers, trucks and wheelsets already added.

[FriscoFriend]

Years ago a great article was published in the Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette about how to weather plastic to make it look like wood. It started out with a Grandt Line plastic car so the base color was black. I will post the steps as soon as I can find the article. In the meantime, my research has led to another very similar technique that was used by Tichy and published in their instructions. Here is the link and after opening go to page 5.

http://www.tichytraingroup.com/pdf/4021.pdf

I actually back then tried the NG&SL Gazette technique and can testify that it looks really good.

[Sirfoldalot]

I actually back then tried the NG&SL Gazette technique and can testify that it looks really good.

Thanks for the info .. Bob.
Hope that you can find the "Gazette" article.
Look forward to it ... This type info very helpful to me.

[Friscotony]

Here is a photo of Frisco gondolas and flats in action. This was taken about 1975 here in Wichita and it is part of the train going to Springfield. This photo was taken where the R.R. ran down Washington street on its way out of town. The street is concrete and is southbound. Soon, the train will turn onto the East leg of the Murdock street Wye and proceed east. The load was built in Wichita by George C. Christoper and is part of a new interstate bridge somewhere. This company built many, many loads for the highway construction. It should also be noted that when the Frisco makes that turn on the wye and heads east, they will go between 2 of the fabrication buildings of Christopers.

[Ozarktraveler]

Received mine last night. Nice car. Thanks for going through the trouble Mike. Thanks to all the knowledgeable folks who contributed to the final product.

Well done.

[Rick McClellan]

Mike,

How are the flat car sales going? Thinking about the next project?

[friscomike]

Howdy Rick,

Sales are going fine, although a bit slow last month. We're still waiting on the kits!

The next car will be a FW&D modern hopper car developed in coordination with the Amarillo Railroad Museum. We haven't decided on the car to be developed after the FW&D car.

Best,
mike