Kadee has just announced production of the 2-Bay Open Hopper in the Frisco paint scheme. It will be delivered in March. http://www.kadee.com/ca/preorder.htm Thanks are in order to Ken Wulfert (meteor910) for his continued great efforts working with the people at Kadee.
Yes!!! They are going to do it! Woooeeee!!! I had given up. Finally! I don't understand why this took so long. As Bob noted above, Kadee has announced for March, 2011 release, a Frisco 2-bay, offset side AAR hopper in their excellent line of these HO models. This is great news - these are the best models of the AAR 2-bay hopper that have ever been offered in HO. The car in March will be SLSF 90601, part of the SLSF 90500-90799 series, built in 1948 by Mt. Vernon Car Co. It ran on ASF A3 "Ride Control" trucks, and used Ajax brake gear. It was red oxide with the large black coonskin herald. Kadee has a small pic of this car posted on their web site. I have talked with Kadee about this and never understood their reluctance to do the car in Frisco colors - they said their model was too different from the Frisco cars. Other than the Enterprise door locks, I don't understand what they saw so different. I'll try to find out what changed. I'm wondering if they are going to do a new part reflecting the Enterprise locks (hope so), or just ignore it - as this is a minor detail. Whatever, I'm delighted they will release this car - it will be a very good looker, and, like all the other Frisco cars Kadee has released, it will sell well. I'll post diagrams for this car shortly. Whooppee! (Just what I need - more two-bay hoppers! ) Ken
We need more than one number of this car and we need it in "New" condition as well. Thirty numbers sounds good to me.
Here's the car diagram for the SLSF 90500-90799 series, appropriate for the new Kadee HO 2-bay AAR hopper to be released in March as SLSF 90601, Kadee item #7038. Kadee list price is $40.95; the internet stores will have it for less. BTW, it will come with the new Kadee trucks, which are quite nice. Ken
Rick - If this car is a success, and I'm sure it will be, you can count on Kadee releasing it over and over with different numbers and other minor differences. After all, look at how many SLSF PS-1's we have. But ..... 30 numbers might take a while! Ken
Just as a matter of clarification (if necessary) this car will have a shopped date of 1966 with the build date of 1948. Of course Rick would want both versions and I for one hope they choose to do the earlier version in at least one road number as they did the 40 ft. boxcar. HobbiesUSA is already quoting an advance reservation price of $31.75 with an order cut-off date of Thursday, Dec. 30th. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this car, like the 50 ft. red Rock Island Boxcar offered a couple of years ago with the cushioned underframe will be a total sell-out by the end of the advance reservation period. Fair warning to those that may be procrastinators! This one is huge!
I wonder if it will have the ACI label ('67-'78) as shown on the prototype photograph. Aside from the Frisco PS-1 Boxes, I don't think that there was a more ubiquitous car on the Frisco.
I have a photo of car #90643 in black and white. It must be as delivered as the coon is not the large one. If I did the upload right, it is attached. Tony
Thanks Tony. Hmmmm. I posted a builder's photo - or close to it, some time ago of SLSF 90538, also in black with the small, open coonskin herald. See http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?t=2708 I wonder how many, or if all, of this series of Frisco 2-bay AAR hoppers - SLSF 90500-90799, came new in this paint scheme? Atlas Trainman recently (2009 ?) did two of their nice HO AAR 2-bay cars in this paint scheme - SLSF 90690 and SLSF 90705. Nicely done, but not Kadee quality (though a lot less expensive, and they look good!) The new Kadee car, SLSF 90601, built 1948, but showing a 1966 shopping date, is in red oxide, with the large, black background coonskin herald. Again, I wonder how many (or if all?) of the SLSF 90500-90799 class of hoppers came new in the black scheme, and when they were repainted into the red oxide scheme? Anybody know? And, I wonder if Kadee would be willing to do a follow-up to their SLSF 90601 1966-shopped release in the as-built scheme? Time will tell - I'll suggest it! The Atlas car already being out there at a lower cost will cause them to hesitate. (But, Kadee has have taken on other HO model producers in the past: example, SLSF 7600, 50ft PS1 box car. Kadee released their very superior model a year or two after the Intermountain model of the same road number was released!) And, the last question in my mind is - why did Kadee select this series of cars? Why do these fit the Kadee model when all along they said they could not do these in the Frisco colors because their model was so different from what the Frisco had? Yet another Frisco mystery! Hmmmm. Ken
