What Were They Thinking!!
Aug 9, 2021 22:00:26 GMT -5
dastumer, The Jade Fog, formerly: Dave, and 1 more like this
Post by mph on Aug 9, 2021 22:00:26 GMT -5
Welcome to the premier episode of "What Were They Thinking!"
The thread where we cuss and discuss the strange and unfathomable things that other people have done to their models. Things that confound us that someone else thought was a good idea.
This installment features a Roundhouse 60th Anniversary car. A little history: the best I can determine, Roundhouse produced four 60th anniversary cars in 1998: a 36' old-time reefer, a 50' modern tank car, a 53' covered hopper (the best looking car of the bunch) and the star of this episode and a 40' modern box car. I've had three of these cars, but the 40' box car has been illusive to me.
Last week, I saw this car in an eBay Buy It Now listing and knew it had problems from the photos, but I never saw one before and I thought the time to buy it is when you see it. I fatefully uttered the famous words, "after all, how bad can it be?" and pulled the trigger and bought it.
It arrived today, so let's get started and investigate how bad it can be.
The paint color for the trucks is not what I would have selected, but easily fixable. The giveaway concern in this photo is the missing stirrups. Many Roundhouse models have the stirrups mounted on the frame instead of the shell, and I've rarely seen these broken. Not only missing stirrups, but all 4 stirrups are missing...hmmm.
Moving on, let's take a look at the underside. Randy, make sure you're sitting down.
I'm not sure where to start. How about Mantua trucks, the wrong frame (at least its a Roundhouse frame), no covers for the couplers and 4 unique screws. Yes, 3 of them are slotted, but they are all different sizes. Now for the icing on the cake - the inside.
Overlooking the use of 5/8" screws to attach the trucks, I draw your attention to the adhesive our intrepid modeler attempted to use to attach the plastic shell to a metal frame - hot glue.
Finally, while not very visible in my photos, the brake wheel is messed up and will need to be replaced. So the result of my eBay purchase is a useable shell requiring some glue removal. The frame maybe be salvageable, but it looks like I'll have a bit of work to recover from the holes they must have drilled to use those screws.
Disappointed, yes, but this isn't the first time I've purchased something used that requires more work to restore than I thought and it won't be the last. I actually enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction I get when I restore one of these basket cases. But the amount of repair work isn't what really disappointed me. My real disappointment is the car itself. I swear this is the most toy-like looking Roundhouse car I've ever seen! The good news is that once I find the right frame it won't take much work to rescue this car, but I doubt it will get much track time.
I encourage others to share their tales of unbelieve discoveries in model railroading in this thread. Please entertain us the tales of 2 3/4" lag bolts used as weight in a tank car that wasn't glued into place and rattled around in the car, the part of a fashion page from the Miami Herold folded up inside a box car and our all-time favorite, mis-matched screws!
The thread where we cuss and discuss the strange and unfathomable things that other people have done to their models. Things that confound us that someone else thought was a good idea.
This installment features a Roundhouse 60th Anniversary car. A little history: the best I can determine, Roundhouse produced four 60th anniversary cars in 1998: a 36' old-time reefer, a 50' modern tank car, a 53' covered hopper (the best looking car of the bunch) and the star of this episode and a 40' modern box car. I've had three of these cars, but the 40' box car has been illusive to me.
Last week, I saw this car in an eBay Buy It Now listing and knew it had problems from the photos, but I never saw one before and I thought the time to buy it is when you see it. I fatefully uttered the famous words, "after all, how bad can it be?" and pulled the trigger and bought it.
It arrived today, so let's get started and investigate how bad it can be.
The paint color for the trucks is not what I would have selected, but easily fixable. The giveaway concern in this photo is the missing stirrups. Many Roundhouse models have the stirrups mounted on the frame instead of the shell, and I've rarely seen these broken. Not only missing stirrups, but all 4 stirrups are missing...hmmm.
Moving on, let's take a look at the underside. Randy, make sure you're sitting down.
I'm not sure where to start. How about Mantua trucks, the wrong frame (at least its a Roundhouse frame), no covers for the couplers and 4 unique screws. Yes, 3 of them are slotted, but they are all different sizes. Now for the icing on the cake - the inside.
Overlooking the use of 5/8" screws to attach the trucks, I draw your attention to the adhesive our intrepid modeler attempted to use to attach the plastic shell to a metal frame - hot glue.
Finally, while not very visible in my photos, the brake wheel is messed up and will need to be replaced. So the result of my eBay purchase is a useable shell requiring some glue removal. The frame maybe be salvageable, but it looks like I'll have a bit of work to recover from the holes they must have drilled to use those screws.
Disappointed, yes, but this isn't the first time I've purchased something used that requires more work to restore than I thought and it won't be the last. I actually enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction I get when I restore one of these basket cases. But the amount of repair work isn't what really disappointed me. My real disappointment is the car itself. I swear this is the most toy-like looking Roundhouse car I've ever seen! The good news is that once I find the right frame it won't take much work to rescue this car, but I doubt it will get much track time.
I encourage others to share their tales of unbelieve discoveries in model railroading in this thread. Please entertain us the tales of 2 3/4" lag bolts used as weight in a tank car that wasn't glued into place and rattled around in the car, the part of a fashion page from the Miami Herold folded up inside a box car and our all-time favorite, mis-matched screws!