Posted by C.E. Cox Jr. (70.110.219.133) on July 21, 2007 at 00:20:41:
In Reply to: Re: HO R12, R14 and R15 bopdy shells??? posted by Jeff G. on July 20, 2007 at 07:47:59:
: Absolutely! Here's another thought; years ago, a gentleman named Vane Jones produced a range of injection molded interurban/trolley car body components in O scale (under the ICC Car Co. banner I think). These included single and double windows, car ends and clerestory roof windows. They were all modular and interchangeable so all you had to do is line them up, glue them together and voila, you had a car that may not match a prototype 100% but that overall looked prototypical. Actually one could replicate a specific car fairly closely if one wanted to. The late Bob Hegge built one or more cars like this for his Crooked Mountain Lines in the late 60's/early 70's (see 10/72 RMC magazine) and aside from the fact that they were beautiful models, they LOOKED prototypical despite being freelanced.
: Why not do something like this for subway/rapid transit? May not work necessarily for the R types but certainly for the early wooden Brooklyn, Manhattan and even Chicago elevated cars. In my early modeling days I tried cutting up Roundhouse 34' Overton and 50' Overland passenger car sides and re-spacing the windows to replicate the old BRT el cars. Although my modeling skills were nowhere near up to snuff, the concept was sound and I've recently stocked up on a few kits to attempt this again. Life would be a whole lot easier if at least the windows and end gates were available commercially! Maybe Roundhouse/Athearn would consider re-tooling the injection molds for us. If only I had a spare $100,000 or so. Hmm......
: Let's face it. Subway and rapid transit modeling is still a niche market so despite its shortcomings, you can imagine how thrilling it was (and still is!) to see the Proto 1000 cars hit the store shelves. So any kind of after-market product that is produced that makes it easier to customize or upgrade these models, or cobble up something on our own would be welcome indeed.
: JG
I know where you are coming from. I have a couple dozen elevated cars that I kitbashed over the past thirty years, from Bachmann, and AHM/IHC oldtime coaches, along with the Roundhouse 34' Overton coaches. Some are gate cars, others have enclosed end vestibules. Some variations have center side doors, while others don't. The only common features that I've put on all of them, are fishbelly sidesills, outside-mounted brakewheels, and either a roof-mounted single headlight above the end train/storm doors, or a "later retrofit" of sealed beam headlights.
The Proto 1000 cars provided me with a quick and easy way to update my car roster to post-1940 car classes, without taking out a home equity loan. I never could afford to buy brass in the numbers, that I have the Proto 1000 cars in, which is 28 cars so far. Try doing that for a brass car, at approx. $400.00 per car, and it add's up real quick.
I have nothing against the guys who want, and can afford brass, or the other more exact (and expensive) cars. That's their preference. There's room for both ends of the group, just like Queensborough Plaza can accomodate both BMT, and IRT trains.