This car is decidedly not Canadian, but it is modelled as it looked in the 70s, so I guess it conforms to the broader theme of my blog. The shots were taken in and around Sudbury on the WRMRC. The ore cars are on hold for a few days while I attend to some other things. This will have to tide you over until I’m able to get back to them.
This is a Robin’s Rails car that I bought in the early 1990s for $7.98 at a hobby shop in Florida. It’s a zombie car because I brought it back from the dead by rebuilding the whole thing, detailing it with Kadee parts, and then weathering it. When I get a chance, I’ll write in more detail about what I did and how I did it.
-Hunter
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A zombie never looked better………………
CB
Thanks Chris. I appreciate the compliment. I have three more cars that have been resurrected from my old collection. These three will contribute to the Ontario in the 70s theme.
Great looking car, Hunter- the weathering is very nicely done. I have a few of those Robins Rails cars left to build and I like the idea of adding Kadee parts.
Tom Patterson
Thanks Tom. I don’t know about your Robin’s Rails cars, but this one was a complete basket case. The only thing I could keep was the nicely painted shell of the car.
Aside from adding the obvious Kadee parts on the outside of the car, I hacked up the floor and the frame so that it would sit straight and level, installed Kadee self-centering trucks, weighted it to NMRA spec, and used Moloco cushion draft gear with Kadee #58 couplers. All very nice stuff compared to the way the car came out of its time capsule. It was lots of work, but it was fun. I have a sentimental attachment to this car so it will be nice to see it rolling at our club operating sessions.
In hindsight, it would have been much simpler to build a new floor and frame from scratch. The floor was too short for the car so I left some functional but unspeakable ugliness underneath. I didn’t put any brake rigging on this car because it is so rough and bare. I’ll go back and add underside details that are visible from the side view of the car, but this car will never warrant having a full treatment underneath.
I just remembered something… the patch job on the new specs, the lube plate, and the ACI label were done by my friend Ted Koclya. In my haste to post the slide show, I neglected to attribute that work to him. Sorry Ted.