Model Railroading > Best heavyweights for painting?

Who made or makes the best plastic heavyweights for repainting? The Walthers cars are impossible to take apart without destroying. Riverossi coaches seem good because of the way the roof is attached to the window glazing. What other brands come appart easily, are fairly accurate, but are also not too pricey? I ask because I'm painting a fleet of coaches and pullmans for my home road.

Branch line makes ncie ones and are avalible quite often for a good price the down side is putting them toghether is a pain.
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> Who made or makes the best plastic heavyweights
> for repainting? The Walthers cars are impossible
> to take apart without destroying. Riverossi
> coaches seem good because of the way the roof is
> attached to the window glazing. What other brands
> come appart easily, are fairly accurate, but are
> also not too pricey? I ask because I'm painting a
> fleet of coaches and pullmans for my home road.

For the Walthers cars, take off the roof first and then start at the bottom of the car.
I've repainted dozens of then and found that is the easiest way to take them apart.

Branchline is the best option for me. I strip them and repaint. I run with Brass and honestly i cant tell them apart from the other. I love their kits. Replace Wheels with Intermountain Semo-scale and use the Branchline trucks. Heavyweight possibilities are endless. 

Javier Cervantes
Castle Rock , CO

Wish that I could find finished ones as don't think they ever did any but could be wrong. I have about ten GN ones but started one about ten years ago and gave up parts were too small for me to identify in some cases even with a magnifier.
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> Branchline is the best option for me. I strip them
> and repaint. I run with Brass and honestly i cant
> tell them apart from the other. I love their kits.
> Replace Wheels with Intermountain Semo-scale and
> use the Branchline trucks. Heavyweight
> possibilities are endless. 

The Branchline line was acquired by Atlas. Atlas is only doing RTR cars, but parts are available from them seperately. Kits are available on Ebay, etc.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

steam290 Wrote:
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> Who made or makes the best plastic heavyweights
> for repainting? The Walthers cars are impossible
> to take apart without destroying. Riverossi
> coaches seem good because of the way the roof is
> attached to the window glazing. What other brands
> come appart easily, are fairly accurate, but are
> also not too pricey? I ask because I'm painting a
> fleet of coaches and pullmans for my home road.

With patience and a bit of practice, Walther's passenger cars can be taken apart without damage. Riverossi cars are out of scale and crude by today's standards, Branchline cars are fine, but you should go with a kit, rather then trying to disassemble a RTR car. The kits can be found on ebay in the $20 to $30 range. 

I really messed up a Walthers car pretty badly. I followed an online tutorial for taking it apart, but I broke off about half the tabs and now I can't get it to go back on without a gap all the way around the roof. I Switched to the old Rivarossi cars because I could get them apart and put them back together without killing them. How does one go about getting the Walthers car apart properly. Mine is really in sad shape now, Plus, I had to break out all of the window glazing and then re-glue it. I'm sure I could do it better with practice, but it would be nice to know the method that others use.

I might give the Branch line cars a shot next. I've heard they are difficult, but if you do them right they are fine models. Do they not make any kits anymore?

As far as I can tell, Atlas only offers some of their Pullman 12-1's as kits, but for $39.95 - a lot more than they go for on eBay. Their remaining parts inventory is apparently very limited, also. Atlas's "Branchline Parts" link results in a 404 error, so the only (?) way to access the remaining parts (and kit) inventory is through their search engine. The most effective search term that I've found is "Branchline Pullman" - it calls up the remaining parts and 12-1 kits.

EO


 

ATSF3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> steam290 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------Is
> -----
> > Who made or makes the best plastic heavyweights
> > for repainting? The Walthers cars are
> impossible
> > to take apart without destroying. Riverossi
> > coaches seem good because of the way the roof
> is
> > attached to the window glazing. What other
> brands
> > come appart easily, are fairly accurate, but
> are
> > also not too pricey? I ask because I'm painting
> a
> > fleet of coaches and pullmans for my home road.
>
> With patience and a bit of practice, Walther's
> passenger cars can be taken apart without damage.
> Riverossi cars are out of scale and crude by
> today's standards, Branchline cars are fine, but
> you should go with a kit, rather then trying to
> disassemble a RTR car. The kits can be found on
> ebay in the $20 to $30 range. 

Is there a good tutorial for taking a walthers car apart? The tutorial I found instructed be to twist the car back and forth util it popped apart. BOY! Did it ever!!!

Posted from iPhone

I think I finally found the right tools to get the darned Walthers car tops off.  It is a set of pry tools used in the cel phone repair business.  available on Amazon as "professional opening pry tool set" for about $10.  see it in the photo.  Use the blue plastic or black plastic tools as they will not mar the surface.  Set a metric ruler next to the car and follow the walthers diagram as to where the tabs are.  First one was hard but I learned to slant the tool down towards the windows and press into the opening in the beige panel to click the tabs.  DO NOT twist the tools as it will leave a mark.  just push.
Mike Stewart
Oakley, CA

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---

gnguy Wrote:
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> I think I finally found the right tools to get the
> darned Walthers car tops off.  It is a set of pry
> tools used in the cel phone repair business.
>  available on Amazon as "professional opening pry
> tool set" for about $10.  see it in the photo.
>  Use the blue plastic or black plastic tools as
> they will not mar the surface.  Set a metric
> ruler next to the car and follow the walthers
> diagram as to where the tabs are.  First one was
> hard but I learned to slant the tool down towards
> the windows and press into the opening in the
> beige panel to click the tabs.  DO NOT twist the
> tools as it will leave a mark.  just push.
> Mike Stewart
> Oakley, CA

That is really helpful mike!!! Thanks!! I figured there had to be a better way to get those cars open than twisting them. I literally followed a tutorial where a guy wrenches the whole care like he's wringing out a rag until the roof pops off.

Posted from iPhone

   What I do is go between the side withan x-acto chisel blade where the arrow on the instruction sheet says. It seems to go easier if the blade is pointed slightly upward, once a tab is worked loose, I stick something in the opening to keep the tab from popping back in. Repeat this on the opposite side. It seems to work better if you work from end to end rather than one side at a time. It's not hard, it just takes time and patience. Just go slow and don't force anything.

  Also important to keep in mind is that the tabs are not spaced the same so the roof only goes on one way. I learned that the hard way.

 

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

I did not realize that about the roof direction. That could be why my last one won't go on correctly.

steam290 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I really messed up a Walthers car pretty badly. I
> followed an online tutorial for taking it apart,
> but I broke off about half the tabs and now I
> can't get it to go back on without a gap all the
> way around the roof. I Switched to the old
> Rivarossi cars because I could get them apart and
> put them back together without killing them. How
> does one go about getting the Walthers car apart
> properly. Mine is really in sad shape now, Plus, I
> had to break out all of the window glazing and
> then re-glue it. I'm sure I could do it better
> with practice, but it would be nice to know the
> method that others use.
>
> I might give the Branch line cars a shot next.
> I've heard they are difficult, but if you do them
> right they are fine models. Do they not make any
> kits anymore?

You could always try mounting the roof with a screw through the center if the tabs are broken. You mount a small block of wood or plastic in the center of the roof, then drill a hole for a screw on the center underframe. The screw goes into the block from the underside and will hold the roof tight. Much like the old Walthers kits.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/16 14:50 by ATSF3751.