Model Railroading > Athearn former MDC Hi-Cube Boxcars No Stir_Ups On Cars

Order a couple Athearn (Roundhouse) HO New Western Pacific Hi-Cube boxcars  found out they came with no stir-ups  , called Athearn and I was told this  what they are doing on new and future former Round house HI-Cube boxcars cause roundhouse  cars are consider a low end model , they cars retail for $28.00  though I get a discount from my hobby dealer I feel they got cheap and cutting corners  , I won't be ordering anymore not knowing this what they are doing, I was just letting people Know for anybody who want stip-ups on models may not bother some people , I never thought Athearn would take a short cut on thier products  like to hear from other people what they think. 

You can get former Grandt Line stirrups from San Juan Models.
 

Cant find these on the Athearn website.Anyone able to supply item #'s.
Regards,DK

Mine were missing too on my SPSF car, so I emailed Athearn.  That was the first time they'd heard about it, and said they would look into it.   Then they came back again another day saying they were not knowingly ommitted, but future runs may have them.   That was the extent of their explanation. 

I left it at that, but I too will not be buying anymore.    Virtually no model freight car comes without stirrups, no matter the price.   In the meantime I've found some spare pieces and will make this car complete.   Easy fix on my end, but didn't care for how Athearn handled it.  Usually they are excellent with their service, so I will chalk it up to one of those few times.

Jason Eminian
Smith Brothers Hobby Center

No stirrups? Weird has heck!

Posted from Android

Hmmm..

February 2017 Athearn News future release announcement link (including 1st Roundhouse HO 50' Smooth-Side Plug Door Box Car release)...
http://www.athearn.com/Content/AthearnNews/archive/2017/2017.02/021617_ATH_News.html

02/2017 Athearn Roundhouse HO 50' Plug Door Box Car PDF...
http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/012717/08_RND_High_Cube_Plug_Box_012717.pdf

August 2019 Athearn News future release announcement link (including 2nd Roundhouse HO 50' Smooth-Side Plug Door Box Car release)...
http://www.athearn.com/Content/AthearnNews/archive/2019/2019.08/0802219_ATH_News.html

08/2019 Athearn Roundhouse HO 50' Plug Door Box Car PDF...
http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/072619/04_RND_50ft_High_Cube_Plug_Box_072619.pdf

Artwork and Deco sample photos online (and on Athearn's website) appear to show stirrup steps. Same goes for their Roundhouse exterior post 50' boxes. Sorry I couldn't locate any convenient Western Pacific boxcar images, had to settle for UP/WP.

Digging into Ebay auctions to look for actual production model photos (not just old copy-pasta artwork and/or deco images) appears to reveal that Athearn's ex Roundhouse era HO scale (Waffle-Sided) 50' hi-cubes do come with plastic stirrup steps affixed to the outside of the models. But smooth and exterior post models do not. I'm betting this may be in part because there just wasn't any convenient area to affix the stirrup to the lower corners of the Roundhouse shell due to the placement of the molded on ladder being so close to that lower edge. There is (more meat so to speak) for mounting holes on the waffle boxes due to a different design in the corner ladders.

Of course Athearn could have retooled the models to allow for this detail addition, but then that drives costs up, blurs the lines between Roundhouse and RTR even more, and pisses off that percentage of the modeling community who demand cheap freight cars. More curious to me is why Athearn elected to not simply use the existing MDC/Roundhouse under-frame tooling (which includes the lower stirrups molded into and below the car under-frame piece), they'll perhaps have a better answer for that than I.

Many of these models have been on the market now for 2+ years with out their stirrups, so good bet those who are purchasing them for the most part appear to not notice or care, or just aren't active members of TO. And to think, most likely selling for ~$20.00 (street price), when for just a few street-bucks more, one could advance their end quality RTR 50' Hi-cube boxcar model leaps and bounds!

Ah well, it is cheap to produce, it sells, and and it helps fund future Genesis quality projects. Play Ball!

~ Mr. MRL
 

---

---

---

MrMRL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Many of these models have been on the market now
> for 2+ years with out their stirrups, so good bet
> those who are purchasing them for the most part
> appear to not notice or care, or just aren't
> active members of TO. And to think, most likely
> selling for ~$20.00 (street price), when for just
> a few street-bucks more, one could advance their
> end quality RTR 50' Hi-cube boxcar model leaps and
> bounds!
>
> Ah well, it is cheap to produce, it sells, and and
> it helps fund future Genesis quality projects.
> Play Ball!
>
> ~ Mr. MRL

Other than a few MDC/Details West models I still have, I haven't bought any of the RTR versions or the Roundhouse since I prefer models that more closely match real freight cars.  But even "cheap" boxcars without stirrups seems odd and wrong.  

Good point however about funding future Genesis products.

Cheers, Jim

I may be wrong, but didn't old Rooundhouse boxcars have the stirrup steps molded with the underframe ?  To me they always looked clunky and begged a replacement with metal ones.anyway. 

I order RND 88147 and RND88149  box numbers  if you look at picture you see no stir-ups but I never saw on picture because I did not think they came this way 

cabman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I may be wrong, but didn't old Rooundhouse boxcars
> have the stirrup steps molded with the underframe
> ?  To me they always looked clunky and begged a
> replacement with metal ones.anyway. 

Yep thats the wat those came    Just went down and found an old car from the early 80s still running around with all 4 stirrups molded to the underframe.   I say still cause as they inevidably will break over time.  

This model maker’s infraction is interesting as it shows their mis-understanding of the need for a vital component - at least on the real thing. Any railcar missing even a single stirrup is going to be removed from a train before it ever leaves the yard, if properly inspected and caught. The missing stirrup would be a Safety Appliance Act violation of federal law. Does not matter much on a model but has caused injury and death on the real thing.  

Nice stirrups shown here:   https://www.yarmouthmodelworks.com/index.php/ModelDetailParts/Stirrups

Yeah, would have to add your own stirrups.  The Yarmouth look nice - and that might start the slippery slope toward more detailed models.  :-p

A-Line has some nice ones that are metal and able to stand up to a lot of abuse.

Funny thread but I’d be thrilled if more mfgs left off not only the stirrups but every other molded on ladder, grab iron and oversized component on the “value line” models that are being released for a somewhat affordable, easier to detail model!

Course I might be the odd guy out -chuckling-

Some of the Roundhouse cars used to have the stirrups built into the underfrme. Are they there?

navarch2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some of the Roundhouse cars used to have the
> stirrups built into the underfrme. Are they there?

Yeah, I think I had some of those; might still.  MrMRL mentioned some of the old MDC cars had the stirrups as part of the underfame in an earlier post.

From what I gather, however, it's reported that some of the newer RTR (former MDC) box cars are completely missing stirrups.  I have bought few, if any, former MDC cars offered by Athearn so haven't noticed this issue.

Cheers, Jim

Decades ago you could buy stirrup steps stamped out of brass. These were stirrups in the various shapes with a tab on top. The tab was bent back at 90 degrees so it would rest on the top of the underframe and set the steps at the right height.