.

[TrucTrain55]

.

 

[LoudMusic]

I've been thinking about getting some car kits to assemble, as I don't have room for a layout. What all is involved in these kits? I remember doing HO scale kits that were everything from "fully assembled" in the box to having nearly 100 parts to glue together.

 

[Mixed Freight]

Wow boy am I behind on this follow up here they are on the layout View attachment 174911

Hello Mr. Lee,

Although I've heard of Weaver trains, I didn't know that Weaver ever made kits for their train cars (I've only been into O-gauge for a little over a decade now, so I still don't know everything about O-gauge!).

It looks like you have Lionel die-cast sprung metal trucks w/ couplers on these hoppers. Just curious, did the kits already come with them, or did you swap out any Weaver trucks or other that the hopper kits may have originally contained?

 

[Mixed Freight]

I used Lionel I think I can double check for you. I know Lionel will not fit on weaver cars with a lot of cutting the trucks to fit them which I think I did on these. Yes Weaver offered kits as pre painted kits without trucks back in the early 90s. My favorites are the old Atlas O kits there like building HO scale kits but in O scale they came undercoated or painted there a lot of fun. They were made for 2 rail but run fine on Lionel Fastrack. On another O gauge forum they argued with me they never would work on that fast track I’ve proven them wrong lots of times. Sadly last week I stopped posting on that forum I had enough of there little games and silly rules over a 8 year stretch I was there. I always liked it here I should’ve just stayed here all the time. If you have any questions feel free to asked I’ve tried lots of ideas now in O scale some works some don’t.

Good to know, thanks!

For Bettendorf-style trucks, I find myself gravitating more towards the Lionel die-cast sprung trucks than any other brand. I've swapped out the Lionel trucks on some MTH and K-Line freight cars (even though they already had die-cast sprung trucks), and some Menard's cars! Matter of fact, I've even been swapping out Lionel's own plastic trucks for their die-cast trucks. And even installed die-cast trucks on a few of my Lionel post-war freight cars. The needle-point axles roll so much better than the post-war trucks, there's no comparison.

A lot of older O-gauge freight cars ride too blasted high on the trucks in my opinion, including Lionel's cars. I try and modify all these cars so they ride lower, and thus improve the looks. On some cars it can be a real challenge, but I can usually figure something out. Even lowering a car as little as 1/8" or so can considerably improve the looks.