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Ryan Harris | profile | all galleries >> Railroad >> Freight Car Models >> Intermodal Models >> SSW 90062 Impack spine car tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

SSW 90062 Impack spine car

Cars in Southern Pacific/Cotton Belt class FCA-125-1 (four unit spine car) and FCA-250-1 (eight unit spine car) can be modeled easily in HO scale using the Athearn Impack kit as a starting point. Although the model is out of production now, it was produced in large numbers and can be found in the original blue boxes at train shows or on ebay. The kit was offered in an "end" configuration, with two end cars per box and in an "inter" configuration with three intermediate cars per box. Building a four unit FCA-125-1 car would require one end kit and one inter kit; the FCA-250-1 car requires one end kit and two inter kits.

It is possible to just assemble the kits per the instructions and get close to the prototype's appearance, but I wanted to get a little closer. To that end I designed hitches to match the prototype, since the hitches contained in the kit resemble (but are not an exact match for) the hitches used on the Santa Fe six and ten unit spine cars. The hitches are available in my Shapeways store here:

http://shpws.me/OSzj

and here:

http://shpws.me/OSzm

The other modification I made was to narrow the wheel decks. At the time of production, the maximum legal width for highway trailers was 96" so the wheel decks were designed to accommodate those trailers. The Athearn wheel deck is much wider even than the later 102" width that became common. Since this is such as easy modification and it improves the appearance of the cars so much I made the change.

Finally, the other place I deviated from the kit instructions was to arrange the brake components based on the few photos I could find and a diagram from a Santa Fe 10 unit spine car. Additionally I modified the control valve/reservoir part by removing the molded "mounting plate." This eliminates a part that I couldn't find on the prototype and draws the part closer to the spine of each unit by the thickness of the "plate."

The car was painted with Model Master enamel paint I mixed to match a sample of acrylic paint (I don't use acrylics - just set in my ways I guess). Microscale decals 87-472 were used to letter the car. Although this set includes some decals for the hitches, they are oversize and white instead of yellow. Until I can come up with a good source for the hitch decals the hitches remain bare.

Some notes about the trucks: Athearn's 28" wheel trucks are a pretty good model of the trucks used on the prototype. An even better model is from Exactrail; however, they aren't always available. I used the Athearn trucks with Kadee 28" wheels after cleaning up flash from the castings, rubbing them with a fiberglass abrasive tool to allow paint to adhere to the plastic and painting them with black enamel. I used Intermountain 28" semi-scale wheels on my Santa Fe spine car and they look great with the narrow tread. However, the Intermountain axle length is slightly shorter than the Kadee axle length, which allows the Intermountain wheels to move side-to-side within the sideframe. This also allows the entire car to lean to one side or another depending where the axle is in the sideframe. I didn't have any issues with the Santa Fe car when I operated it but the lean was noticeable. The Kadee wheelsets do not allow the same amount of lateral movement, so the lean isn't a problem. Having said that, the appearance of the wheels is not as nice as on the Santa Fe car. I haven't tried them, but the Exactrail trucks may correct the problem entirely. An alternative might be the Exactrail wheels, which are offered in an axle length similar to the Kadee wheels and with a semi-scale tread.

There's not a whole lot of information online about the FCA-125-1 and FCA-250-1, but Lee Gautreaux's website has photos and data that was instrumental in designing the hitches and working out the car's brake layout:

http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/spcars/byclass/flat/fca125-01.htm
http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/spcars/byclass/flat/fca250-01.htm
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
3D printed hitches
End hitch installed
End hitch installed
New sides for decks
New sides for decks
End hitch installed
End hitch installed
New deck sides underside view
New deck sides underside view
End units ready for brake work
End units ready for brake work
45' x 96 trailers
45' x 96" trailers
45' x 96 trailers
45' x 96" trailers
Platforms Assembled and Primed
Platforms Assembled and Primed
Painting Complete
Painting Complete
Decal Process
Decal Process
Decal Process
Decal Process