Intermointain Instruction Sheet

Here you go James. Unfortunately, my free version of Adobe didn't allow any enhancement.

Good choice. No one has made a better detailed version including in brass.

Pete

Pete

Thanks for the response, I knew one of the great members of this forum would have these instructions.  

James

These kits are highly detailed. The instructions use a lot more words than pictures.  I learned a lot of new terminology putting these together!

Having put a few of these together, I'll offer some suggestions.  (if you are already experienced in assembly, I apologize)

1.  Add weights inside over the trucks.  These cars are too light to track well.  Total car weight should be 5 oz plus 1 oz per inch of car length (NMRA Standard)

2.  Use ACC (super glue) applied with a needle applicator or toothpick to glue the tiny detail parts.  Styrene cement won't hold because a lot of the parts are pre-painted.  For larger parts where you can scrape off the paint at joining surfaces, you can use styrene cement.

3.  Assembling the roof hatches without breaking parts is a challenge, but fortunately Intermountain gives you extra parts in different colors.  When you finish, you will have fully functioning hinges and latches.  Very cool.

4.  The learning curve is steep for the first car, but a lot easier with the second car.

Enjoy!

Bob

I agree with most of what Bob says except I have always used liquid solvent cement. Tenax 7r in particular. It even penetrates the painted parts. In the PFE car above the sides and underbody are not painted only the roof and ends. 

I use a fine pointed forcep to apply the liquid. It works like a fountain or mechanical drawing pen should anyone here have taken the course before the advent of CAD software. Dip the forecps in the liquid, close the tip together, draw it out of the bottle and open the forceps over the hole to release the glue and drop the piece in. It allows fine droplets that don't run all over the model. If any excess does run over the hole just let it evaporate, don't try and wipe it off.

I have built over 100 Intermountain and similar HO kits using this method and about a dozen O scale ones  with a dozen or so waiting on the shelf.

Pete

Sorry to intrude on this thread, seeing as how your looking for Intermountain instruction sheets, do any of you have instruction sheets for their 55 ton hopper kits? Thanks in advance an sorry for intruding. 

I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Intermountion kits and so far it’s gone pretty well.  There was a little learning curve with the hatches, but nothing major.  I did have one of the brake lines break while cutting them off the runners. For me that’s not a big issue, I don’t spend a lot of time looking at the underside of my rolling stock.  I figure I’m half done and if it continues to go well I’ll be in the market for a few more.

James

The step under the door is the easiest thing to break. Atlas bought this line and replaced many of the delicate plastic parts with metal, this step and the corners among them.

Also, maybe you know this but K-Line had Intermountain build these with metal three rail trucks back in the '90s. It was their debut into scale. The detail was simplified including most of the underbody but still pretty good for 3 rail at that time.

Pete

Mark Diff posted:

Sorry to intrude on this thread, seeing as how your looking for Intermountain instruction sheets, do any of you have instruction sheets for their 55 ton hopper kits? Thanks in advance an sorry for intruding. 

Mark,
I might be able to help you out with the hopper instructions if somebody doesn't beat me to it.  Let me check my stash tomorrow and follow up.

Jim