Menard's new Offering of Flat Car with 1/2 Track

PINE CREEK RAILROAD,

You must of found some extra cash. The last time I saw you post, you stated with the purchasing of your new home, your train funds were a little short. I'm happy to hear you were able to purchase these wonderful new cars. Keep them coming Menard's.

This new car is nice, but those huge shells look pretty goofy with the anti-aircraft guns on the halftrack. But then, having shells openly riding on the flatcar is silly, anyway. First thing I'd do is remove them.

A couple of boxes in place of the shells would have looked better.  Does anybody know how the shells are attached to the car. 

The ammo is way too big.

I'm just going to put a camo tarp over it.

Wild Mary what are you going to use to make the camo and how are you going to attach it to the shells.  

Here is a post from a once great site with instructions to make your own tarps: http://token3rail.blogspot.com...p-freightby-ray.html

Rick

Individually the items are neat but the way they are put together leaves a lot to be desired. I would like to see those shells fired by the quad 50s !!  Ammo crates would have been easy to make and mount. The stacks of "shells" look like cartridges, hopefully dummies, and look totally stupid. Even for a toy.

Not sure what Wild Mary will do but years ago a forum member used light paper like tissue and glue. DaveC  may remember as we were all at his house. I am searching for the article but cannot find it on my PC. 

Found It. cannot remember ray's last name. "Tarp Freight is easily made using soft thin paper like facial tissues. Use one piece and place it over the material to be covered. This material could be actual parts or just shapes of wood, plastic, rubber or anything that will look like freight when covered. You can use skids or nothing at all to put the freight on. Whatever you use place wax paper underneath it so when the glue is dry it will be able to be removed easily."

The US did not use "camo" tarps or camo in WW II except some US combat engineer's uniforms. They didn't last long. I think marines used some camo in the Pacific.

Gentlemen,

   My layouts are child like fantasy, partial realism is just fine here at PCRR, and Menard's keeps delivering the Military rolling stock, we love it.

Jim,

   I used some of my Retirement money, I just could not help myself!  Say hello to Peggy for me!  Hope all is well in Indiana, Pa.

PCRR/Dave

Don, if you check the link that I gave, it is Ray's instructions and pictures from the Token 3 Rail Blog.

Rick

Thanks for the post on how to do the tarp Ranger Rick. 

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

Gentlemen,

   My layouts are child like fantasy, partial realism is just fine here at PCRR, and Menard's keeps delivering the Military rolling stock, we love it!

PCRR/Dave

This..again

Not even a day removed from the other thread about the tank, and here we are again, with people wanting to rain on our parade.

Guess what?  Those of us such as PCRR, myself and many, many others not only know these $20 cars aren't prototypical, we just don't care.

I like the way they look.   The ammo is fun to me, etc.etc..

If I were buying accurate stuff, of which I do a lot, it wouldn't be these.  These serve a different purpose on my layout.

In 15 years of being part of OGR Forum it still remains my fervent hope that one day, someone can post about something they bought without all the "experts" telling them it wrong, when they aren't asking if it's correct or not.  It's as if they need to let people know how smart they are

I guess it is hard for some to let others just enjoy what they are doing.

As I said in my post in the Menard's tank thread, I do scale, and I do traditional (toy) stuff on my layout.  Both are fine.

EscapeRocks,

  David most of my layouts are in fact Tin Plate running on either FasTrack or Conventional Lionel Tubular.  I never once had any visiting child question the realism of my mostly Tin Plate layouts.  For those gentlemen building realistic layouts, I wish them all the best, my layouts are a child like wonderland especially at Christmas time.  These new military cars will be pulled behind the Scale TMCC JLC Brunswick Green GG1 on some 072 FasTrack, if I have the room to accomplish the track design I want to incorporate.  

All the Best

PCRR/Dave

Some of our Menard's Military Rolling stock, running right along side the customized Christmas Santa Express Train.  The PCRR is a child like fantasy wonderland of Toy Trains to stir the imagination of every boy and girl, especially at Christmas time.

I brought my four half tracks up to the club. Upon opening, I found two that had axles popped out of the sides. easy to pop back in and lubricated them. Two cars had several of the ammo cartridge pop off. They were not broken so I glued them in place. Overall, great looking cars.

I found some shipping crates in our miscellaneous box. I think I will replace some of the ammo stacks with the crates.

Hi All,

If you order the flat with 1/2 track and the flat w/ panther tank look for loose or broken parts. I just received mine and I can fix the 1/2 track re glue the shells and the machine gun AMMO cans.

The tank broke off the 2 screw holds and shells loose and no sound even after changing battery.

Hoping for an exchange on it.  Really like both.

GG1GUYY

Contact support and they will exchange the broken tank.

GG1GUYY posted:

Hi All,

If you order the flat with 1/2 track and the flat w/ panther tank look for loose or broken parts. I just received mine and I can fix the 1/2 track re glue the shells and the machine gun AMMO cans.

The tank broke off the 2 screw holds and shells loose and no sound even after changing battery.

Hoping for an exchange on it.  Really like both.

GG1GUYY

 

GG1GUYY,

I'm sorry your items arrived with broken parts. I'm glad you were able to fix the half track though! We would be happy to exchange the Leopard Tank for you. As Don mentioned, if you contact guest@menard-inc.com, they will take care of you.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Here is a picture where I removed the ammo stack and replaced it with a crate.  Crate should be tied down etc. but I was looking for an alternate to the ammo stack.

I would like to see the realism freaks watch an episode of Hogan's Heroes.  What passes for German equipment is hilarious.    Especially Sgt. Kinsch in an SS uniform on an op.  Pretty unlikely.  But, it's a comedy and the stand ins do the job intended, not meaning to be prototypical.  Just like the Menards cars, it is meant to be fun. Want realism, watch Saving Private Ryan, want a laugh, watch Hogan's Heroes with it's cardboard tiger tank.

DMasso,

   I like the military shipping box on your 1/2 Tack Flat Car big time, may have to eventually steal your idea when building the new layout, hope you do not mind!

PCRR/Dave

Menard's web site says these are O gauge so my assumption is they are not O scale?

Jeff, there have been many posts to respond to your question. Quite a few of the offerings are scale or close to scale. Many are not. There is no labeling on any of the Menards products to indicate if they are or are not. They are producing a great product, but are not your normal "train manufacturer". They are not catering to one group of O-gauge enthusiasts. I get the sense that they are just having fun passing some fun on to us at a great price. Kind of like what the 60's Lionel stuff was like. On most of their products they give the dimensions of the cars and the buildings. You will have to do your homework to see if it might fit your standards. You might check the other threads, too, as many have compared photos of some of the Menards rolling stock with scale Lionel, MTH, Atlas and other manufacturers.

Rick