Remake of a Menards Autorack

I'm not sure that I would replace the Buicks.  However, my favorite Autorack is the MTH version with Corvairs on it.

Very nice!

I gotta say I really like everything about this. My wheels are turning.

Gorgeous. Love the colors and the action that the figures give. When will we see some of these on the buy, sell, trade? 😜

Here's a few more I did. Tried to squeeze 6 Bullitt Chargers on the TTX rack, but as you can see there is just too much overhang so I went back to 4. I was pleased that I was able to get 6 f-100's on the Penn Central rack. I have more trucks so that I can put them on the second TTX rack.  Again, I used Modelflex rr colors and future floor polish as clearcoat. Tried to keep expenses and effort down. 1/43 diecast is not cheap these days but buying in bulk and shopping around helps.

These turned out OK I guess but Menard's rolling stock just does not seem to roll very well at all. When I received these cars some axles literally were glued in place. The rotating bearing cap was glued in place and not letting the axle turn. I had to tear these trucks apart and do repairs to free everything up. Then I discovered the axles and wheels are out of alignment. You can gently bend these with your fingers but I found it impossible to get them "true" enough to eliminate the bouncing as it goes down the track. I may contact Menards for replacement trucks.  I do thank Menards for putting out these cars and I think their buildings are drop dead gorgeous, but no matter the price point, shouldn't any rolling stock.......... roll?  "Get what you pay for" should not apply to  rolling stock's ability to roll. These cars will do for now. I still hope that Atlas will someday do full length open auto tracks. Since MTH is  smaller and unlikely to ever do any more new tooling, I am thinking Atlas is the only company left that can do these the right way (scaled and fully detailed).

problem is that this rack just wont roll very good, Trucks jump up and down as it rolls down the track. (common issue with Menards trucks)  Anyone else done something   yeah...... stopped buying their "rolling" stock.

@AlanRail posted:

problem is that this rack just wont roll very good, Trucks jump up and down as it rolls down the track. (common issue with Menards trucks)  Anyone else done something   yeah...... stopped buying their "rolling" stock.

Alan,

Did your action help solve the problem?  No.  Well for you perhaps yes, but it doesn't help Menards make better stuff.

Let's take your logic a step further.  Why don't we vote with our feet with everything and put every source out of business when they don't quite deliver to our satisfaction?  That will solve all of our problems quickly.  Since there isn't one making products that don't need improvement in some basic way they'll all be gone before you know it.

While your approach works with many things, most often in robust markets like consumer products, appliances and automobiles, it won't work here.  Too many suppliers in our hobby are on shaky ground, or already gone, with more closing, leaving, or wanting to do so for various reasons, as time goes on.

Last one out please turn off the lights ...

How about being supportive in a positive way instead?

Mike

Jini5, the Autoracks look marvelous.  Where did you obtain your die-cast cars?  I don't recall that variety of F100s available.  Are those Chargers or Plymouths on the NYC Autorack?

How did you apply the Future over the whole car?

@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:

Alan,

Did your action help solve the problem?  No.  Well for you perhaps yes, but it doesn't help Menards make better stuff.

Let's take your logic a step further.  Why don't we vote with our feet with everything and put every source out of business when they don't quite deliver to our satisfaction?  That will solve all of our problems quickly.  Since there isn't one making products that don't need improvement in some basic way they'll all be gone before you know it.

While your approach works with many things, most often in robust markets like consumer products, appliances and automobiles, it won't work here.  Too many suppliers in our hobby are on shaky ground, or already gone, with more closing, leaving, or wanting to do so for various reasons, as time goes on.

Last one out please turn off the lights ...

How about being supportive in a positive way instead?

Mike

I am not sure I understand how he is hurting the hobby and it's suppliers if he chooses to buy other rolling stock instead of Menards.  He is not boycotting the industry.

He is merely supporting other suppliers who he feels are making better rolling stock instead.  By that logic, if he were to continue to buy Menards rolling stock instead of say Atlas, wouldn't he be hurting Atlas?

John

Fine remakes my friend. They're nice too 😜. They look great sitting still or maybe being pushed at 2 smph with one of your nice switchers. Might not notice the wobble and can better appreciate the detail. Certainly don't wanna bounce one of those racks down the rails at high speed and throw one of those die casts to the floor.

Let's not go further with this. Menards is major sponsor of OGRR.

All in ALL they do good stuff and I like 99% of the Menards products.

They just don't always roll well.

@coach joe posted:

Jini5, the Autoracks look marvelous.  Where did you obtain your die-cast cars?  I don't recall that variety of F100s available.  Are those Chargers or Plymouths on the NYC Autorack?

How did you apply the Future over the whole car?

Those f-100's are a Greenlight product. Very nicely done. Come to think of it, the Bullitt dodge charger is also Greenlight. I don't know if there are anymore colors available for the F-100's. I purchased these from Summitt racing and Modeltoycars.com.

I said I used Future floor polish. However, after looking a second time, I discovered that it is Pledge. I think Future is part of Pledge, so both may be the same thing. I use an airbrush to apply. The Pledge floor polish is the consistancy of water so no need to thin. It dries quickly and dries crystal clear and shiny. It is an old car model builders trick. Just remember it is like water going on so try not to let it run.  Here's a few more pics

For issues with the wheels, I found that filing the tip from the end of the wheel set resolved the issues with the wheels that were not rolling well.

For wheels that are uneven, which does cause bouncing and wobbles, I move the wheels around to get a good set. When I am short on wheel sets, I replace complete wheel sets with spares.

I do agree that we shouldn’t need to do stuff like this on something that is new, but I like tinkering and fixing things, which is something I enjoy with this hobby.

@Mike M posted:

For issues with the wheels, I found that filing the tip from the end of the wheel set resolved the issues with the wheels that were not rolling well.

For wheels that are uneven, which does cause bouncing and wobbles, I move the wheels around to get a good set. When I am short on wheel sets, I replace complete wheel sets with spares.

I do agree that we shouldn’t need to do stuff like this on something that is new, but I like tinkering and fixing things, which is something I enjoy with this hobby.

Mike, thanks for the suggestion. However, the axles on the Menards auto racks have the rotating bearing caps. This means they are longer and need to be so the plastic cap has something to attach to. I dont think Icould file the ends down due to this. I would like to find a way to "true" these wheels and axles so they dont bounce down the track. Any suggestions?

The picture of the wheels are from a Menards wheel set. All I did was file the pointed tip down to a rounded nub. It still fits on the Menards wheel frame and now rolls a lot better. I think the wheels are either too long, or the truck frame is a bit warped.

I useually end up with some wheels I couldn’t fix and then need to replace the entire wheel set like I did in the pic in the prior post.

Something that may work would be to replace the rivets with a nut and bolt. You can tighten connections between the wheel set and the car, which should minimize the wobble.

I've used the one of those floor wax products to protect decals on a couple of projects.  Just covered the decalsto prevent spraying the whole car so I've got shiny decals on matte trains.  Gonna have to spray the whole thing antway.

@coach joe posted:

I've used the one of those floor wax products to protect decals on a couple of projects.  Just covered the decalsto prevent spraying the whole car so I've got shiny decals on matte trains.  Gonna have to spray the whole thing antway.

Something I have not tried is to spray dullcoat over the floor wax to knockdown the shine. Not sure how the dullcoat would react with the floor polish. In this case I like the looks of the shine on these autoracks. Normally I would do a dullcoat on freight cars.

@RON ARNDT 091718 posted:

I'm not sure that I would replace the Buicks.  However, my favorite Autorack is the MTH version with Corvairs on it.

Ron,

Thanks for making my day. I learned to drive in a '65 Corvair and passed my road test in it (my mom's car, bought second-hand in 1968); I loved that car! I've been looking in vain for that MTH auto carrier with the Corvairs for years. I was beginning to think it had never been made. Glad to hear there's at least one out there. Maybe there are others. One day, I hope to find one.

Chris

Chris,

My 30-76310 MTH UP Car Carrier with Corvairs was purchased in April of 2009.  Not sure how many other Corvair owners would have purchased them, or non- Corvair owners for that matter.  Maybe if you ask if any Forum members would like to get rid of theirs, you might get lucky.

I have owned my 1966 Corvair since new.  It's maroon like the ones on the MTH car carrier.  My Corvair is all original with 26,000 + miles, was our wedding car as well as that for our two daughters weddings a month apart.  I did run my MTH car a couple of times, but it now resides in my display cabinet.

Ron

Thanks for the quick replay, Ron. It's great that you own a 1:1 version, too. Ours (Mom's) was a kind of copper color with a beige interior (don't know what Chevy called the colors). I came home from college for Christmas break one year (late 1970s) and it was alongside the garage all smashed. My father got t-boned by a guy who'd run a red light, so that was the end of ours unfortunately.

I'll have to follow your suggestion and post a Wanted ad on the Forum and maybe I'll get lucky.

Chris

Your Autoracks look really sharp may have to order 1 or 2 of these for my 3 rail layout. Good job on the polish. I see Menards has 1 type of these left on the website.

I really like the look of those Ford Pickups, and was searching for some and was surprised to find a diecast dealer near me I did not know about. Have those trucks ordered up. I have one from IXO in a different color so will look good together in several colors.

I have this scratch built 2 rail full scale Autorack that I got many years ago. Was thinking of building another of these. These are New Ray models that I put on years ago they are not to heavy and a little under 1/43 scale so they look good. But of course you would never ship open top cars by rail.

Inspired by your post I have been looking at 3 IXO 1/43 different color Ford 1964 woody wagons on the shelf in boxes I have really liked and went hunting through my collection and found some other Ford 1964 stuff I think would look good on an autorack. Will have dig them all out and will post some pics.

@kj356 posted:

Your Autoracks look really sharp may have to order 1 or 2 of these for my 3 rail layout. Good job on the polish. I see Menards has 1 type of these left on the website.

I really like the look of those Ford Pickups, and was searching for some and was surprised to find a diecast dealer near me I did not know about. Have those trucks ordered up. I have one from IXO in a different color so will look good together in several colors.

I have this scratch built 2 rail full scale Autorack that I got many years ago. Was thinking of building another of these. These are New Ray models that I put on years ago they are not to heavy and a little under 1/43 scale so they look good. But of course you would never ship open top cars by rail.

Inspired by your post I have been looking at 3 IXO 1/43 different color Ford 1964 woody wagons on the shelf in boxes I have really liked and went hunting through my collection and found some other Ford 1964 stuff I think would look good on an autorack. Will have dig them all out and will post some pics.

@kj356 posted:

Your Autoracks look really sharp may have to order 1 or 2 of these for my 3 rail layout. Good job on the polish. I see Menards has 1 type of these left on the website.

I really like the look of those Ford Pickups, and was searching for some and was surprised to find a diecast dealer near me I did not know about. Have those trucks ordered up. I have one from IXO in a different color so will look good together in several colors.

I have this scratch built 2 rail full scale Autorack that I got many years ago. Was thinking of building another of these. These are New Ray models that I put on years ago they are not to heavy and a little under 1/43 scale so they look good. But of course you would never ship open top cars by rail.

Inspired by your post I have been looking at 3 IXO 1/43 different color Ford 1964 woody wagons on the shelf in boxes I have really liked and went hunting through my collection and found some other Ford 1964 stuff I think would look good on an autorack. Will have dig them all out and will post some pics.

Thanks for the comments. Are you the guy who bought that 1978 red ixo ford pickup off of Ebay a couple weeks ago? I was searching for more trucks and found a China Ebayer that had 2 of the red IXO's. I waited too long. When I went back there was only 1 left so I grabbed it. I did want 2. If that was you, have you received yours yet? What do you think of them? Are they as nice as the Greenlight?  I took a chance on the 1 I bought without not knowing anything about them. I really like your scale autoracks. I hope someday Atlas will do a full scale open rack car.

Well I picked up my order today and cracked open some sealed boxes of diecast I have had on my shelf and here is what I have now!

Still thinking of ordering one of those Menards autoracks. Was thinking of putting the pickups on a truck auto carrier. Debating! I think by 1970 in real life they started adding the side panels to cover the cars on the railway auto carriers. So might put them on the truck instead. Going to get the Black Mack 1966 so this might be a good truck with the New Ray Truck car carrier trailer.

Was it the red and white that is shown on your train or was there a different red color available in the past?

The green and white one in this photo is an IXO model I had in my diecast collection. It looks to be the same as the Green light but was a lot more $. The Green light stuff is really nicely priced. The 1964 Ford Woody Wagons and Econoline are IXO. Lincolns GL 1966 but close enough. Debating doing a autorack with 1965 mustangs as well.

@kj356, Awesome...Quite the collection you have. I did not know about the green/white f-100. I did not know that a light blue/white version was also available. I am in the dark about the IXO versions. I guess I will see how nice they are when the red version arrives. I do not own any IXO models, Is IXO a knockoff of Greenlight? Are IXO's available in the states? If so, who sells them. I do really like my Greenlight f-100's.

If you are still on the fence about a Menards rack......just be aware they dont roll very good. You may have to do some tweaking on the trucks. Again, your scratch built racks are awesome. Are those a scale length?