Warped Weaver Troop Train Car. Help!

I would have sent them back to the Ebayer you bought them from. Probably too late now. Have you notified him? Just curios what his response was.

Yes you should have sent them back. Now that you fiddled with it, you may have to wait for Atlas O. They were talking about casting a better floor for the Weaver troop cars that are falling apart.

One shady seller that person should be ashamed themselves 

jini5 posted:

I would have sent them back to the Ebayer you bought them from. Probably too late now. Have you notified him? Just curios what his response was.

The seller did right and offered half a refund.  To me that made sense because I was able to salvage most of the cars using iron epoxy.

rattler21 posted:

 

Described as "Nice Condition".  From the photos, it appears the green and yellow cars may be warped.  In what condition are the other bodies and trucks?   John in Illinois

I apologize for not searching. 3 car bodies are fine. The C&O troop car is warped. The Pennsylvania as previously pictured was the worst of the two. Here's what the trucks looked like. 

rattler21 posted:

In my humble opinion, three Weaver troop cars and spare parts for $150 is a fair deal.  If the seller cuts the price to $75, you got a very good deal.   John in Lansing, ILL

I agree. I took the deal. 

I got four of these cars that I bought new. All of them are shot.  Has anyone put together a repair kit for these car? There was a lot of talk about them on the forum years ago, but I can't remember anything happening. I know the tooling went to Atlas, so the new cars will be fine.

Happy Holidays;

Billy C

Here is a link to a 5 page thread that we had in 2014/15 regarding the issue.

Although really nice cars, many of the cars suffer from bad trucks and/or bad frames (metal floors).  When the frames warp enough, the stress can cause the shells to crack.  There doesn't seem to be any way to tell by the numbers which cars have bad frames. Thus, for the Weaver cars, I put the frame issue into two categories, (1) those that have failed, and (2) those that could fail in the future.

I have three troop cars and one kitchen car, all looked fine, but when I unscrewed the bodies from the frames, one frame was definitely warped.  Haven't check my cars in a while, but as I am putting them into storage, this thread is a reminder that I need to take ALL the bodies off the frames.

I believe that Atlas (who now has the Weaver tooling) and plans on releasing more cars, has talked about making replacement frames available for the earlier Weaver release.  I wondering if they are still planning to do so.  A couple of folks have made (or have had made) replacement frames.  I had planned on making new floors for my cars from lucite, but just haven't had the time.

Jim

Zinc Pest strikes again.....and again.....and again....

Our (LHS) Atlas sales contact confirmed about a year ago that Atlas would, indeed, make a retro repair kit for this condition.  Since then we've had no update.

Couple thoughts....

Broken trucks?.....Not a typical Weaver problem from what we've heard.  Not sure whether the Troop Car floors were made in the same China factory as the trucks, but the frequency of reported floor problems far exceeds anything we've heard re trucks.....esp. the Allied Full Cushion trucks for these cars.

Anyone having the Weaver troop cars who has not yet inspected them for this floor-warp problem should do so rather soon.  If there is any incipient bowing/stress of the floor, I'd suggest IMMEDIATELY and carefully detaching the floor casting from the body molding.  Once the plastic body has been warped due to the floor problem, you're talking a whole different ballgame in trying to salvage a decent car.  In fact, a cracked/warped body is pretty much a candidate for recycling or half-car projects (MOW freelancing???)

Further, if there is any warpage of the floor, I'd carefully remove any and all detail parts, center sill, etc. from the floor and let it do its thing without stressing other attached components.  Since we're still not sure what Atlas' proposal for a retro kit will be, I'd save all the detail parts....if re-usable...for future re-attachment.

Finally, an associate and I created a resin casting mold of the Troop Car floor.  We've made a few parts for our own use/experimentation.  We created a repair package concept.  Results were excellent, IMHO.  It was at this point we learned of Atlas' intent, and shelved the project.  (A resin casting floor will not have the same weight as a zinc casting, of course.  Adding additional weight to the interior of the car is simple, but not having to do so would be preferable.)   Since Atlas has announced production of the troop cars, we believe their solution is imminent.  We'll see.

FWIW....

KD

Since I am not at all familiar with these cars I'll ask. Are these cars made of a plastic you could lay them flat and use a heat gun to soften the plastic and straighten them out using another frame?. Just wondering.

Not all of these warped and may not in the future. I have four perfect cars. 

Clarence Siman posted:

Since I am not at all familiar with these cars I'll ask. Are these cars made of a plastic you could lay them flat and use a heat gun to soften the plastic and straighten them out using another frame?. Just wondering.

No.

Here are pictures of my Pennsy express car that I repaired a while back using a plastic floor and reattaching all the underbody detail part from the old frame. As mentioned above, be sure and remove the center sill with the trucks and bolsters attached when you take apart a warped car. The warped frame will cause the center seal to snap if you are not careful.

I  have only seen one broken truck, which I also glued back together. I think the truck problem is caused by a very poorly designed construction method that uses a small fork to attach the side frame to the trucks.

I have only rebuilt one frame and await the Atlas frames. I spoke to Bill at Atlas during York back October and he assured me the Atlas Troop cars would be produced along with the replacement frames for us poor souls who have warp frames. I have at least three awaiting new frames.

Hope this helps,

Merry Christmas,

Richard

Thank y'all for the feedback! I attempted to take my frame apart,  it broke into pieces. My shell is severely warped. I believe I read somewhere on the forum someone had put a shell for a car in the oven to get it soft enough to be able to bend. I'm going to try that route unless someone has a better idea.

I feel your pain, but I do have a whimsical suggestion. Cast a giant boulder out of foam and place in on top of the car and claim rock damage.

I've dealt with three of these; one I finally junked completely (OK, into the "bad parts/junkyard scenery" bin; I gave away the body).

The second one came out pretty well; the third was apparently totally OK and I sold it cheap with full disclosure - by that time was sick of all of them.

The second one was salvaged (too bad to sell, too good to scrap) by using a basswood frame (don't use balsa) with salvaged usable underbody details removed from the original warped floor. The trucks were reinforced with epoxy at vulnerable points, though they may have been OK. A little weight was added.

Your body may be straightened out by just screwing it to a flat wooden floor; depends on how much resistance it gives you.

I still hate these things; I don't even intend to buy an Atlas version, regardless of fixes. Just don't want to look at it.

Well all. I tried baking it and bending it back........fail. I did however see a great deal on grahams for 4 troop train cars for 115. So against my better judgement I bought them. I am a sucker for these cars.

Mr Muffin's trains has been my POC for replacement floors.  He has indicated that Atlas will be making extra floors.  I never asked about trucks.

Only the first release of Weaver suffered from zinc pest and warping.

Jan

I have five of the troop cars, only one has any sign of warping, it is disassembled and in a box waiting on Atlas, or whatever happens.  The remainder have yet to show signs of change, have on shelf display and keeping an eye on them.  Besides Atlas, there was mention of a LHS in Palatine, Illinois ( I believe) that proposed making available replacement frames from them.  This was in another post/forum earlier this year, wondering what came of this idea?   Frank, a great deal from Grahams Trains, one of my favorite places for some of the greatest acquisitions I have ever made.

Merry Christmas to all, may your trains run great and into the New Year.......

Jesse    TCA  12-69275

In my opinion, they will all exhibit the frame "warping" problem, since the frame was diecast while the body was ABS "plastic". All one needs to do, is remove the frame assembly from the body, and grind material from each end of the diecast  frame. 

If the frame has already warped, depending on the severity of warping, then grinding the ends may NOT correct the problem, and the frame must be replaced. Sooner or later, that diecast frame will try to expand, thus warping the whole assembly. I corrected two out of three of my express cars, then the third car required a complete new frame assembly, which a friend of mine made out of styrene.

Waiting for Atlas to provide new, i.e. replacement, frames might be a long time in coming.

texastrain posted:

I have five of the troop cars, only one has any sign of warping, it is disassembled and in a box waiting on Atlas, or whatever happens.  The remainder have yet to show signs of change, have on shelf display and keeping an eye on them.  Besides Atlas, there was mention of a LHS in Palatine, Illinois ( I believe) that proposed making available replacement frames from them.  This was in another post/forum earlier this year, wondering what came of this idea?   Frank, a great deal from Grahams Trains, one of my favorite places for some of the greatest acquisitions I have ever made.

Merry Christmas to all, may your trains run great and into the New Year.......

Jesse    TCA  12-69275

I agree with you Jesse. Grahams Trains is also one of my favorite places to buy from. Some of the deals I have gotten from them are unfathomable, and their customer service is great!

Merry Christmas,

Greg

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