1:20.3 Finescale 4' Archbar Freight Trucks (2/Card)

[gprice]

Any timeframe on when these will be back in stock?
I am building some boxcars for my Connie and 3 truck Shay to pulls and need trucks.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

gprice,


The standard line truck are in stock, so if you get desperate you could use them until the finescale trucks come back in stock.

Bill

[gprice]

What scale are they?

Would they look stupid under a 1:20.3 wagon?

[Loco Bill Canelos]

They are large scale (G Scale) They will look OK under your 1:20.3 wagons.  They are not as detailed as the finescale trucks, but if they look oK to you in the picture it should look OK on your boxcar.  They are the same trucks which are used on the freight cars in the Bachmann G Scale Train sets. If you have a friend who has a Bachmann standard G Scale freight car you could visit him and see if you like them.

Here is a link to them:

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_69_75&products_id=190

Good luck

[Kevin Strong]

The "standard" Bachmann freight truck has a wheelbase that scales to 3' 7" in 1:20.3 (or is it 3' 8"?). In either case, that's not uncommon for a narrow gauge freight truck. They were common on the D&RGW, C&S, and RGS.



Here's one under a stock car on my railroad. I added brake beams to the outside, which gives it a little more visual weight. (The D&RGW trucks likewise had outside-hung brake shoes.) Here's a photo before I painted everything, showing how I made the shoe hangers:



So, to answer your question, they wouldn't look at all stupid under a 1:20 freight car--rather they'd be quite apropos. Usually I'll use either them or the old Delton archbar trucks (which you used to be able to buy on ebay), which have a 4' wheelbase in 1:20.3.

Later,

K

[gprice]

Kevin,
Thank you for the guidance I will definitely look at them.

Loco Bill,
I have one Bachmann box car so will look at the trucks the detail will not be an issue because I will just weather them which usually hides some detail any way.

I'll just use the rule its my railway and I will run what I want.

Being in Australia the pickings are real slim down here so I generally take what I can get as long as the postage doesn't kill me.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

gprice,

Good on ya mate!!     I didn't realize you were down under.  All kidding aside, it is a great rule, and definitely your railway and you can do what ever you want.  I agree that weathering will make the trucks look better. I usually weather the trucks a dull light sandy color and use rust color on the spring detail.   I also paint the couplers in a rust color as well.   

I have to use mail order here in the US, because in many cases my local hobby store does not have what I need.  Even here the postage seems high, I can't imagine what you must have to pay to get things from the US.

I think you will find the standard trucks will be just fine, so enjoy your railway and have fun.

Bill