De Bruin wrote:Their folly is your gain indeed Butch, really like these Wasatch ACF's a lot. Also one of the few series of prototype models with complete readily available commercial UP decal sets thanks to MicroScale. Great looking car bodies.
Help me out here as my memory is foggy and I know we've discussed this here in the past.
The Wasatch are the evolution of the old Kemtron/Briggs cars or dimensionally a new line altogether?
I like the old Kemtrons, tricky as they were to build, they're evidently good fodder for kit-bashing too if you have soldiering "chops" like Bill Badsen.
Sorry, I had to be away from the computer. The Wasatch cars, as Bob stated, were/are a totally clean design UP passenger car imported by Roger Lewis (Wasatch) in 1993/94 and had no roots to Kemtron or Briggs. They were all brought in unpainted although Roger had some cars custom painted here in the states for customers who asked. They had no interiors or glazing, but some of the most accurate and fantastic under body detail of any model up to that time and the correct CUDO trucks that were a knock out. Vestibule doors were correct dutch style and stairs that rotated down like the prototype. Top, bottom or both halves of the doors are held open by small magnets They are hands down the most accurate UP passenger car models in the universe and exquisite. I've been told the PRR Smithsonian passenger cars are just as good or better, but I don't know. I think Dan Pantera has painted, installed interiors, glazed and detailed more Wasatch cars than anyone on the planet and it the best IMHO.
The Kemtrons were all offered as kits and were considered a tough build, so the quality of the finished car was hit or miss depending on the talents of the builder. I bought a complete UP COLA train set in the early 90's, represented to be one of the UP "name" train that was displayed in all the UP depots in the 50's.........but it was not that great of a build either.....but that's all we had back then and I couldn't afford $400-500 for a Wasatch car unpainted.
The Kemtron roof sheet came flat and was a booger to get formed correctly or soldered plumb to the sides once formed. I was always told the only way to do it was to anneal it, as Bob stated, but then it had to be rolled correctly or it would meet the sides unevenly. The kits came with wood floors, like most of the kits of the day and had no details.....those had to be added by the builder. Kemtron did offer truck kits (TK300) that were outside swing hanger trucks and similar to the UP CUDO trucks, but not quite right.
The Russ Briggs evolution of this car came with the roof panel already formed and had brass floors instead of wood. Russ offered kits as well as some cars built up (no idea who built them) with no under body detail, trucks, interior, etc. The rivet, window surround and other etched detail was crisper than the Kemtron kits.
By the way, this was my experience with these different passenger cars and what I learned about them. It is by no means 100% correct and I still like to learn so please let us know if your mileage is/was different.