1:24 SCALE DETAIL PARTS
Manufacturer: Aero Mech Corporation, P.O. Box 49, Kendall Park, NJ 08824. Price: AMC0101 D&RGW Dress-upTM Kit for Delton Boxcar/Reefer $17.00. AMC0111 Offset Grab Irons (24 pieces) for 3/4-inch hole spacing $11.50. Shipping and handling extra for orders under $75.00.
MODELERS IN 1:24 scale often strive for great precision. So imagine their frustration with Delton boxcars and reefers. Those cars come with body castings very accurately representing their D&RGW prototypes but almost everything else very inaccurately representing those prototypes. Replacing the trucks with those from Ryan Equipment would be only the starting point for a truly accurate conversion. Aero Mech now comes to the rescue with "almost everything else".
The grab iron kit, for example contains castings complete with bolt and washer detail. When you remove Delton's plastic grab irons, the Aero Mech parts fit right into the holes. Their 3/4-actual-inch width is 2 scale inches shorter than the grab irons on the real cars. Their diameter is 1.125 scale inches, a scale 3/8-inch oversize but far closer to correct than the original plastic parts. In exchange for a more delicate appearance, though, you also have a more delicate grab iron; the metal bends easily.
The Dress-upTM kit contains nearly every major visible detail part to upgrade the car body: a K-brake cylinder-air reservoir, a pair of roofwalk end supports with nut-bolt-washer castings, a correct length and close-to-scale diameter brake staff, a correct brakewheel casting, and four turnbuckle castings. The turnbuckles are about the correct length but a little oversize to accommodate the large diameter of the Delton truss rods.
The brake staff is .033-inch diameter brass wire. The brakewheel is a brass casting. The other parts, including the grab irons, are white metal castings. The manufacturer has chemically blackened each part for those reluctant to paint the finished model. But any hobbyist willing to spend nearly half the price of the original car for detail parts alone is likely to spend the extra time and effort to paint and correctly letter the model.
The roofwalk end supports are very fragile and ours arrived bent and almost broken. The metal on either side of the hole through the center strap is thin and each piece broke on one side. I carefully straightened each piece. Once I glue it in place on the car and insert the n-b-w castings, it should be fine. Aero Mech will replace any parts arriving broken or damaged at no charge.
The parts were free of flash; none required clean-up. The quality of the casting is very good.
The idea behind the kits is excellent; Delton rolling stock benefits greatly from more accurate hardware. Aero Mech offers an intelligent, high quality addition to the list of available aftermarket detail parts. I am enthusiastic about adding their castings to my Delton boxcar.-RR
