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Piko 2-bay hoppers


BrianUPheritage
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Is anyone familiar with piko 2-bay hoppers? They look like the aristocraft 2-bays, are they the same mold? I run 1:29 usa trains and aristocraft and I am not sure if the piko would be compatible or be the right scale.  Any information on piko would be great, since i unfamiliar with that brand. Thanks.

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22 hours ago, BrianUPheritage said:

Is anyone familiar with piko 2-bay hoppers? They look like the aristocraft 2-bays, are they the same mold? I run 1:29 usa trains and aristocraft and I am not sure if the piko would be compatible or be the right scale.  Any information on piko would be great, since i unfamiliar with that brand. Thanks.

 

I have a couple of the MDC 2-bay hoppers, but never run them with my 1:29th scale. I don't have any Aristo-Craft 2-bay hoppers, but I could take a picture of them with something else. As I have an MTH GS-4 Warbaby on order, I'm hoping these hoppers will be useful as part of creating a buffer between 1:32 and 1:29 cars. Maybe these hoppers plus smaller 1:29th like flatcars or tank cars will work for these purposes.

 

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Actually they're a good "fit" car for either !:32 or 1:29 scale as they measure a bit large for 1:32 and small for 1:29. From what I've read the prototype was the 55 ton USRA hopper car which measures 10' wide x 30' long. In 1:29 scale these Piko/ MDC hoppers measure  9'-7" wide x  30'-6" long. In 1:32 they'd be like 10'-8" wide x 33'-8" long. Actual measurements are 12-5/8" long x 4" wide.

 

At one time (as Raymond can attest to) I had 60 of these behind a USA Big Boy at the 2008 HAGRS and they looked good. I had another 60 at home that were being readied for use :)

 

As a side note the way Piko got a hold of the molds is quite the story. Mainline America (Joseph Novasel) went to Eastern Europe and packed 2 containers with the old MDC molds and inventory as he had a deal with the parent company of Athearn/ Horizon Hobby to purchase it all. About at the same time LGB went under and Ron Gibson who headed LGBofA San Diego went to work for Marklin/ Walthers in Wisconsin. Somehow Mr. Gibson swung the MDC deal between Horizon Hobby and Mainline America to Piko America instead. Is it just coincidence that both LGB0fA and Piko America were both located in San Diego??  Horizon Hobby didn't mention any of the Piko transaction to Joseph Novasel/Mainline America...The way he found out was only 1 shipping container showed up in Indiana and that was full of old stock. When he called Horizon Hobby to inquire about the 2nd container Joseph was told "Oh we sold that container to Piko". It's a shame as Mainline America had a new large plastic injection machine on order that could use the MDC molds.         

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I never even heard of mdc. Thank you for all the information it helps. Wonder what will happen with all the aristocraft molds it would be nice to see someone making those. I know Bachman is making the trolley and eggliner but those are barley trains.

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I wouldn't be surprised if about all of the Aristo-Craft molds have been destroyed by Kader Holdings China. 

 

Sanda Kan did most all the manufacturing for Aristo. When Kader "acquired" Sanda Kan in 2008?? they booted a lot of toy train manufacturers and they had to seek other builders and I imagine Aristo-Craft was one of those. Lewis Polk probably owed Sanda Kan/ Kader a bunch of money and couldn't pay them...this is what Scott Polk referred to as "the mess in China left by Lewis Polk". With no money to pay Kader they kept the molds. Bad situation as even if Polks had the money they were still out a manufacturer. Pay Kader to release all molds/ tooling/ inventory then find another manufacturer and pay upfront money to start production...Polks bailed instead. Kader looks at molds/ tooling taking up warehouse space and says "scrap them".

 

Then again I could be all wrong.

 

Others have speculated that USA Trains should acquire the Aristo tooling but why? USA  was one of the manufacturers that was booted by Kader and they had to set up shop elsewhere which interrupted manufacturing for a few years . I highly doubt if Charles Ro would buy the defunct competitions tooling from a manufacturer that left them hanging.  

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{ "Is it just coincidence that both LGB0fA and Piko America were both located in San Diego? " }

i bought a bunch of Piko track in 2011 when Ridge Road Station in WNY closed. This label is on the case boxes. Has both names on labelIMG_4152.thumb.JPG.cfcc824b47533c4bc374785abce04c2e.JPG

 

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Wow! I forgot all about LGBoA being a Piko distributor! Between them, Horizon, Athearn & Walthers that small one man operation named Mainline America never stood a chance :(

 Taken from Wiki...

 

  "On June 1, 2008, Silvergate Distributors, Inc. was formed as a new company by LGB of America president Anthony Castellano. Silvergate was an independent, American-owned, hobby distributor and was not a subsidiary or "daughter firm" of any other company. Though LGBoA was not dissolved, Silvergate assumed distribution of remaining LGB stock as well as current and new product lines. Silvergate also distributed the Schuco, Brawa, and PIKO product lines. In November 2008, Märklin announced that it had resolved the American trademark dispute and planned to resume distribution of LGB products in the United States, with Walthers becoming the American distributor on January 1, 2009. LGB of America and Silvergate Distributors ultimately ceased operations."

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  • 3 months later...

What Mainline america should look into is making new molds as these have probably worn out quite a bit by now anyways(and some recent PIKO purchasses I did would tend to reveal that they have already started making new ones themselves because of this.) in which case it would permit him to correct some pitfalls in the old MDC molds: Ie: The dimensional discrepancy noted above in Chuck's mail like making the hoppers a scale 10 foot wide. But what would really help would be to make the box car the correct lenght as they need to be 2.5 scale feet longer, and correcting the reefer by lowering the body (reefers are not as high as box cars so they can return with their hatch open to dry out). As well as correct the lenght problem identical to the box cars.

 It would also be nice if the grabs and ladders were left out so people could make them in brass without having to file off the mold on details. That and Kadee coupler pads at correct height would be a winner.

 He would not have competition from Piko as these would be new molds.

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Reason I heard for the short car length is the original MDC plastic injection machine wouldn't accept a bigger mold.

 

Molds wearing out...I agree as the Aristo-Craft heavyweight passenger car mold could have used some upgrading over the years...those cars when new looked bad in some areas!

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  • 1 month later...

I once worked for a Paris hobby shop that did a small N scale production and did some injection casting on small parts (trucks, couplers, diaphragms etc), the main body parts were cast in a factory specialised in injection molding. But the fellow who made the molds worked in the same workshop that I did, we were budies and beleive me molds do wear out with time. He showed me. I am sure that Piko has the possibility of changing those molds into more correct models. and it wouldn't be too expensive if they have to make them again because they are worn out.

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