UTLX Tank Cars (Part 4) - Upgrades and Fixing Minor Details

SP 2850, a C-10 leads a string of UTLX tankcars.

In this post I'm going to start getting into looking closer at the mechanicals and the minor detail issues on the Tangent and Rapido tank cars that I covered in Part 2 and Part 3.

Rapido X-3

UTLX 32157, an X-3 in a consist of freight cars.

So I'm starting to take some more time to look closer at the Rapido X-3 cars.  I'm starting to work through the mechanicals on the car and I've noticed a few more things.  

Disassembly

The disassembly of the X-3s is somewhat challenging, but the early steps are pretty easy.  The screws to the tank are located just outboard of the bolsters and a hidden screw under the out-let pipe, which is a press fit.

UTLX 32157 with the three bottom screws out and tank removed.

The eight tank straps can be released from the tank body by lightly prying the upper ends out.  This will release the tank from the underframe.  BTW, the lower end of the ladder is either able to pry out or is encouraged by my flush-cutters, so that I can set it back against the running board when the car's reassembled.

UTLX 32157 frame released from the tank.

It is actually possible to remove the tank without removing the trucks, but it certainly makes getting the outer screws out and certainly back in.

Tank inverted. two more screws towards the outer ends are next. - Don't forget the grabirons!

The next step is pretty easy, remove the two screws holding the tank together.  But don't forget that there are four corner grabs which bridge the gap between the upper and lower tank sheets.  They are press fitted, so not too hard to get them out... but getting them back in is a nightmare.

Upper tank and lower sheets separated.

Here's the view of the tank opened up.  The inner tank bands are still on the frame, the outer ones are still hanging onto the tank.  Some of them can still pop out, if the glue is holding on the bolster-top.

Twin steel weights screwed in from the inside of the tank with two screws in the outer holes.

The car's weights are screwed in, which made it easy to remove the weights to put lead in below them.

Lower tank sheet and weights removed, with the two screws hanging around.

I did some scribing on the inside of the bottom tank sheet to get the RTV Silicon to stick to the plastic,

I ended up not bothering to glue the new weight in, it becomes trapped between the tank-screw bosses anyway and the weights over it.

I used a couple spare pieces of strip lead cut off from my MTH Daylight weights from years ago. (Second weight is for the other UTLX X-3 I have to rebuild)

The weights end up being about 0.3 oz, 0.188" x .093" in size.  This raises the weight from 2.7 oz to 3.0 oz.

Reassembly

The reassembly is a bit challening to get the corner tank grab irons to re-insert correctly.  Several of mine decided to abandon tank and shoot across the room.  If I get around to it at some point, I'll fabricate some new ones from wire, and probably redrill the holes in the tank to be more accepting of the new grabs.

The tank straps easily reinsert into their holes in the tank, with a little outward holding with some pliers to get the tank-tab to align and guide into their holes.  The lower end of the ladder is also lightly tack-glued to the main running board.  The ladder's upper end is threaded onto the belt-handrail, so it can't be removed easily.

All of the screws except the micro screw hiding under the outlet pipe went back together without trouble.  I elected to leave the center frame micro screw out and glue in the outlet pipe, so it won't get lost.  I noticed early on, during my early survey photos in the last post, that the outlet pipe was cocked slightly.  That would be because it's not hard-mounted, but is friction floating over the head of the screw, which means when you bump it, it can move... eventually I'm afraid it might fall out.  So for me the option to not reinstall the screw and simply glue the outlet is the preferred answer.  Your results may vary on how you want to deal with this on your car.

Rotated End Lettering Issues

UTLX 32157 X-3 with slightly rotated end lettering.

It was a pretty minor issue, but the end lettering seems to be inconsistent in that some lettering is rotated (aka, not level) when assembled on the end of the car.  One of the requests for me diving into this car was to see if there's a way to 'fix' this issue.  Let's look closer at the interior of the tank while I had it open.

The ends of the tank are aligned rotationally by these tabs in the ends and pockets in the bottom sheets.

The ends do not seem to be glued in, but I couldn't really get any rotation of the ends against the top of the tankcar.  So I'm thinking the tab-pocket system will make it unfeasible to rotate the ends to fix the lettering rotation.  I think the most simple way, given how complicated the disassembly and reassembly to get to this point is; is to patch paint the ends, then reletter the ends with decals, such as Speedwich Media's excellent UTLX set.

In Closing

I think that will about cover it for now on this topic.  I'm leaving several loose ends out, such as the replacement of the corner grabs, some of which I lost, during the work on the car in this post.  These minor issues shouldn't stop folks from getting these better models.  BTW, yes, I added the 0.3 oz of weight to both my X-3s, but they would probably be ok at the pre-rebuild weight of 2.7 ounces.

String of tankcars, mostly UTLX cars.

The fleet of UTLX pool cars is certainly looking good now that I have a couple X-3s, a couple GA Type-17s (of both sizes), a P2K tank car, etc.  So I'm going to move onto some other projects for a bit before hitting on any more detail upgrades on these UTLX cars.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 1) - New Models on the Market - GA Type-17, ACF Type 21, 27, & LPG ICC-105, UT X-3

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 2) - Tangent GA Type 17, 8k Gallon Tankcar Review

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 3) - Rapido UTLX X-3 10k Gallon Tankcar Review

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 3) - Rapido X-3 10k Tankcar Review

Well, finally after almost a month of bouncing back and forth to Canada the two UTLX X-3s that I ordered from Rapido have arrived.  FedEx Ground had a fit of "we can't find the address clearly printed on the package" and sent it back to Canada.  So a two week delay was encountered in writing this review.  (Legal stuff - I have no personal or professional association with Rapido Trains.)

Model UTLX tankcars from Rapido, Tangent, and Proto2000/Walthers, All 2023 photos by Jason Hill

The prototype is of the Union Tank Car built X-3 design.  There were 13,000 of just the 10k gallon version of these cars built in the 1919-1920s.  These cars formed a major portion of the UTLX fleet built to one design, mostly supplying Standard Oil, and other companies leasing from UTLX, cars to move their commodities well into the 1950s and even longer until replaced by newer all-welded designs of the 1950s.

Left side of new Rapido X-3 10k UTLX Tankcar.

According to the 1950 ORER listings of UTLX's tankcars show the 26000-42999-series still has 6235 XM (standard general commodity ARA/ICC-111 type) cars in it with 174 cars specified by number under Note A, which were different in that they were only 80,000 pound capacity (probably 6.5 or 8k gallon cars with 40-ton trucks) in the 27000-series.  It should be noted that UTLX in the 1950 ORER show a total count of 42488 cars in service.  This makes the 6235 cars in the 26000-42999 cars (which we're assuming are X-3 10k cars) account for 14.6% of the UTLX fleet that year.

A much harder to find 'tariff book' would be needed to get any more specific about gallon capacity and break down of the UTLX tank car fleet.  Short of that, photos of cars with numbers would be needed to confirm surviving cars at various points in time.

Unboxing Day

The boxes from Rapido were tightly packed in foam 'peanuts' and individually wrapped in plastic bag.

New UTLX X-3 in box, once outer wrapper-bag was removed...

Time to look at what car numbers they sent me.  It seems that the SKU just gets you the right combination of railroad reporting marks and era (K-brakes or AB-brakes).  

Ends of the two cars (UTLX 32157 and 33851) in their boxes.

With in the same SKU, they were nice enough to send me two different random numbers.  I'm not sure how many different numbers they're producing.

Fresh Out of the Box

UTLX 32157 in the formed plastic packaging.

The box is opened and I slide out the car in its protective formed plastic packaging.  I also noticed that in each box Rapido includes a sticker for their company and an instruction sheet with history. 

A great one-page history for the X-3 fleet.

I think the inclusion of this instruction/history page from Rapido is a great asset for any modeler and operator, so we can remember the basics of this type of car.

Assembly and Parts List for Rapido X-3 Tankcar

Around an Rapido X-3

The quick overview of the car looks very good.  Let's have a quick walk around look at the photos of UTLX 32157 straight out of the box.

Right side of X-3 UTLX 32157

It is interesting to note that the UTLX X-3s had only one dome platform on the left side.  The right side, seen here, lacks the dome walkway and ladder.

Right side, A-End, Rapido X-3 UTLX 32157.

One of the UTLX X-3s spotting features was the full platforms across the car ends with wooden boards.

A-End of X-3 UTLX 32157

It will be fun at some point to put some warning placard decals on these square placard boards of the X-3s.

Left side, A-End 3/4 view

Interesting the Rapido stock lettering shows the NEW 9-19 date, which is correct as far as tank cars weren't required to be regularly reweighed like other types of freight cars.  They would be restenciled with later dates if the car was rebuilt and underwent heavy repairs.  It's debatable if the conversion to AB brakes would have required such a restencil, as the LT WT would have changed with the heavier AB system.

Left side X-3 UTLX 32157.

The Rapido X-3 has the details on the under body including the brake rigging and levers, and the outlet pipe connection just to the left of the center of the car, offset towards the A-end of the car.

Left Side, B-End, X-3 UTLX 32157

B-end X-3 UTLX 32157.

UTLX X-3 AB Brake Schedule & details

I didn't order any cars with K-brakes, as most of them would have been upgraded by my modeling era of post-WWII, certainly by 1953 interchange rules required all cars to have AB brakes.

Edit 2023-03-07:

Thanks to Kent Courtney for sending me some photos of his 1920s K-brake and Andrews trucked UTLX 32073 to show what the other earlier option looks like.

UTLX 32073 showing K-brakes and Andrews trucks - Thanks to Kent Courtney for the photo.

UTLX 32073 showing underside with K-brakes - Thanks to Kent Courtney for the photo.

UTLX 32073 showing a detailed view of the K-brakes and B-end of the car. - Thanks to Kent Courtney for the photo.

Close Up of the Details

I want to use some more electrons and data bandwidth to show off some of the details that Rapido put on the X-3 model.

The Rapido knuckle couplers are interesting, they are sort of a hybrid of the Kadee 5 and 158.  It seems like they pulled thumb-side details like the KD-158 has, but they are shallower than KD's version.  The knuckles seem more like full-size Kadee #5s.

The Rapido X-3 has many small stenciling around the car.  Notice the multiple dates showing the tank built date, car built date, and tank cleaning and servicing dates.  I'm not planning to replace all the micro stenciling on my cars modeling 1945-1955, but it should be noted that these newer stencils would be seen as patches of clean lettering.  So when weathering, these stenciling shouldn't just be obliterated by 'filth'.

The frame has the reporting marks and lubrication data.  Here's a nice view of the fully covered end platform.

B-End details on the X-3.

Dome platform on the left side of the X-3s.

The UTLX X-3 design is one that has only one dome access platform from the car's left side.

No dome platform on the right side of X-3s.

Like many of the SP's later O-50-series tankcars, has no access on the car's right side.

Comparison to Other Tankcar Models

I thought it would be fun to see the differences in size between modern models of the UTLX tankcar fleet of the 1950s.

UTLX 33851 & 32157, both Rapido X-3 10k gallon tankcars.

X-3 UTLX 32157's large 10k gallon size shown next to Tangent's 6k gallon 3-dome GA tankcar.

The 10k gallon cars were among the large tank cars under private ownership in the 1930-1950s.  There were still large numbers of 8k and 6.5k single dome cars and multi-dome cars using the tank shells from 9 and 6.5k cars... such as the three 2k gallon compartment GA car shown here.

UTLX 8302, a stand-in 6500 gallon "X-3" & UTLX 33851 Rapido 10k gallon X-3.

Another great comparison between a stand-in model for a 6500 gallon "X-3" kitbash and the Rapido 10k gallon X-3.

UTLX 96269, 11k gallon ICC-105-A300-W LPG car by Atlas & UTLX 33851 Rapido 10k gallon X-3.

Comparing bigger size of the 11k gallon, plus insulation layers with jacketing, LPG car compared to the 10k gallon X-3 design.

UTLX 10682 10k gallon GA Type-17 (Tangent) and UTLX 32157 10k gallon X-3 (Rapido)

This photo shows the difference between a few years in design, between General American's 1917 design and UTLX's X-3 standard.

GA Type-17 8k UTLX 72176 (Tangent) & X-3 UTLX 33851 (Rapido)

The slightly smaller diameter of the GA Type-17 8k tank shows in this photo against the larger 10k X-3 at the right.

AC&F Type 21 8k gallon UTLX 77496 (Proto2000/Walthers) & X-3 UTLX 32157 (Rapido)

The shorter AC&F cars with smaller 8k gallon tank compares to the much more common X-3 standard 10k gallon tank car.

However, SP's 12.5k gallon O-50-13 still drawfs UTLX's 10k gallon X-3 design.

The 12.5k gallon cars are much larger in diameter and length than the X-3.

Comments & Upgrades

UTLX 32157's dome and "Approved" manway cover, which is signified by the yellow diamond on the side of the dome.

I did notice that the modeling of the "Approved Safety Manway" cover isn't quite right, as it's very basic and is missing some details of the mechanism.  

Tangent's GA Type-17 UTLX 72176, with original threaded manway cover.

For my modeling of the post-safety manway era (for me 1940s-1955) this results in a situation similar to the Tangent GA Type 17, which has the original threaded manway cover, which was mostly replaced with the approved version when it became available.

Reference photo of "Approved Safety Manway" cover on Tangent 3-dome GA tankcar.

As the photo above shows, the "Approved Safety Manway" version should have the extended hinge and the grab iron on the radial end of the cover to lift it out of the way once the eight dog-bolts are loosened and swung out of the way.

Fouled Knuckle?

As I was getting ready to take the photos of the model, I tried coulping the two cars together... and found one of the knuckles wouldn't close and lock...

Hmmm... looks like some foam? in the knuckle... Interesting!

So I was able to dislodge the foam wad and pull it out of the knuckle.

Photo of the foam-dust wad next to an OwlMtModels stirrup step for scale.

Once the wad was removed, the knuckle worked normally.  No problem!

All better now.  Really cool details of the full end platform boards!

Here's a great downward view of the solid end platform of the X-3 with all the corner gusset steel frame and the board details.  I'm going to look forward to putting a bit of scuff-weathering on the wooden parts!

Mechanical Mods

As with many RTR models, there's what I consider excessive bolster freeplay, allowing the car to roll left and right excessively.  This leads to the car being able to roll at high frequency down the track, looking unrealistic during video or filming.  At LMRC 25 years ago, I learned how to fix this problem.  I removed the truck screw and lifted the truck off.  I quickly inspected the design on the X-3 bolster.  There's a very small step where the top surface of the truck rests on the body bolster.  This is the surface that controls the riding height of the car.  It also is my datum plane for the following measurement to the lower end of the bolster hat section, which extends through the truck, and provides the truck bolster screw a "bottoming surface".  

Screw removed before modifying bolster hat section on X-3.

The hat section provides the "bottoming surface" which keeps the truck able to rotate, but restricts the rocking.  Bolster center hat section 0.139" high.  I'm filing it down with a mill file, reducing it to 0.130"-0.128".  I show some variation here, at 0.130" there's still a little excess rock in the bolster, so it could stand to be a few thousandths less.

Truck removed and body bolster hat center filed down almost flush with inner surface of truck bolster.

On the second car, I accidentally filed away "too much" from the bolster hat, down to 0.122" and 0.0118".  So bottoming the screw now locks up the rotation of the truck.  The solution is to use a bit of canopy cement (Testors), about 1/4mm drop, placed on the edge of the threaded inner surface of the bolster hat.  As I reinsert the truck bolster screw, I adjust the screw to the proper truck tension, allowing it to freely rotate, but not rocking excessively.  Then set the car aside to dry, which will hold the screws at the right position for the ideal operation of the car.  Do not use ACC/CA type glues, as they will hold the screw too tightly and make it destructive to remove the truck in the future.

Coupler Painting

UTLX 32157 with painted wheels and coupler

So my basic painting for basically every model that comes through the door is painting the couplers with some form of rust brown (colors may vary darker or lighter) and the wheel faces with a grimy black.

In Closing

That just about finishes this short quick blog post about the Rapido X-3 10k gallon tankcars. (sarcasm about the short and quick part!)  I did weigh the car at 2.7 ounces, so a little on the light side for a car with as much plastic mass up above the frame level.  The Tangent GA Type-17 8k car I have weighs in at 3.3 ounces, so it is possible to get weight and good center-of-gravity too.

UTLX 32157 in consist on the Owenyo Branch.

I'm looking forward to doing some weathering on both of these X-3 tankcars and the Tangent GA Type-17.  I also have a kitbashed 6500 gallon X-3 that I plan to do more on at some point, so that will probably get into this series.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 1) - New Models on the Market - Previous post on this series

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 2) - Tangent GA Type 17 8k Tank Car

Edit: RMC 2023 July has a great article on UTLX X-3 by Steve Hile, including drawing - which doesn't show the Approved Manway shown correctly.