As far as mounting a drive is concerned, although the resin floor fits into the shell perfectly, we found the same problems in installing the Bowser mechanism as reported in Jonathan's review. The holes for attaching the power truck, although the locations were clearly indicated, had to be drilled with a #50 drill and tapped for a 2-56 screw (see Arrow C in Fig. 7).

Being aware of the problems found in assembling the IHP Pullman Shaker Heights PCC, George and John added two 2-56 washers between the screw and the floor (see Arrow B in Fig. 7). This eliminated the problem of the screws hitting the motor. Also, in the event the same problem was encountered with the rear boss as experienced with the Shaker Heights Pullman PCC, a #50 drill was used to drill a hole through the rear truck mount through the entire floor and tapped the hole for a 2-56 screw (see Arrow A Fig. 7). The original boss was not removed at this time.

With the installation completed, the wheels appeared to be in the proper locations. The A-line 20040 Trolley Flywheel kit was added. We were fortunate that our recently acquired Bowser 125100 mechanism had the new blackened nickel-silver wheels that will be standard on Bowser's new F-line PCC. These wheels have been found to be execllent in all respects.

Now, it was time to begin the assembly. The Bowser power and trailing trucks were added, and modifications to the front motor mount were made allowing for the installation of the A-line 20040 Bowser Flywheel Kit (see Fig. 8).

Fig. 8 - Complete Chassis (prior to wiring).

Before beginning the wiring process, the entire chassis was placed into the shell for a test fit. This is where a new problem was discovered. PCC cars had a specification stating the bottom step of the cars were to be 12" from the top of the railhead. The model as assembled left the bottom step over 18" from the railhead. Even in HO scale, this was a noticeable issue (see Fig. 9).

Fig. 9 - Car's height relative to the railhead.

This new discovery led to more discussion between George and John, both of whom noticed this problem was not present with the Shaker Heights Pullman PCC. Even an exhaustive review of Jonathan's review notes on the Shaker Heights kit yielded no mention of a height-above-railhead issue.

As previously mentioned, noticing the presence of the same issues in the Shaker Heights and Illinois Terminal kits prompted a discussion concerning IHP’s quality control practices. This new discovery only served to further that discussion. It became the considered opinion that IHP has made so many PCC car models that it was hard to believe they were unaware of this specification, especially when one considers the level of detail present in the shell. That level of detail only comes from doing some extensive research. However, what we were observing combined with certain revent posting on the same 'hotractionmodeling' yahoo led to the assumption that test assembly of this kit apparently is not part of IHP’s quality control practices.

In this condition, this car was reminiscent of the older Bowser and current Bachmann PCC models. Anybody who is familiar with these items knows this condition must be corrected to make the model credible. This meant the shell had to be lowered. Two ways of doing this were considered.

The first proposed fix would have been simple, but it yielded less than satisfactory results. The Bowser Mabuchi motor is 15mm high and tops out 17.5mm above the floor using the Bowser 1279 motor mounts. The frustum shaped A-line flywheel used with the 20040 Bowser flywheel kit is 17.5 mm in diameter. This lead to the idea the problem could be solved either by eliminating the Bowser motor mounts and ensuring that any flywheel used is either no larger than the motor, or that 1.3mm in the floor and/or the roof must be removed to clear the A-line flywheel.

The first thought was to simply remove 1.75mm from each of the main posts that attach the power chassis and floor to the shell and relocate the two side floor stops. However, further investigation led to the discovery the top of the Bowser motor would hit the bottom of the roof. Even if this simple approach yielded the desired car height, it would also mean eliminating a horizontal drive shaft between the motor and the power truck. This considered approach is only mentioned because some modelers may find the amount of noise made by the car on sharper turns caused by the lack of a horizontal drive line as acceptable. However, after careful consideration George, John and Jonathan all agreed that a better solution needed to be found.

As an experienced modeler, member of the Southern California Traction Club (SCTC), and Trolleyville Times reporter, John McWhirter noticed despite the fact the car sat too high, it ran very smooth and quiet. Given that observation, John then suggested that the roof needed to be milled out so the entire shell could be lowered and the power drive left intact.  The only alternative to milling the roof was to undergo the shaving and/or sanding procedure suggested by IHP via the Yahoo 'hotractionmodeling' group. However, this also presented some issues, not the least of which is the hazardous nature of resin dust. Another issue with the solution proposed by IHP was the amount a material that would have to be shaved/sanded. Simply, achieving a lowering of six scale inches meant removing approximately 1.7mm of material from the roof. Considering clearance for the flywheel required another 2.5mm to be removed, and the aforementioned toxic nature of the large amount of resin dust that this would create, milling was the safest and easiest solution. Milling made just shavings and no dust at all.

We also became concerned that this solution might have to be employed again as IHP has announced plans for a San Francisco "Magic Carpet" car, series 1001-1005, and possibly a "Torpedo", series 1006-1015. Both of these cars have shells similar to the Illinois Terminal PCC, and the floor included with this kit already has markings for the rear steps for a San Francisco car. The one-page sheet supplied with the Illinois Terminal kit implies that this floor will be supplied with the San Francisco car. Without a suitable correction of this problem by the manufacturer, shells for these two cars could be made with this same inherent problem, requiring all this effort to correct.

Fig. 10 - John McWhirter milling the roof of the Illinois Central PCC shell.

Measurements on this particular model showed the car needed to be lowered about 6 scale inches or .07". McWhirter milled out the area over the motor and flywheel .078" and the area above the flywheel another .025" as shown in Fig. 11.

A #49 drill was used to open the holes in the roof for the SCTC1 brass pivots that will be used for the trolley poles. We then used a #50 drill to drill out the support posts and tapped them for 2-56 screws. We used two 2-56 hex head screws to attach the chassis to the shell. We also used the same #50 drill to open the two holes in the roof for the brass pivots that will be used for the trolley poles installed on this car. Compare the difference between Fig. 9 (before the roof milling) and Fig. 12 below. Also compare Fig. 9 with the actual cars shown in Figs 1-3. At this point there was unanimous agreement that the height issue had been solved.

Fig. 12 - Assembled Illinois Terminal PCC Car after roof milling.

Now, it was time to address the last major issue shared between the Illinois Terminal and Shaker Heights cars, that being weight. The assembled Illinois Terminal car (unpainted and without windows) was found to weigh only 4.2 ounces. Prior experience with other models along with Jonathan Werner's findings on the Shaker Heights car meant adding weight to this car would be necessary.  Of course, getting the car to sit at the right height also meant there was now significantly less space under the roof.

In a normal assembly, it would be SCTC practice to install their standard printed circuit strips and prepare to wire the unit for overhead wire operation, but the combination of the roof milling and the light weight of the assembled car meant consideration needed to be given as to where weight could be added prior to installing the strips and the DCC decoder. Concomitantly, the power truck was completely wired including the male portion of the Miniatronics Three-Pin Micro Mini connector, allowing concern to shift to getting sufficient weight in the car to ensure reliable overhead wire operation and adequate tracking on curves.

The same CL-6 QuikTab adhesive weights that were used on the Shaker Heights Car were used on the Illinois Terminal car. Normally, weights would be placed in the space under the floor between the trucks, but the space between the floor stiffeners on the Illinois Terminal car was not as large as that on the Shaker Heights Car, meaning two QuickStik adhesive weights had to be modified to fit. Once in place, the total weight of the car was up to 5.6 ounces, which was already known to be too light. The search began for other locations where weight could be added; this meant looking inside the body and under the front platforms. It was decided to concentrate on the power truck end of the car for these locations, but all signs pointed to this being another difficult task.

After a lot more consideration, it became clear the best way to deal with this problem was to return to John McWhirter's milling machine. This meant removing even more of the unneeded material in the roof to clear space for more weight and the DCC decoder.  Two more areas at each end of the car were milled .08". At the power truck end (shown by the letter F on the roof) more weight was added. There was such a premium on space for the added weight that even the part number was sanded from the top of the power truck. The DCC decoder was installed in the milled area over the trailing truck.

Fig. 13 - Additional millings for weight and DCC decoder placement.

Brass was used to fashion two trolley pole hooks as none was provided with this kit. These cars used a trolley pole hook that was unusual for a PCC car and they were not located on the roof boards as is normally the case. It would have been a nice touch to have had had these provided as a brass fitting by the kit manufacturer.

A Train Control Systems M1 w/BEMF decoder was installed into this car, using the recess milled for this purpose.  Printed circuit strips were cut into approximately 1/2" long sections and placed them in the most appropriate places for internal wiring.  Single-sided PC board was used in this example, but Clover House printed circuit ties can also be used. The printed circuit strips shown inside the car in Fig. 14 are used to assist in wiring the trolley poles, motor, decoder and the lights. Plans for this car are to have one headlight and two taillights at each end using 1.5v bulbs.