Cannonball Car Shops
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CANNONBALL CAR SHOP was begun as a sister company to Red Ball. At the time our Red Ball kits were wood and die cast metal (and building kits was fun).  Cannonball was so named to distinguish its STYRENE plastic kits-many made in the Red Ball molds. Merle Rice and Paul Miller worked many months engineering the adaptation of those metal molds to styrene plastic molding.  We were then offered the Kurtz Kraft PS1 boxcar molds by "Rip" Van Winkle of Alexander Scale Models because it was very difficult to find someone who could run them. We did.  Much additional investment was involved fine tuning the molds to make the Cannonball PS1 and steel reefers. In the process, Rice engineered  a thin film over the "roofwalk holes" in the roof so "walkless" modernized  cars could be modeled (that soon became "standard practice).  Now you may say "so what?"   Although plastic was used for various parts by M Dale Newton (Red Ball) prior to WWII and by others soon after (Indianapolis Car, Lehigh, Lionel, Mantua for example) most were isolated parts or primitive materials and techniques.  The Kurtz Kraft folks made the first injection molded plastic railcar kit in scale model railroading.  Their PS1 boxcar [an accurate prototypical reproduction] was advertised in December 1956 and sold for less than a dollar. Irv Athearn's "shake the box" car came soon thereafter and PS1 kit sales slumped.  A special run for Howell Day's Red Ball came later.  Then Alexander ran some in yellow (their box color) before selling the molds to Rice's Cannonball. A major problem of the era was plastic compatible paints.  Lettered cars had been unpainted until Cannonball tried to jump that hurdle. Capable molders were still scarce (these molds required larger injection machines than our three) but several runs of Cannonball PS 1 boxcars were made. The fiftieth anniversary of injection molded styrene railcar kits will be December 2006.

FIFTY YEARS OF PLASTIC RAILCAR KITS

Plastic railcar kits?  Why who needs them, we have wood, card and metal!  That would have been a normal reaction of model railroaders fifty years ago. Yes, Lionel had plastic "tinplate" and even before "the war" some plastic parts could be found in some scale kits by Walthers, Lehigh and Red Ball. But when did plastic rail kits really invade the marketplace?  Some oldtimers would point to the Varney cars (and F3) they received from breakfast cereal boxes or to Hobbyline.  Common wisdom would suggest Irv Athearn’s Globe F7 and "steel" boxcars.  Ahh, but what about detailed, molded, prototype specific kits?   Was it Gould or E&B Valley ?

A review of ads in Model Railroader  and Railroads Model Craftsman reveals the answer is "none of the above."  Fifty years ago a highly detailed HO forty foot PS1   boxcar kit was announced by Kurtz Kraft in Oregon . Add on ladders, grabs, scale doorguides and details were all molded in a group with the car’s dummy couplers, roof and floor.  Roof hatches (for bulk  grain etc loading) were even included and the undecorated kit came in a bag for 89c. .This first injection molded railcar kit had but two "faults."

1. It arrived scant months before Athearn’s "shake-the-box" molded plastic generic boxcar.
2. There were no plastic compatible model paints available to the kit builder. 

The PS1 was a recent prototype welded  car and modelers were more accustomed to seeing riveted steel boxcars (similar to Athearn’s) but tolerating "grapefruit sized" embossed rivets on metal sides (or indented "rivets" on wood imitation steel cars).  Many Kurtz Kraft cars lay unbuilt on the shelves.  Howell Day later commissioned a second run of the kits and sold them under the Red Ball label that appealed to the prototype conscious crowd. Mr. White’s efforts had brought model railroading to a "fork in the road" but a long uphill climb was ahead. Alexander purchased the molds and modified the steel floor cavity to accept the new Kadee #4 coupler. The yellow plastic Alexander kits included the Alexander name in the center sill   During the era of Mantua loops, Baker and X2F coupler controversy the kit had accepted the dummy couplers it included. But difficulties producing the parts by Grand Rapids molders led "Rip" Van Winkle to offer the molds to Merle Rice’s new Cannonball Car Shops in Roanoke , Indiana . Cannonball had been formed because Rice was continuing to make Red Ball kits in wood and metal.  He adapted the metal molds (most were made by Jon Anderson, the originator of Cal Scale) to also allow their use for making injection molded styrene parts.  The plastic kits needed a different brand name to avoid confusion.

Cannonball made several technical revisions in the original molds to facilitate their production use.  Since roofwalks were coming off prototype boxcars at the time, the rooftop holes to accept the walk were also "filmed over" to permit "modernizing" the PS1.  This technique has since become a routine industry practice. Painted kits continued to be a challenge-lettered but unpainted kits were common. The first commercial pad printer created more rejects than salable cars. Technology was continuing a painful evolution with the historic PS1 kit. 

The solid steel Kurtz Kraft-Cannonball PS1 molds have been retired for historic preservation. Cannonball’s last run of the first plastic railcar kit is being offered in a limited edition of unpainted 2 car kits for $10.95. Comparatively speaking, that is a price reduction since the 89c car kit of fifty years ago cost the same as three gallons of gasoline or nearly three pounds of ground beef!       

LAST  OF THE FIRST

 Fifty years ago the first plastic kit for a model railroad car was released by Kurtz Kraft. The

HO  PS1 boxcar kit sold for 89c (undecorated) and gasoline sold for 29.9c at the time. The

Athearn plastic "steel 40 ft boxcar" came on the scene a few months later and prototype

specific kits waited years for market recognition when E&B Valley and Gould brought more such

kits to the market. Cannonball Car Shop had by then acquired the Kurtz Kraft molds and returned

the PS1  after extensive technical mold revisions. Magazine editors acclaimed it as still tops.

The historic "first" molds have now been retired from service. A limited last run of the HO PS1  boxcar is offered now at an unbelievably low  $10.95 for a TWO car kit (undecorated).  Compare THAT to the gasoline price today!  This last run offer is offered direct  from MRRW only and is  not available at shops.

After the show at Cincinnati

Allen Pollock, Chair of the NMRA Museum Committee stopped by our northern Indiana injection molder's shop to inspect the molds of the first  plastic model railcar kit the Cannonball/Kurtz Kraft PS1 will be 50 years old in 2006!

Here is a picture of Allen and Boss Merle with the molds. The other picture is one of the injection molding machines that make Cannonball and Red Ball styrene kits in Indiana USA.

CANNONBALL TROOP CAR CONSTRUCTION

The following is for info only.  Go to our shopping cart to order.

PRR X23/R7

CCS1-B&O WAGONTOPS

CCS1BRDG BRIDGEBUILDER'S PARTS

CCS1-GE STEEPLE CAB

CCS1-X23 BOXCAR/ R 7 REEFER

CCS2-DANA AUTORACK

CCS2-DAY WOODEN DAYCOACH

CCS2-HOP PANEL SIDE HOPPERS

CCS2-TNK TANK CAR PARTS

CCS2XFMR TRANSFORMER LOAD

TROOP & BAGGAGE Reference list
lots of info !