MTH 2-bay Fishbelly Hopper

In 2020 MTH released their new two-bay "fishbelly" hoppers with several road names. These cars were under development by S-Helper Service when the Sanda Kan situation arose that caused SHS to sell their tooling to MTH. In the real world, these hoppers were extended to allow slightly more capacity by dropping the floor between the trucks a little (hence their "fishbelly" nickname), and could be outfitted with heap shields on the ends.

Don Thompson, of SHS, reports that they had to tool a new Ajax brake housing for this car due to its position on the car. This note is for those who wish to remove the peaked ends from the cars that MTH produced. The parts covered here are available through Dave's Twacks & Twains. The first part is the brake housing with a shorter chain.

Also on the sprue are the two right and left corner plates (the ones for the peaked-end ones are angled). To convert one car, you will need two of these sprues. The next photo shows the sprue that contains a replacement Ajax brake wheel, just in case you cannot salvage the MTH brake wheel.

There is also an entirely new end, should you need to replace it (sorry about the out-of-focus photo).

Dave's Twacks & Twains also has the black Celcon end hand grabs that SHS tooled, just in case you need to replace them.

Bud Rindfleisch used this method to modify his LV hopper. He applied a Evergreen 0.020" x 0.100" strip over the top where the peaks used to be. He was able to match the MTH's paint with "Soo Line Red". To complete the work on the model, he removed the middle step from the sill steps, per the LV prototype, painted the trucks and wheels, and replaced the couplers with the Kadee #808. The load was made out of shaped styrofoam, covered with simulated coal.