Flat car wheelset load


flyboy2610

flyboy2610

Loveably weird
I was looking at my ever-growing stash of plastic wheelsets, and decided to make a flatcar load out of them. I see wheelsets on flat cars often on the BNSF mainline through north Lincoln. I went looking for ideas on the net and found this:
http://zennmaster.com/trains/flatcar-loads-wheelsets
I like this approach, so I 'borrowed' it. The only difference is that I plan to spray paint the wheelsets after they are glued together in larger chunks. I will need to get some styrene angle, as well. I do have some 1/8" square tube I could use to build a retainer out of, but I think the angle stock looks better.
This is my stash of wheels divided into types. All plastic on the left, then plastic with steel axles, then plastic with brass axles. Above those are the six wheelsets that came off a Rivarossi UP observation car, then behind those are some sintered steel Athearn locomotive half axle wheels, and some Athearn sintered steel locomotive drive axle sets. The locomotive axles will be kept as they are. Ya never know........
001.JPG


The Great Northern flat car came with a Bachmann train set, which is where I got my greyhound scheme 4-8-4, the #806. The 806 has the inglorious distinction of being the first FEF scrapped by the UP. :(
The flat car will be weathered before being loaded.
I am gluing wheelsets of like axle type together, because the paint may look a bit different on different materials, and hopefully this way it won't be so noticeable. I first glued two wheelsets together, using some cheap CA from Menards.
002.JPG



Then I glued them together in groups of three wheelsets.
003.JPG


I realized at this point that my plastic wheels have two different flange diameters. I'll need to go through and sort them by size.
Here are two groups of three lying next to each other. They are not glued together. I think I'll keep the chunks a maximum of six wheelsets each.
004.JPG

That flat car is just WAY too shiny! Gonna have to do something about that!
 
looks like a great project for stuff you have laying around. Interested to see how this progresses.
 
migalyto said:
looks like a great project for stuff you have laying around. Interested to see how this progresses.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Mike! I'm going to become much more selective about what gets thrown away. Odd little bits and pieces can be combined to make some interesting gondola loads, too.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Just one of those details I didn't take the time to do.
Click to expand...
About the only way to do it Ken, would be to get Genesis's or MTH's rotating cap wheelsets, but that wouldn't then be using junk wheels. Be pretty difficult to find caps that would hold onto pointed axles.
 
I put mine in a gondola so I didn't have to worry about them rolling off the ends. I overlooked the pointed ends of the wheel sets as like as has been stated the real wheels are blunt on the ends. I have no problem overlooking the rusty pointed ends. It's a nit I haven't picked.
 
Like Flyboy, just about any old HO parts could become loads for gondolas. Just paint most items grime black and add rust weathering.

Junk yard minus gondola which is actually to the right out of the photograph.

OMRA Junk Yard #2.JPG


Omro Junk yard on the CM&NR.

Greg
 
I'm not too worried about pointy ends on the wheelsets. Greg, I like that junkyard! That cab looks exactly like the one on my Athearn EMD TR5A! I think I burned up the train-show decoder in it, though.:(
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Those look like Amtrac passenger car wheel sets.
Click to expand...
Our late version commuter electric sets which run in groups of 3 or 6 also have disc brakes fitted to the non-powered cars (2 per set of 3), only they are fully visible, being outboard of the trucks.
1533683708617.png
 
Flyboy: The rest of that UP locomotive's shell will end up in the new junk yard I'm constructing at Waupaca. I have other modeling mistakes as well that are candidates for a junk yard.

Greg
 
About the Amtrak Passenger wheels.
On the Amfleet 1 and 2 passenger car wheels the disc rotor was inboard of the wheelsets and no axle points came out past the outboard edge of the wheels.
 
Sorry about not doing a step by step of this! I used Gorilla brand CA GEL to glue the wheelsets together. The thin stuff just ran all over everywhere and made a mess! The gel stayed where I wanted it to stay. After I had 6 wheelsets glued together I spray painted them with Rustoleum red sandable primer. The sandable primer has a bit of a grainy texture to it, looks more like real rust IMHO. When all the wheelsets were painted, I glued them together, again with the CA gel. There are 22 on the bottom layer, and 20 on the top layer. The flatcar is rated for 440,000 pounds, load limit 448,700 pounds, so I'm pretty sure it's not overloaded. I then gave each side a couple of quick sweeping shots of Rustoleum Rust Reformer, which is a flat black color. It got a little heavier in a couple of spots than I would have liked, but not all wheelsets in a load will be the same degree of dirty. The light rust is Floquil acrylic, and the dark rust is Testors Model Master acrylic. I'm not real thrilled with how the rust areas came out. I may try to clean it off and redo it, I haven't decided yet. I gave the entire car several light coats of a gray wash to try and fade the paint, before I added the retainer, wheelsets, and rust areas. I think I had the gray thinned too much. This was also the first project for my El-cheapo Harbor Freight single action airbrush. I think I need to bump up the air pressure to help atomize the paint better, too. It worked great otherwise.
The retainer is 1/8" styrene angle.
The trucks got painted with gray sandable primer, then a quick over spray of rust reformer. The wheels are Intermountain. I didn't paint them. They've recently been replaced, after all.
The chain is A-Line #29221 15 links per inch black chain. That's actually pretty heavy chain for HO. From what my internet searches revealed, 40-50 links per inch is closer to true HO scale. Oh, well. Randy had this or 12 link chain, so I bought this. On one end, I drilled a 1/16" hole and dropped the chain through. Super glue secured it. The viewer is going to have to figure out how the 1:1 scale chain would have been attached there! ;)
For the other end, I thought about an HO scale chain come-along, but those are kind of pricey! In the end, I totally fabricated a device that could have been! It's basically a drum with gears in it that grip the chain, and the chain is tensioned by moving the ratcheting handle up and down. Sounds plausible enough for me! :cool:
The drum is a piece of sprue from a structure kit, and the handle is a piece of .020" diameter styrene rod. I think I'll paint them yellow, with some black on the end of the handle to represent a rubber grip. I drilled a 1/16" hole through the sprue, ran the chain through the hole, then set the car on some wooden blocks so it was about 12" off the table. I clamped a small spring clamp on the end of the chain, and let the clamp apply tension while the CA cured. So the reason the chain looks under tension is because it is (but not by much).
Anyway, here are some pics:
Side 1:
001.JPG


Side 2:
004.JPG


One end, the chain in the hole end:
002.JPG


The other end, the drum tensioner end:
003.JPG


A view from above:
005.JPG


I may add some "cables" from the square pocket on one end, around the wheelsets, and into the square pocket on the other end, just to keep the wheelsets from shifting side to side.
Overall, I like it. :)
 
This pic is from when I first got the D9T dozers and I was comparing sizes for looks. The one on the left (black) was what MTH supplies with their flat cars, the brown chain over the hood of the Dozer is 40 links/inch and the grey one is plastic, made by Lonestar Models (they do a brown as well, the part # is 12108)
1534300850098.png

1534300954555.png


The 40link/in is made by A-Line (Proto Power West) Black Chain 12" long Part#29219.
 
flyboy2610 said:
Sorry about not doing a step by step of this! I used Gorilla brand CA GEL to glue the wheelsets together. The thin stuff just ran all over everywhere and made a mess! The gel stayed where I wanted it to stay. After I had 6 wheelsets glued together I spray painted them with Rustoleum red sandable primer. The sandable primer has a bit of a grainy texture to it, looks more like real rust IMHO. When all the wheelsets were painted, I glued them together, again with the CA gel. There are 22 on the bottom layer, and 20 on the top layer. The flatcar is rated for 440,000 pounds, load limit 448,700 pounds, so I'm pretty sure it's not overloaded. I then gave each side a couple of quick sweeping shots of Rustoleum Rust Reformer, which is a flat black color. It got a little heavier in a couple of spots than I would have liked, but not all wheelsets in a load will be the same degree of dirty. The light rust is Floquil acrylic, and the dark rust is Testors Model Master acrylic. I'm not real thrilled with how the rust areas came out. I may try to clean it off and redo it, I haven't decided yet. I gave the entire car several light coats of a gray wash to try and fade the paint, before I added the retainer, wheelsets, and rust areas. I think I had the gray thinned too much. This was also the first project for my El-cheapo Harbor Freight single action airbrush. I think I need to bump up the air pressure to help atomize the paint better, too. It worked great otherwise.
The retainer is 1/8" styrene angle.
The trucks got painted with gray sandable primer, then a quick over spray of rust reformer. The wheels are Intermountain. I didn't paint them. They've recently been replaced, after all.
The chain is A-Line #29221 15 links per inch black chain. That's actually pretty heavy chain for HO. From what my internet searches revealed, 40-50 links per inch is closer to true HO scale. Oh, well. Randy had this or 12 link chain, so I bought this. On one end, I drilled a 1/16" hole and dropped the chain through. Super glue secured it. The viewer is going to have to figure out how the 1:1 scale chain would have been attached there! ;)
For the other end, I thought about an HO scale chain come-along, but those are kind of pricey! In the end, I totally fabricated a device that could have been! It's basically a drum with gears in it that grip the chain, and the chain is tensioned by moving the ratcheting handle up and down. Sounds plausible enough for me! :cool:
The drum is a piece of sprue from a structure kit, and the handle is a piece of .020" diameter styrene rod. I think I'll paint them yellow, with some black on the end of the handle to represent a rubber grip. I drilled a 1/16" hole through the sprue, ran the chain through the hole, then set the car on some wooden blocks so it was about 12" off the table. I clamped a small spring clamp on the end of the chain, and let the clamp apply tension while the CA cured. So the reason the chain looks under tension is because it is (but not by much).
Anyway, here are some pics:
Side 1:
View attachment 29809

Side 2:
View attachment 29810

One end, the chain in the hole end:
View attachment 29811

The other end, the drum tensioner end:
View attachment 29812

A view from above:
View attachment 29813

I may add some "cables" from the square pocket on one end, around the wheelsets, and into the square pocket on the other end, just to keep the wheelsets from shifting side to side.
Overall, I
flyboy2610 said:
Sorry about not doing a step by step of this! I used Gorilla brand CA GEL to glue the wheelsets together. The thin stuff just ran all over everywhere and made a mess! The gel stayed where I wanted it to stay. After I had 6 wheelsets glued together I spray painted them with Rustoleum red sandable primer. The sandable primer has a bit of a grainy texture to it, looks more like real rust IMHO. When all the wheelsets were painted, I glued them together, again with the CA gel. There are 22 on the bottom layer, and 20 on the top layer. The flatcar is rated for 440,000 pounds, load limit 448,700 pounds, so I'm pretty sure it's not overloaded. I then gave each side a couple of quick sweeping shots of Rustoleum Rust Reformer, which is a flat black color. It got a little heavier in a couple of spots than I would have liked, but not all wheelsets in a load will be the same degree of dirty. The light rust is Floquil acrylic, and the dark rust is Testors Model Master acrylic. I'm not real thrilled with how the rust areas came out. I may try to clean it off and redo it, I haven't decided yet. I gave the entire car several light coats of a gray wash to try and fade the paint, before I added the retainer, wheelsets, and rust areas. I think I had the gray thinned too much. This was also the first project for my El-cheapo Harbor Freight single action airbrush. I think I need to bump up the air pressure to help atomize the paint better, too. It worked great otherwise.
The retainer is 1/8" styrene angle.
The trucks got painted with gray sandable primer, then a quick over spray of rust reformer. The wheels are Intermountain. I didn't paint them. They've recently been replaced, after all.
The chain is A-Line #29221 15 links per inch black chain. That's actually pretty heavy chain for HO. From what my internet searches revealed, 40-50 links per inch is closer to true HO scale. Oh, well. Randy had this or 12 link chain, so I bought this. On one end, I drilled a 1/16" hole and dropped the chain through. Super glue secured it. The viewer is going to have to figure out how the 1:1 scale chain would have been attached there! ;)
For the other end, I thought about an HO scale chain come-along, but those are kind of pricey! In the end, I totally fabricated a device that could have been! It's basically a drum with gears in it that grip the chain, and the chain is tensioned by moving the ratcheting handle up and down. Sounds plausible enough for me! :cool:
The drum is a piece of sprue from a structure kit, and the handle is a piece of .020" diameter styrene rod. I think I'll paint them yellow, with some black on the end of the handle to represent a rubber grip. I drilled a 1/16" hole through the sprue, ran the chain through the hole, then set the car on some wooden blocks so it was about 12" off the table. I clamped a small spring clamp on the end of the chain, and let the clamp apply tension while the CA cured. So the reason the chain looks under tension is because it is (but not by much).
Anyway, here are some pics:
Side 1:
View attachment 29809

Side 2:
View attachment 29810

One end, the chain in the hole end:
View attachment 29811

The other end, the drum tensioner end:
View attachment 29812

A view from above:
View attachment 29813

I may add some "cables" from the square pocket on one end, around the wheelsets, and into the square pocket on the other end, just to keep the wheelsets from shifting side to side.
Overall, I like it. :)
Click to expand...
it. [/Q:)
Have never seen wheelsets on a 6 axle flat cars, they are usually on just 40' or 5o' flats. And given the weight of each wheelset don't think a chain will hold them on a car. They weigh so much, their weight alone will keep them on the car. They wouldn't be just on rails either. They usually rest in metal half circles welded on each side of the car. Also, given the normal viewing distance on HO layouts is 2-3' (160-240 scale feet), doubt very much if rust texture can be seen. If it can be seen, it's way out of scale!
Click to expand...
 
I've also been working on loads for the last 2 weeks.
1- Wheel sets and metal sheets for my machine shop.
2- Wood and a crate for the outdoor furniture shop,

IMG_0666.JPG


IMG_0628.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top