D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
That inspired me to order a depressed center 340 ton flat car from RailFanModels.
Pretty pricey, but I want it.
Pretty pricey, but I want it.
I like that! Very nice detail additionThis isn't loaded but it's focal point is the stainless steel cables stowed after the centerbeam flat is unloaded and ready to roll.
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This is close to that oneThat inspired me to order a depressed center 340 ton flat car from RailFanModels.
Pretty pricey, but I want it.
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This is a great car and load, well doneI am very impressed with the modeling efforts pictured on this thread. Some really great modeling.
Had this older (plastic) Walthers 8 axle drop-deck flat. I wanted to modify it to resemble the Kasgro Rail (KRL) 38181. I stretched the load deck from 20' to 38' to match the prototype, turns out the other dimensions match too, 68' over the end sills, and 92' over the strikers. I filled the deck voids with lead shot and glued them in with CA. The biggest challenges was trying to get some the piping in to match the plumbing on the ends. Used some IM trucks w 36" wheels that lowered to car a bunch, looks way better. I made the decals with my old ALPS printer, man, that thing is getting harder to use, only thing I can get it to print on is WIN98!
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Now mostly Red you can see how much longer the load deck is than the original Walthers model.
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The prototype image.
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My model before being "loaded". The flex hoses between the span bolsters and car is the insulated lining of light bulb leads. Also the trainline hose is wrapped around under the ends to reflect the prototype using the same insulating leads. Coupler cut bars are Plano.
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And now loaded. I made this car to be unloaded, only thing is, it might take as long to unload the model as it would the real one. All one has to do is push the pins out of the scratch built clevises, and lift the transformer off. But pushing those rods out aint gonna be all that easy, I used Moly lube to hold them in place, they are just small. Below it is in the ready tracks waiting for an outbound train. That transformer is an abused Kibri or similar kit, I chucked in the mill, removed the ends and lower sections and then rebuilt. Anyways another project almost done.View attachment 150834
And finally here it heads out behind the power on an eastbound manifest drag.
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Nicely doneGood timing, I've been making attempts at unfinished granite blocks for loads this week. My son stopped doing cub scouts so I cut up pieces of an old pinewood derby car basswood blank. Not totally satisfied with the color (gray with a light gray chalk overcoat...Barre, Vermont granite is much lighter in color) or the drill marks (drilled holes with a small bit and made the cuts over them...too many wood fibers, need a way to get cleaner cuts) but pretty good for a start I think. The cribbing is glued to the bottom of the "stones", and in cases of the bigger ones I have embedded old pinewood weights since the flat cars I built are very very light. Hopefully I can refine the technique a bit and make some better "specimen" stones, but I think these are still good enough to be solid background props. Really love the scale chain (A-line, 15 links per inch) - definitely will be ordering more of this!
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Ken, superb additional detail. I have tried thread and florist wire but both were way to thick. This looks so right, thanks for sharingThis isn't loaded but it's focal point is the stainless steel cables stowed after the centerbeam flat is unloaded and ready to roll.
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Yeah, I've seen that guy at a few shows. Lots of inspiring carloads.Timonium Show
There use to be a fellow who came to the Timonium train shows with lots of different loaded cars for sale. He sort of specialized in them. I believe I bought several from him, but I've forgotten what they are,...hidden away in my inventory somewhere.? ...
Interesting.I look forward to your creation.So I have a few gondolas now and want to place steel coils that actually look like metal or is metal.....
I found this and ordered a pack....I will share to see how it goes.
TomJames- That's a tough one trying to duplicate coils. You need something soft enough to coil yet stiff enough to hold the shape. At work they were getting rid of some outside meter readers as we went to radio read. Inside there was a nice copper coil I painted aluminum color to make it look like aluminum wire coil.View attachment 152414