peterbunce
1880's Colorado Narrow gauge on 45mm track
Hi
Hi
I have been building a Flatcar and a Coal car which is the close cousin of the flatcar. The Denver & Rio Grande RR added the sides and ends to a flatcar and you have a Coal car, or a Gondola.
The sides etc were said to be ?on and off? flatcars all the time, I would think that in preparation for the winter, flatcars gained the sides and ends for hauling coal in the winter, and were possibly removed in the late spring.
They are quite long vehicles being 30 feet long; the sides are fitted into the 6 stake pockets per side and the ends then fitted against some angle iron to keep them in position, and between that and a square piece of wood the thickness of the ends away, towards the centre of the vehicle; to hold the ends together a steel or iron rod was fitted close to the top. In addition to stop the sides inevitable bowing outwards there were a couple of cross pieces towards the centre of the car. These have a piece of 1mm diameter wire underneath the ends of the; these fit into a pair of holes in the 4mm thick sides so are easily removable for loading. I made a small adjustment to the position of the bogies, for these vehicles ? due to the couplings being part of the bogies ? due to the ?extensions? (called ?porches?), they were moved nearer to the ends to allow them to work correctly.
The vehicles are built from PVC solid foam 3 mm for the deck, and in the case of the coal car 4mm thick for the sides. The stake pockets are cut off an old Bachmann flat car, (which are too narrow for these vehicles), they are slightly reduced in depth to almost match the quite shallow sides and held on with Evo-stik, and superglue. The edges of the deck is then cut back to allow the stakes in where required. My sides and ends unit is removable so I can have both vehicles.
The flatcar is the same construction, but has been given a different colour to the deck. Both are weathered, the coal car somewhat naturally more so with the inside of the sides also been weathered. Brake wheels are I think from Hartford Products.
The bogies are from LGB which are slightly different to the Bachmann ones, and are made of a harder plastic as well; the difference is in the width of the supports for the sides ? LGB being just slightly wider. I took off all the detail and then added the new detail; this came from Bob Sloan?s book on D&RGRR freight stock ? the drawings are somewhat ?fuzzy? when enlarged but I found sufficient to work out what was needed ? these trucks are the first 3foot 7 inch wheelbase versions, that were replaced by the double springs per side versions. Then the (pre weathered) wheels were added, and the brake gear fitted from the underside; this being some spacer blocks to allow for the ?end to end? strips, and onto these the brake blocks are cross beams are fitted to the top surface ? they blocks are quire close to the railhead, and the end of the Bachmann coupling that I use.
The underside of the vehicles is a ?simplified? version It uses Bachmann bolsters, and a couple of their tie bars with the turnbuckle, these are straightened, and re bent to new measurements; the side beams and the centre beams are from softwood, with the intermediate beams made from scrap PVC solid foam sheet. Strips of lead are fitted into the space between the centre beams, then the cross beams (needle beams) are fitted, and the scratch built Westinghouse air brake cylinder (after painting the top parts of it, as they are very difficult to paint otherwise), at the same time paint around where it is to be fitted for the same reason. I used ?tester? pots as they are better value, as there is quite a lot to be painted.
The end beams have the ends of the tie rods indicated (plastic washers and mock nuts) and the ends of the two rods, one each outer side of the centre beams. Between them is the hole and plate for the coupling. Air pipes were added from bicycle spoke pieces and sheathing from electrical wire with a single strand of copper wire inside to assist in keeping the looped shape ? the fixing chain is twisted fuse wire.
The decks have a rendition of the fixing bolts along the beams underneath ? the 3mm thick deck sheet is fairly soft, so a depression is easily done to represent the bolt head; they are done along the edge of a fixed ruler; the first time the ruler moved! So all had to be filled and re done for the center pair ? Grr!
The side stakes on the coal car have a whole series of small circles inside and outside to replicate the fixing bolts; on earlier vehicles I added a even smaller cube to replicate the nuts but these seemed to have a great wish to fall off, and disappear ? so now I leave them off. I suspect that handling them is at fault, or not enough glue was used.
Weathering colours are from heavily thinned acrylic, (plus a small amount of windscreen washer fluid to kill the surface tension of the mix) and are many layers of mixed (earth, black, grey and dark brown) colours, each applied when the previous one is dry.
The coal car has a load ? that is from scrap polystyrene packaging, cut to size and shape then covered on black ?gutter sealant? and into this is pressed bits of limestone 6mm chips, when satisfied the whole thing is painted covering all the sealant especially on the edges and ends (to kill its stickiness) with black emulsion ? this tip dame from Kevin Strong in Colorado. Patch paint some other colours onto this for variety, and patch varnish some of them as well; I used a stuff bristle kids glue brush fro the initial painting, when dry I added some bits of real coal to give more variety as well.
The ?load? weighs just over 1lb; more ?loads? could be done with different colour chips if you use them on your layout for variety. I think that kitty litter may be possible to use, but as we do not have a cat I cannot verify that; I will get some from my son who lives quite a long way away in due course to try them ? my concern is they may collapse when wet.
Here are some photos ? transfers are still needed, and are being ?sorted out? at the moment.
two scruffy decks of the flatcars
the coalbox version with the sides and ends unit off the vehicle, and the first 'load'
the underside of the vehicle both being identical
Finally when I built the boxcar that will run with these the color of it was truly terrible; today I had another attempt at it; it has since been weathered; the color is now better though not perfect.
Yours Peter.
Hi
I have been building a Flatcar and a Coal car which is the close cousin of the flatcar. The Denver & Rio Grande RR added the sides and ends to a flatcar and you have a Coal car, or a Gondola.
The sides etc were said to be ?on and off? flatcars all the time, I would think that in preparation for the winter, flatcars gained the sides and ends for hauling coal in the winter, and were possibly removed in the late spring.
They are quite long vehicles being 30 feet long; the sides are fitted into the 6 stake pockets per side and the ends then fitted against some angle iron to keep them in position, and between that and a square piece of wood the thickness of the ends away, towards the centre of the vehicle; to hold the ends together a steel or iron rod was fitted close to the top. In addition to stop the sides inevitable bowing outwards there were a couple of cross pieces towards the centre of the car. These have a piece of 1mm diameter wire underneath the ends of the; these fit into a pair of holes in the 4mm thick sides so are easily removable for loading. I made a small adjustment to the position of the bogies, for these vehicles ? due to the couplings being part of the bogies ? due to the ?extensions? (called ?porches?), they were moved nearer to the ends to allow them to work correctly.
The vehicles are built from PVC solid foam 3 mm for the deck, and in the case of the coal car 4mm thick for the sides. The stake pockets are cut off an old Bachmann flat car, (which are too narrow for these vehicles), they are slightly reduced in depth to almost match the quite shallow sides and held on with Evo-stik, and superglue. The edges of the deck is then cut back to allow the stakes in where required. My sides and ends unit is removable so I can have both vehicles.
The flatcar is the same construction, but has been given a different colour to the deck. Both are weathered, the coal car somewhat naturally more so with the inside of the sides also been weathered. Brake wheels are I think from Hartford Products.
The bogies are from LGB which are slightly different to the Bachmann ones, and are made of a harder plastic as well; the difference is in the width of the supports for the sides ? LGB being just slightly wider. I took off all the detail and then added the new detail; this came from Bob Sloan?s book on D&RGRR freight stock ? the drawings are somewhat ?fuzzy? when enlarged but I found sufficient to work out what was needed ? these trucks are the first 3foot 7 inch wheelbase versions, that were replaced by the double springs per side versions. Then the (pre weathered) wheels were added, and the brake gear fitted from the underside; this being some spacer blocks to allow for the ?end to end? strips, and onto these the brake blocks are cross beams are fitted to the top surface ? they blocks are quire close to the railhead, and the end of the Bachmann coupling that I use.
The underside of the vehicles is a ?simplified? version It uses Bachmann bolsters, and a couple of their tie bars with the turnbuckle, these are straightened, and re bent to new measurements; the side beams and the centre beams are from softwood, with the intermediate beams made from scrap PVC solid foam sheet. Strips of lead are fitted into the space between the centre beams, then the cross beams (needle beams) are fitted, and the scratch built Westinghouse air brake cylinder (after painting the top parts of it, as they are very difficult to paint otherwise), at the same time paint around where it is to be fitted for the same reason. I used ?tester? pots as they are better value, as there is quite a lot to be painted.
The end beams have the ends of the tie rods indicated (plastic washers and mock nuts) and the ends of the two rods, one each outer side of the centre beams. Between them is the hole and plate for the coupling. Air pipes were added from bicycle spoke pieces and sheathing from electrical wire with a single strand of copper wire inside to assist in keeping the looped shape ? the fixing chain is twisted fuse wire.
The decks have a rendition of the fixing bolts along the beams underneath ? the 3mm thick deck sheet is fairly soft, so a depression is easily done to represent the bolt head; they are done along the edge of a fixed ruler; the first time the ruler moved! So all had to be filled and re done for the center pair ? Grr!
The side stakes on the coal car have a whole series of small circles inside and outside to replicate the fixing bolts; on earlier vehicles I added a even smaller cube to replicate the nuts but these seemed to have a great wish to fall off, and disappear ? so now I leave them off. I suspect that handling them is at fault, or not enough glue was used.
Weathering colours are from heavily thinned acrylic, (plus a small amount of windscreen washer fluid to kill the surface tension of the mix) and are many layers of mixed (earth, black, grey and dark brown) colours, each applied when the previous one is dry.
The coal car has a load ? that is from scrap polystyrene packaging, cut to size and shape then covered on black ?gutter sealant? and into this is pressed bits of limestone 6mm chips, when satisfied the whole thing is painted covering all the sealant especially on the edges and ends (to kill its stickiness) with black emulsion ? this tip dame from Kevin Strong in Colorado. Patch paint some other colours onto this for variety, and patch varnish some of them as well; I used a stuff bristle kids glue brush fro the initial painting, when dry I added some bits of real coal to give more variety as well.
The ?load? weighs just over 1lb; more ?loads? could be done with different colour chips if you use them on your layout for variety. I think that kitty litter may be possible to use, but as we do not have a cat I cannot verify that; I will get some from my son who lives quite a long way away in due course to try them ? my concern is they may collapse when wet.
Here are some photos ? transfers are still needed, and are being ?sorted out? at the moment.
two scruffy decks of the flatcars
the coalbox version with the sides and ends unit off the vehicle, and the first 'load'
the underside of the vehicle both being identical
Finally when I built the boxcar that will run with these the color of it was truly terrible; today I had another attempt at it; it has since been weathered; the color is now better though not perfect.
Yours Peter.
