Re:A new flatcar being built
Hi, I have been modifying the Bachmann bogies to look like the Denver & South Park ones; this message/article could be used as a 'general guide' for modifing either Bachmann or LGB Bogies -
The bogies as supplied by Bachmann are a very good for modifying, so they paid a visit to the surgery for some changes to be made.
The Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad had three distinct designs of freight car bogie during its lifetime and this was the first style. I have also made the others using the same basic idea, if you have a drawing the rest is easy!
There are slight mismatches for what I do, for example the wheelbase of the Bachmann bogie is 3foot 8 inches and the DSP were 4foot, conversely the wheelbase of CCRR bogies was 3 foot 4 inches!
This style of bogie had the brakeshoes hung from the cross pieces at each end; I do not do that as it makes it more difficult if I want to dismantle the bogies. Later the DSP hung them from the underside of the floor which for my purposes is even worse so they stay attached to the bogie itself.
Back to my work on them - first the all the detail was removed using a sanding drum and a dentists burr for the small work, removing the center spring detail and half of the thickness at the ends of the top frameworks, be careful, and work slowly checking the levels, also take off the detail on the axleboxes and the vertical bolts each side of the axleboxes. When finished add each side of the central area, where the springs were at each side a strip 1.5mm x 1mm ? this levels up the outer edges of the sides of the central part to the level of the rest of the area.
The bogies for this flatcar have extensions at each end, which is the reason for the work above, the extensions are made from 60 thou plasticard, with the slightly difficult bit being the diagonal slopes that run from the underside of the level top pieces to the outer edges of the axleboxes.on the lower parts of the bogie, the lower end fits close against the axlebox and under the end piece of the new top extensions. Ensure these are level by ?squinting? along the bogie frame ? any difference will be quite obvious. Glue the new ?bits? to the frame with Evo-stik, or styrene glue when possible, as it is faster to set. It will not work on the black plastic .
One side frame has a small amount of play added into it (like the LGB version of these bogies) - shave off the lower end edges of the fixing spigot, and make the fixing hole on the sideframe an oval shape so the frame when fitted has some up & down movement.
Moving to the centre unit fill in the holes each side of the centre pivot with some scrap (PVC solid foam) bits (they are 20mm deep) and a stiffener piece at the side of the main pieces. These will support the ?end to end? beams that the brake shoes and beams are going to be fixed to. The two sideframes can be fitted back onto the centre unit with the painted (rust and muck colour) wheels fitted at the same time.
The brakebeams , and brakeshoes are made from PVC solid foam scrap, and the ?end to end? beams, which are slightly flexible can be made from .060 plasticard, though I have used (as I had it in stock), some PVC sheet from the centre of doors. Fix the brake shoes onto the beam allowing for some side play by the wheels, and paint the inside face, which is against the wheels of them before fitting. When fixing them to the (pre-fixed) end to end beams they will need to be at a slope to match the wheels, add a tiny wedge to lift up the inner edge of each one.
One sideframe has some compensation to it: to keep this working the cross pieces at the extreme ends of the bogie frames, and at the coupler end need to be free, I leave the inner end unglued and add a piece on the coupler shank to act as a stop.
Finally here are a couple of photos
the first shows one modified boge with its so far untouched compatriot, don't forget to paint the wheels before they are fitted!
the other is of the bogie upside down - showing the pillars on the bolster that accept the 'end to end' strips holding the brake shoes; made from .060 pvc in my case but .060 plasticard will work just the same.
Whilst the modifications were being done, the paintbrush was being applied to the body, after fitting in the space between the centre stringers some lead to bring the total weight of the vehicle (including bogies) up to just over 1 pound. Black for most of the underside, red oxide slightly darkened for the sides/ends, and a mix for the deck. I have painted a couple of the planks to look like replacement ones, the rest being a very varioed mixture of colours and shades. Don't forget the ends and undersides, and a set of stakes. The Denver *& South Park RR cut two holes in the ends of the flatcar deck to accept a couple of stakes: these were used to restrain any load that the flatcar had accross the body - there are photos showing the vehicles full of ties (sleepers here in the UK) close up against the extra, at each end, stakes. The extra stakes were fitted so the were against the inner corner of the intermediate sringers, on the outer corner.
All stakes are removable, they have been painted in several shades as they were basically anoy old scrap wood that could be found! These are a bit better than that, but still are a bit filthy, and good practice for weathering!
Here is what the deck looks like, it could be said that it is in very good condition, as these flatcars were the 'maid of all work' for the American Narrow Gauge and were greatly abused, having a very hard life.
The deck and stakes have had a coat of Johnson's Klear added to them for protection, and the sides will be weathered much more when the transfers have been added. Those are missing !
I thought I had some but a close look and measuring showed that the intended transfers are 2mm too high! So it was time to switch on the computer and dig out with my 'master' for DSP transfers and adjust them to size to be eventually sent to Arizona with some more that I will need printing. That will be when I have all of the masterr done to my satisfaction - we are about 3/4 of the way there I think!
Thats it so far and the new flatcar is almost (except for my mess up with the transfers) complete.
Yours Peter.
