Chinese cheapy gondolas after 30yrs of service?

[Riograndad]

A few weeks ago I visited the Norfolk coast for the day and picked up a couple of the cheaper range of Chinese low sided gondola cars,at 22 quid a car was it was against the law not too,instant bash material,although in DR markings they could make a reasonable US outline model.I decided that I would do one at a time just to see how they would turn out so to start took the first car apart to get a feel of how it went together,nice simple construction,first job was to take off the ridge around the top of all 4 car sides,it looks as if it is a metal plate along the tops so using dremel off it came and not bothered too much on the finish as rough boarding was going to be the finished item,next using a razor saw ran along the board lines and cut through in a number of places and then with dremel,knife and various files the boards were separated and aged,then a hacksaw blade run along the top to "grain" the tops,the same was done to the inner boards giving a rough grained look.The chassis frame on the car appears to be metal so this also grained to give a wooden car throughout and a more narrow gauge effect,If I`m honest it would have been easier to make up new sides but a lot less funThe holes in the end platforms were filled and a brakewheel from the scrap box added,then a coat of brown all over,the metalwork the painted dark grey to give a faded black effect and then thinned dark grey to weather and tone it all down,some weather dust to the trucks too but will finish the weathering when the other car gets done ,,well it`s one way to spend a wet weekend,pics are best I could do as light fading and raining again

 

[Capt. Jack]

Turned out great. Really like the way you grained the sides. I have 2 of these cars . Great idea..

 

[korm kormsen]

i got some of these too.
so your description and pics are highly welcome.
thanks!

 

[Gizzy]

Good bashing fodder those NQD wagons....

 

[Riograndad]

Thanks for the feedback.Now started on the second car,the plan is to make this one sllghtly more battered than the first just because no two cars are ever the same,the ridge around the edges of the interior sides were taken off with a dremel on the 1st car but i found that a sharp knife is just as good and quicker,the board lines then run along with the trusty razor saw and cut through,I found that cutting from the back was easier and took the cut to the back of the upright supports on the outside giving a clean board along the length,then using different files,knife,saw opened the gaps out between the boards and grained inside and out,still some more to do and then hit the other side and ends ,not forgetting the chassis rails

 

[seigezapf]

Well done. I like your methods of aging the wood sides.

 

[Riograndad]

Rio been busy again,,in a previous post I said that the second car would be a little more bashed than the first,so some more work done,some of the board lines opened up a little more as have the end boards together with some heavier graining.I wanted the sides to "bulge"at least on one car so a little heat applied to the bottom of the middle upright stakes and bent slightly so the whole side bent outwards,trust me it does`nt take much heat and the plastic is that nasty non glueable stuff so only get one go at it,then reassembling the car applied heat to a point somewhere towards the ends of the sides and with a little pressure brought the ends of the sides back to the perpendicular to match with the end boards but will need to smooth the boards to give a better bend line,some of the moulding holes filled but ran out of filler to finish them all,(the first car will need filling too)The next job will be to remove the chassis frame to make some holes in the floor,think that the floor may have taking a battering also,The colour of the cars will change too,probably leaning towards box car red including the trucks,shades of the D&RGW.Having the sides and ends loose will allow the cars to run as flats,pipe cars without the ends or plain gondolas,oh and got to find a brakewheel

 

[Riograndad]

After some time and being diverted to other things I finally got around to painting the second car in the experimental oxide livery,well Halfords plastic primer to be precise but it seems to have come out quite well,the decking was removed and I cut a few board lines to open them up until I found out that the top molding don`t match with the underside board lines so left it at two but theres holes in the floorthe molding holes in the sides and decking were filled and while the decking was off the chassis,trucks and wheels had a light coat also as if a recent visit to the paint shop,but being a cash strapped railroad we didn`t replace any woodwork so the holes in the side shine through.Still have to find a brakewheel and some dry rub lettering and then spray up the first car to match this one as I don`t really like the scheme on the first car ,then some light weathering to tone everything down.

 

[seigezapf]

Very nice and real looking. I can even see wood splinters. What a change from what you started with.

 

[Riograndad]

A few weeks away from everything train related but a few hours yesterday finally saw off the modeling on the cars,both now the same colour,lettering on and the second brakewheel added to the second car,just some weathering to add,six or so items to do so will do them all at once.