Scratchbuilt Piko container wagon

[Dave Hub]

Hello all.
Just a quick thread to show what I've been upto this morning.

After buying myself 2 more PIKO containers I decided I better get a shift on and make some wagons they can ride on.
I decided to make my own wagon (s) as I find the PIKO ones rather expensive for what is in effect a very un-detailed flat wagon. Also I always see more than one container on a wagon as opposed to piko's one container one wagon method.
The huge size of piko containers did cause a problem as scale wise they are large (see my previous thread about the sizes: http://www.gscalecentral.net/tm?m=58005&high=piko+container . Bearing this in mind I decided 2 containers would just about fit on a long wagon.

So far I have based the idea on the spine wagon idea. seen in many countries. I cut out the deck from 0.8mm plasticard. then did this again. The two halves were stuck together with a layer of styrene strip around the edges. This has made the deck.
I then made the main support beam to stop it bending from 2mm plasticard on each side with a few cross braces. So far I have left this hollow as I intend to add some weight to it to make it stick to the track.

Bogie anchor points were recycled from an old bachmann flatcar chassis. With some fettling to allow R1 curve use.
so far that is as far as I have got. It does traverse R1. It looks a little stupid doing so but it looks pretty good on the straights.
Here are a few pics of how far I have got:

 

[mike]

thats a smart idea,likes it i do

 

[stockers]

and a great bit of scratch building - Magic.

 

[bazzer42]

I like that. It's inspiring, having spent ages trying to fettle a newqida van into an rhb log carrier. This makes me think about having ago at a container flat for a refuse container. Dimensions for the Kiss model on the web what could possibly go wrong...

 

[Richie]

Very nice it looks Dave great work

 

[jameshilton]

Looking good - it might be worth looking at getting Precision Labels to do you some custom transfers for it as it looks worthy of a high quality finish

 

[Tony]

Splendid work on the chassis but as you have stated the sizes of the boxs really lets them down and looks totally wrong....The proporsions Height to length make them look like 30' IBC (bulk containers) used for grain etc but there are only a handfull in excistance and extenally they look nothing like these..... they are to long to be 20' but they do have two slots at the bottom for a fork lift to pick them up but they are to short to be 40' which dont have fork slots.... but the real stupid error is the Box code....the orange one doesnt have one and the white one says 45R1 which means it should be a Isulated Refer (Fridge to you and me) but they have smooth sides (because they are insulated) and a huge fridge unit on the front end.... and its not just Piko none of the other companies have got it right for what is a surly simple task....on a positive note your chassis looks the right length because a standard chassis takes 1 x 20 and 1 x 40 which is 60' and if yours look like 30' box's then your right and they are wrong
Hey Ho il shut up being a smart ar*e but look forward to seeing them finished

Tony

 

[Gizzy]

Splendid work on the chassis but as you have stated the sizes of the boxs really lets them down and looks totally wrong....The proporsions Height to length make them look like 30' IBC (bulk containers) used for grain etc but there are only a handfull in excistance and extenally they look nothing like these..... they are to long to be 20' but they do have two slots at the bottom for a fork lift to pick them up but they are to short to be 40' which dont have fork slots.... but the real stupid error is the Box code....the orange one doesnt have one and the white one says 45R1 which means it should be a Isulated Refer (Fridge to you and me) but they have smooth sides (because they are insulated) and a huge fridge unit on the front end.... and its not just Piko none of the other companies have got it right for what is a surly simple task....on a positive note your chassis looks the right length because a standard chassis takes 1 x 20 and 1 x 40 which is 60' and if yours look like 30' box's then your right and they are wrong
Hey Ho il shut up being a smart ar*e but look forward to seeing them finished

Tony

I guess the acid test is how they'll look behind the Dave's Class 66 Tony?

I know he often drives container trains to our part of the world, and he told me once about the different types of boxes, weights and wagon flats that can make driving the train much harder than a EMU/DMU!

Anyway, looks like another excellent scratch built from the Hubster....

 

[Tony]

Gizzy i applude what hes doing its just a shame that no one makes a realistic copy of the real thing which is why he feels the need to build this but to build it with the comprimise of working with Toy like containers...It would be like LGB selling a train set called "The Orient Express" using a Stainz and 3 starter coaches

 

[Gizzy]

Gizzy i applude what hes doing its just a shame that no one makes a realistic copy of the real thing which is why he feels the need to build this but to build it with the comprimise of working with Toy like containers...It would be like LGB selling a train set called "The Orient Express" using a Stainz and 3 starter coaches

Totally agree with you there mate, although Bachmann have made Container Flats to go with their 66?

Dave has done some excellent bashes with Playmo stock for wagons, and his 'Pretendalino' is a brilliant model.

I guess Dave works to the maxim, 'If it looks right, it is right....'

 

[Dave Hub]

Hello folks.

No further work on the wagon yet today, perhaps a little after my housework.

I just thought I'd drop my opinoion on Containers, and thier associated rolling stock in G scale.

I do think that Piko have oversized their containers too much. not only oversized, but each dimesnsion is a different scale to the 20ft prototype. the good thing about Piko containers is that they are easily available at our local supplier. This is the Sole reason I have chose to create a few wagons to carry them.

Aristocraft really missed the boat when they did the intermodal containers and flat cars. They modelled 45ft containers. not only this they also picked some of the more uncommon container box liveries. I beilieve if they had done standard gauge 40 and 20ft boxes they would have been more popular. Also this would have given them additional product by selling boxes seperate.

USA Trains are close to the mark and if they were readily available I'd have used these as the boxes for my wagons. Unfortunately they are very hard to come by in the uk. I have seen rocking horse dung on ebay more than the containers. their wagons were also crazy expensive at circa £100 which fror my railway and budget is prohibative.

LGB These in my opinion are uncommon, and when you do find them are again insanely expensive. So much so I have never got my hands on one of their boxes to compare it to the other manufacturers boxes.

so the above are why I choose to use PIKO boxes. Not ideal by a long shot but I am giving it a chance. I will be making diferent types of container wagons to see how I can get them to look their best.

My wagon in this build will be about as long as a large loco. which in my opinion is circa 60ft. so yes the wagon will be Very long, but so are the 60ft liner wagons we use at the moment.
For those who want to say they are 20ft boxes then this is a large scale VTG ecofret wagon which are 40ft spine wagons that freightliner are in the process of aquiring.

The key thing for me is will it look right. If our main manufactureser use such a large rubber rule how am I supposed to make their boxes fit without using the same rubber rule.

keep watching more updates to come.