I wasn't going to do this, but seeing as the 'middle class' thread got some of us going about using cheap stuff, well if you're sitting comfortably then I'll begin.
This is a bit of a follow on to the 'paint your wagon' thread I put up a while ago, I went mad buying cheap stake wagons on ebay and this one came up quoted as being in perfect condition and only run one year. When it arrived I spotted straight away that it was a dog, it must have run one continuous year, it was filthy, only 2 non-matching stakes, no brake pipes and no coupling hook - in fact one loop was loose where the guy had nicked the hook & spring. It was unceremoniously slung in a corner in disgust after I worked out it was more than its worth to send it back. The VW went in the bin straight off.
The pipes for the other flat car were cut to length and as I was about to stick them on noticed the wagon only had 1 coupling hook, as all my stock is fitted with 2 hooks to avoid those embarassing moments it was out with the spares box. While I'm at it I'll put hooks on the yellow flat car too, I thought. Whilst doing this I noticed this flat car wasn't, it has 2 bars on it (to prevent the valuable car shooting off I suppose) which caused a tiny light to shine over my head. It was logical that the pipes would go on such a wagon in order to get slings, ropes, forklifts or other lifting gear underneath, okay we have plan B.
First fit the couplings and the brake pipes, then BATHTIME as the wagon was so cruddy no paint would stick, so while the Mrs isn't looking it got a scrub in the kitchen sink, leave to dry
then take the wheels out and decide on a colour. Once again I wanted to go the 'private owners wagon' route but quite like the yellow so blue and yellow as in the European Flag (ish).
The chassis got sprayed blue, the wheels and deck yellow (yes Zmate, I painted the yellow bit yellow) with the ends of the planks brush painted the same, the two cross bars were brush painted deep grey as it was going to be used for the weathering. I didn't pay too much attention to the center of the deck or cross bars as there was going to be a load on. By now I had a whopping 6 stakes so they were painted yellow too.
Next, down and dirty with the weathering colours and then a spray over with Graupner Acryl Fix matt varnish, leave to dry.
Next the load, leftover aluminium tubing cut to just under the length of the flat wagon, hot-melt glued into position. It fits between the stakes but I'm sure in the real world they would have to be secured, well just by chance I had some chain left over from the crane train, and just by chance there are two fittings for stakes for it to 'attach' to. Fix one side with hot-melt glue and let it set a couple of minutes, pass it over the pipes and down the hole on the other side, pull gently to tension the chain and fix with more of that napalm glue, snip off dangly bits and there you go.
Now the vitaly important bit, take it out and test it. By jove it works.
So, total costs? €10 for the flattie, couplings and brake hoses were in the spares box, bit of paint, bit of left over chain, left over tube, say €15 all in. 2 evenings work. I'm going to make signs for the sides with some black plastic I've got, need to order white letraset or similar as no-one around here seems to have it.
But what would this cost if it was an original LGB wagon and not a jazzed up Toytrain truck? Who cares?
This is a bit of a follow on to the 'paint your wagon' thread I put up a while ago, I went mad buying cheap stake wagons on ebay and this one came up quoted as being in perfect condition and only run one year. When it arrived I spotted straight away that it was a dog, it must have run one continuous year, it was filthy, only 2 non-matching stakes, no brake pipes and no coupling hook - in fact one loop was loose where the guy had nicked the hook & spring. It was unceremoniously slung in a corner in disgust after I worked out it was more than its worth to send it back. The VW went in the bin straight off.
The pipes for the other flat car were cut to length and as I was about to stick them on noticed the wagon only had 1 coupling hook, as all my stock is fitted with 2 hooks to avoid those embarassing moments it was out with the spares box. While I'm at it I'll put hooks on the yellow flat car too, I thought. Whilst doing this I noticed this flat car wasn't, it has 2 bars on it (to prevent the valuable car shooting off I suppose) which caused a tiny light to shine over my head. It was logical that the pipes would go on such a wagon in order to get slings, ropes, forklifts or other lifting gear underneath, okay we have plan B.
First fit the couplings and the brake pipes, then BATHTIME as the wagon was so cruddy no paint would stick, so while the Mrs isn't looking it got a scrub in the kitchen sink, leave to dry
then take the wheels out and decide on a colour. Once again I wanted to go the 'private owners wagon' route but quite like the yellow so blue and yellow as in the European Flag (ish).
The chassis got sprayed blue, the wheels and deck yellow (yes Zmate, I painted the yellow bit yellow) with the ends of the planks brush painted the same, the two cross bars were brush painted deep grey as it was going to be used for the weathering. I didn't pay too much attention to the center of the deck or cross bars as there was going to be a load on. By now I had a whopping 6 stakes so they were painted yellow too.
Next, down and dirty with the weathering colours and then a spray over with Graupner Acryl Fix matt varnish, leave to dry.
Next the load, leftover aluminium tubing cut to just under the length of the flat wagon, hot-melt glued into position. It fits between the stakes but I'm sure in the real world they would have to be secured, well just by chance I had some chain left over from the crane train, and just by chance there are two fittings for stakes for it to 'attach' to. Fix one side with hot-melt glue and let it set a couple of minutes, pass it over the pipes and down the hole on the other side, pull gently to tension the chain and fix with more of that napalm glue, snip off dangly bits and there you go.
Now the vitaly important bit, take it out and test it. By jove it works.
So, total costs? €10 for the flattie, couplings and brake hoses were in the spares box, bit of paint, bit of left over chain, left over tube, say €15 all in. 2 evenings work. I'm going to make signs for the sides with some black plastic I've got, need to order white letraset or similar as no-one around here seems to have it.
But what would this cost if it was an original LGB wagon and not a jazzed up Toytrain truck? Who cares?
