Show Your Flatcar Load

[GreggL]

Funny....I was just getting ready to express my appreciation for posting the large images because the detail is captured so much better than the small photos on the other forum <g>. Thanks anyway - whether it's due to the iPhone or otherwise!

[bob turner]

Yeah - nice thread. Aren't we glad we converted 3 rail Jon? More, please.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

it's due to the iPhone

We hates them! Nasty tricksy smelly shambling about in parking lots starting down at toy that is smarter then them. Hates!

[Pacific Limited]

Hates I tell you hates!

Them darn infernal thangs; witchcraft I tell you, hate, hate!

[Pacific Limited]

image.jpg (1.62 MiB) Viewed 7159 times

[Pacific Limited]

image.jpg (137.32 KiB) Viewed 7154 times

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Hates I tell you hates!

Them darn infernal thangs; witchcraft I tell you, hate, hate!

Oh no, witchcraft is just fine. We likes witches!

Demons in a handheld toy sucking out the brains of the holder is just something nasty.

[sarge]

This one is for Bob, since he really likes depressed centre cars.



I think the gear came out of an old xerox machine, lovely aluminium thing that painted up to be very impressive.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

....lovely aluminium thing that painted up to be very impressive.

Nicely appointed. I'll have to literally look into some of the equipment that I'm surplusing in the future,

What did you use for the cable? What holds the wood blocking in place in such an arrangement?

[sarge]

In US modelling, the freight stock was dominated by the boxcar in the era that interest us the most. In UK modelling, the most common wagon by far was the humble "open", roughly the equivalent of the American gondola. For us, then, the load is as much a model as the wagon itself, and I take advantage of that so the visual interest of a goods train can just bait the eye; a "character" train of interesting loads. The train to the left of the white-lead roofed passenger stock is one such train, just made up of fun modelling projects that go beyond just the stock itself.



I can go wagon by wagon for you if there is interest; many of the loads used here are just as appropriate for US flatcars and gondolas, so some ideas might be had.

[sarge]

....lovely aluminium thing that painted up to be very impressive.

Nicely appointed. I'll have to literally look into some of the equipment that I'm surplusing in the future,

What did you use for the cable? What holds the wood blocking in place in such an arrangement?

The wood blocking is usually drilled and spiked, and a dot of black ink replicates that nicely in passing; I need to do that last detail here. The decks on machinery flats and low-loaders are most often wood, though nailable steel isn't uncommon. Some are regular steel, so welded attachments and stops that are cut away after each load aren't uncommon either.

From a modelling standpoint, the cribbing is carved up from Sugar Creek switch-ties I bought by the bag for timbers and keep handy. Saw 'em up with a little mitre-box and razor saw, glued up usually with gel CA. The cable is the silk suture you got for me, left over after fixing the rigging on my Fletcher.

[sarge]

...and ready for the layout, with spikes marked out and angle welded to the steel deck to wedge the cribbing against.

Some Evergreen styrene angle, Floquil Rust, CA, and a sharp black draughting pen.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The wood blocking is usually drilled and spiked, and a dot of black ink replicates that nicely in passing; I need to do that last detail here.

Much improved and neatly done!

From a modelling standpoint, the cribbing is carved up from Sugar Creek switch-ties I bought by the bag for timbers and keep handy. Saw 'em up with a little mitre-box and razor saw, glued up usually with gel CA. The cable is the silk suture you got for me, left over after fixing the rigging on my Fletcher.

If you need more of either the wood or the silk, drop me a note so I can remember to toss it into the box for Strasburg or into the mail if the need is pressing.

[J. S. Bach]

...and ready for the layout, with spikes marked out and angle welded to the steel deck to wedge the cribbing against.Some Evergreen styrene angle, Floquil Rust, CA, and a sharp black draughting pen.

Sarge,
I see two things wrong with that car:
1, it does not have KDs, and
2, it is not on MY layout!!

Very nice, it gives me an idea for the RMT car that I have; slightly longer as it accommodates standard two-axle hundred-ton roller bearing trucks. Can you bring that to Strasburg? There is a very slim chance that I will be there and would like to see it in person.

[sarge]

Thanks for the kind words. This thread is coming at an opportune time, since I've been doing up loads lately. It breaks up the monotony of empty open after empty open in my world, and boxcar after boxcar on US railroads.

Here's another; this one for Jon:



During WWII, this was how it was done. No fuses of course, packed in a common open wagon with timber cribbing.

The wagon itself was fun, because I lettered it three times. First was the North British railway "NB" in large initials on the side, as the wagon appeared up until the post WWI Grouping of the many small railways into four (for the most part) large ones. North British became part of LNER (London North Eastern Railway) so the NB initials and lettering was faded off almost entirely, then large "NE" initials went on. In the late 1930s, the large initials went by the boards and a standardised lettering on the lower left of each side was substituted. That is the red patch-painted lettering you see here, after the big "NE" was again purposely faded.

I had almost as much fun with the wagon as I did with the load.