# Need Advice with Railtruck!



## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

Let me start with a disclaimer: This is only my second attempt at scratchbuilding _anything_, and my first attempt at anything in brass. While I have a small drill press and bandsaw, these are the only power tools that I own that can be used for metal working. That being said, I am no where near the craftsmen that I see so often on this site, so please don't expect anything too grand








This is the basic idea that got me started:










By the way, this has been a great experience for me, and I whole-heartly encourage anyone with the urge to jump in and start building. If I can do it, you can too! 



When I got the main chassis and body to a point where I could see what it would look like with the front 1:20.3 regular archbar truck, I thought it looked way too big. So, in all my great wisdom, I figured I would make archbar trucks for the smallest wheels I had on hand. I ordered some Castaldo Quick-Sil mold material, carved the journal boxes out of Sculpey, and experimented. 












I liked the way they were turning out, so I decided to check out how they will eventually look:









Now I think these look too small! UGH!!! Did I waste the hours it took to make these? Here is the other:













Soooo which one do you think looks better? In hind-sight, I think I should have looked for intermediate wheels, but I really don't want to start the trucks over unless you all think it would be worth it.

Let me know what you think, and thanks,Matt


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## Eric M. (Jan 3, 2008)

Looks pretty nice for a first project from brass. That body is sweet! I can see one issue that may be causing your truck size issue and it has to do with the fenders. The front fender appears much higher than the rear. While in your prototype reference picture they appear to be level with one and other. I would consider lowering the front fender, or raising the rear fender, or perhaps both, but you may need to further experiment with wheel size (including the rear ones) in order to get the proportions right. Ultimately it looks like you might need a front truck that fits somewhere in between the two sizes you have shown though. 

Bummer, but I have been there before. For me there is no amount of work I will put into something that will prevent me from re-doing it if it don't look right. That's one of my philosophies. 

Regards,


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## Ralph Berg (Jun 2, 2009)

Very nice job on the body.
I think a rail truck that size would look better with a single front axle.
Ralph


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the comments, gents.

Eric, you are absolutely right about the fender height. I can't believe I didn't notice it before! I don't see yet how I ended up so far off. This is actually the photo that I referenced to build the body.It's not that much different from the other, but I obviously messed up extrapolating somewhere. I based the front fender height off of the hood; the hood height off of the dashboard, which was off of the body height, etc. I frankly don't know where to correct this without destroying the whole thing. This stinks.










Ralph, I went back and forth over the single/double axle issue, looking at prototype pictures. I decided to go with a front truck, partly because I knew it would track better. But at this point I have no idea what I

m going to do.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. I would like to finish this, but in the last 20 minutes I have lost the will.
Thanks,
Matt


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Matt Vogt on 07 Apr 2010 06:39 AM 
Thanks for the comments, gents.



Comments and suggestions are welcome. I would like to finish this, but in the last 20 minutes I have lost the will.
Thanks,
Matt 












Well send it on over, son. All Acharitable donations are greatly welcome. I already have 3 or 4 ideas hows to finish it









Seriously a bachmann truck from the 20' cars using the small diameter wheels whould look pretty good up there, tho single wheel would work well too


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

If you need some protoype inspiration:


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## david bunn (Jan 4, 2008)

Matt 
As mentioned above a truck from a Bachmann 20' car would probably work.I have just finished a model of the Silverton Casey Jones railbus in 1;20 and used one of these trucks with the ends of the frames cut off,looks just about right. 
If you will excuse the double entendre, I love your body. You cannot beat brass. 
Regards 
David


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the replies, gents. Sorry to sound so doom and gloom. I was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on getting this thing done, and it just got a little dimmer...








I am assuming that the trucks from the 20 footers are in between what I made and the Ozark trucks. The wheels on (from Ozark) on the small truck measure out to be about 12". Do you have an actual measurement on the wheel or truck size? I don't have any 20' Bachmann cars, and I would really like to scratch them, once I get out of my 'all is lost' mood...


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Matt, that is the coolest railtruck I've ever seen! Definitely the largers wheels, the small ones are too small. I'd agree with some others that a single wheel on the front would look best.


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## LogSkidder01 (Jul 30, 2009)

Very nice body work. For a prototypical rail car reference check out the pictures at the Little River RR site: 

http://www.littleriverrailroad.org/railcars.htm 

You will note that the front fenders on the Briscoe are higher than the rear fenders to accommodate the dual front axles: 

http://www.littleriverrailroad.org/images/PhotoAlbum/Railcars/3704BriscoeRailcar.jpg 

___________________ 

Ken


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Matt,
Don't despair. It looks great. That's some really fine brass work.


I would agree with Ralph - go with a single axle. 


I did that with my conversion of a Bachmann rail truck and it has no problems.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Man, you guys are inspiring. Another great looking rail truck! I've got to add a rail truck to my to-do list!


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

I also think a single front axle would look best. You'd be solving two problems at once. The high but short front fender doesn't lend itself well to a two-axle truck: if the wheels are big enough to look good, the truck is too long to fit. 
If you haven't done it already, make a rough _but to scale_ sketch of the side view and sketch in some different front wheel sizes and arrangements until you get something you like.


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## Trains West (Oct 4, 2008)

the bachmann 20' car truck has wheels at .975 dia and axle center to center is 1.5 inchs in 1 to 20.3 that would be just over 2 1/2 ft center to center and 20 inch dia wheel


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## Matt Vogt (Jan 2, 2008)

You guys are great! Thanks for all the kind comments. I guess I had a bit of a temper tantrum, but I'm over it...








It sounds like the verdict's in, and I am going to go with a single axle front end. I guess I'll go with the same size wheel on the front end, since that seems prototypical.
I ordered small Sierra Valley wheels yesterday for a two axle truck, but I'll call him and change them to a size I'll use someday on rolling stock. 

Thanks again for the encouragement and advice. This site is full of helpful people!


Matt


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Matt, 
If you can find an Annie pilot, that would give you two axles of spoked wheels. I used one for the front axle on my motorcar; I just ground down the flanges a bit.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Matt, if you need an Annie pilot, let me know... 

Later, 

K


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