# New flatcar & load for it



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, 
I have added another flatcar to the roster; this one is the large 30 foot long version that was also built by the Peninsula Car Co.: I used the drawing by Ron Rudnick in his book on DSP freight cars. The companion ‘Coal car’ (add 3 hefty planks all round) to the flatcar design is also in the list of ‘to do’ somewhere. 





This vehicle is supposed to be ‘brand spanking new’, so there is very little weathering done to it – a change from my normal system which does add some weathering – the difference can be seen in the photos. 





I used and modified the standard Bachmann (archbar) trucks to start with to the correct design with bits of styrene card, and brake beams & shoes were also added as the photo which is before painting and lightly weathering them. 




Then the body was started – the deck is 3mm PVC solid foam board (Sintra?) with the solebars, end beams, and center beams from some wood that I has in stock. The intermediate beams are from the PVC board. The deck was given a good sanding with some rough sandpaper to impart a roughness to it, and then the planks were scribed in, with a pushed (not drawn; that will drag out bits of board) Olfa Cutter The stake pockets arte from a Bachmann flatcar. Rons drwing in the DSP book shows 22 stake pockets; by the time the same drawing appeared in the DL&G book, he had changed his mind regarding the number; the only photo known of these cars is one of the Coal cars, those had side stakes added (to locate the coal box) as well as the pockets. The flatcars in the DL&G books are down to 6 per side; when the coal car is built there will need to be more cutouts n the deck to accommodate the extra fixed side stakes. Yes they were all there in this one but have been filled in! A full set of side stakes have been made for it and also the unusual 2 stakes per end that are placed to sit aginst the inside of the end. The one fitted are the height of the coal box. 





The underside other than 4 ‘end to end’ beams has only a ‘generic’ brake cylinder added as the vehicle is not meant to be seen upside down; as the tip from Bruce Chandler. 





Flatcars always look better with a load, and this one deserved a hefty load, though it will fir the earlier 27ft long design. After a trawl through the ‘net I found a couple of photos of (I think) an American Models design of a nice large crate, and it included a carrier for it as well. These were downloaded and formed the basis for my load. 





The carrier is made from the sticks from fireworks - they will have been from rockets I believe. Those and some other bits made the main framework, the joints are half laps well glued; the exception is the cross stiffeners at the ends, I have reverted to 1.5mm thick styrene strips for those! Around here I started the crate as I needed to have it completed to ensure that the carrier for it would be a nice reasonably tight fit for it. 





The finished framework was then painted and weathered a bit. I then added (from styrene and wire ), the extra stiffening that I thought would have been used in a full size version. 





Pre-paint, or use black styrene card for the strapping pieces making life easy when they are fixed in position. Small 1.5mm cubes are used to replicate the fixing nuts, and even smaller cubes for the strap fixings. These are from white card (otherwise you will loose the things!) paint them and now add some rusty color to them. This is left loose so I can move it to other flatcars. 





Back to the crate – deliberately large, it is 8 3/8” x 4” x 3” in size; made from 5mm thick PVC board, scored as above for the 122” wide planks, with 1.5mm styrene card for the trim, the base is open, and it is internally stiffened, with a final piece being fitted across the width at the bottom. 





Crates like this would I think be returned to the packer/manufacturer of whatever was inside, as they would be expensive, and re-useable. That was certainly the case here in the UK, there was a considerable trade in ‘returns’ 





Paint it to suit, and add some weathering as it looks very plain without it; the top is slightly darker than the sides as that would accumulate more smoke soot. Big crates are (supposedly ) filled with something heavy, so hefty equipment may be needed to move it. That means chains and cranes, so to stop the crate being damaged I added some strapping and loops (for the crane hooks) as well these also needed some protective piece on the top corners. Again pre-paint them to make life easy and glue them in position. The loops are from copper wire that was then blackened. Add some weathering from rusty colored ink to get some definition. 



Here are some photos of the vehicle.










First the trucks, most of the extras (after renoving the spring detail, and re-shaping the axleboxes) if from bits of scrap PVC siolid foam board. 





























Three photos - from flatcra to loaded flatcar, the end stakes fit through the deck.









The carrier, the cross rods and the ones in the corners of the verticals are from plastic covered 1.2mm wire











The crate as it will not normally be seen to show the inside, don't forget to add some trim to replicate the trim round the base (thats right I forgot it till it was assembled!).










And a final one with the frame on the weathered DSP 27foot flat. Both have decals printed by Stan, after I had worked out what I wanted - there are more on the sheet(s) for other vehicles - those lurk grinning at me in that massive 'to do' list!


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## david bunn (Jan 4, 2008)

Very nice Peter,looks good with the load 
Regards 
David


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Really leaves me wondering what is supposed to be in that substantial crate???? Must be BIG and EXPENSIVE!


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## dltrains (Jan 2, 2008)

Great model with a nice load on an unusual containment system 

Dave


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Peter,

Very nice-looking project. Thanks for posting the pixes, particularly the brakes & hangers.

Maybe here's a place to drop in a question that's been bugging me. I have two pixes in my files of archbar trucks. On the very old set, the top 'archbar'(?) is as straight and flat as a stove lid. On the other pic, a more modern one, the same bar has a respectable arch, as yours do. Did these trucks come in various configurations under the same name? (Both are 1:1 trucks).

Thanks, Les


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Les 
Generally they were fabricated from bar stock and styles varied from manufacturer to manufacturer. Carter Bros comes to mind, Simpson ... but yes different styles of 'archbar' trucks. 
Some variances might have been due to wheel diameter. 

John


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Les,

Take a look at my 1.5 inch scale gondola. These are arch bar trucks and the top bar is bent. If you have a program to blow-up sections of a photo, it will be very easy for you to see. Also you asked me once about the brakes I had on this car. When you blow it up, you will be able to see the brake shoes. These trucks were built according to Gene Allen's prints from Allen Models in Goleta, CA.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

John,

'Kay, thanks.

Les


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Gary,

Thanks, I don't know if I have any of that kind of software, but I bet my wife does.

Les


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, 

Re freight car trucks -------- 

There is a web article of some 1890's Northern Pacific archbar swing motion trucjks at the following link  [url]http://4wheelrailroader.tripod.com/id9.html.[/url] 

That site has other interesting article on it as well - enjoy. 

In addition that massive book on the 'Birth of the California Narrow Gauge' has a series of very useful colored isometric drawings as well. 

Most (Narrow Gauge) RR's trucks can be made from the Bachmann one, with the exception of the early small wheelbase (3'2") D&RG versions, the 3rd style (1880) they used is virtually possible though, Robert Sloan's book on D&RG freight cars shows them all.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Great job of kit bashing the new flatcar and load, Peter. Super detail and well done...


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