# A bit of light relief - an new flatcar



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, 

As a bit of light relief from building my Mason bogie, and whilst waiting for parts I have started that almost universal and cheap freight car of the American Narrow Gauge - a flatcar, used for everything that did not require good weather protection, it also gained sides and even a roof for specialized use and in the summer could gain a set of seats and roof for excursion stock. 





This one is a 26 foot long Denver & South Park version, of the early series with only 6 stake pockets per side, later they had eight. Made from PVC solid foam sheet with the deck being 3mm thick, and the stake pockets are bits of Plastruct ABS square tube, with bits of styrene card around them and a central fixing of copper wire through holes in the sides. 





The sides are 5mm thick, with a couple of pieces made from wood to give some added strength, the centre sill has had some lead strip added under the bolsters; more will be added. A simplified air brake valve has been made from ‘bits and pieces and is fixed in location, after first painting the underside of it. 





Two air pipes are made and will be added at the ends. They are made from some bits of bicycle spoke and the insulation from some scrap electrical wire stiffened with one (out of 3) strands. The same bike spokes are used for the two truss rods. 



The ex Bachmann bogies are next for modification with more styrene strip etc. Then it will be time to enter the paint shop. 


Here are a couple of photos of the work so far











and the underside


----------



## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

It's on it's way, Peter. What will you be doing to the B'mann trucks for mounting?????? Nicely done body...


----------



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Stan, 

One end has the mounting sawn off the old underframe and glued onto the bolster the other is scratch made - both the Bachmann ones are slightly different (at least on this underframe) one was deeper that the other, and the slhallow one would not allow for being sdawn off. 

But I have made the mountings on other vehicles, on the cross bolster a pad is added (if needed) and a tube set through it to the underside of the floor, inside is a second tube to reduce the internal diameter to accept a screw for fixing. Add a penny washer if need to give a good base for the bogie to turn on. 

Finally adjust if required.


----------



## alecescolme (Dec 20, 2010)

Looking great so far, neat idea for stake pockets. I will have to get round to making my own flatcar soon. 
Keep up the good work! 

Alec.


----------



## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

Nice work, Peter. Inspirational too!


----------



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

0
Hi, I have been modifying the Bachmann bogies to look like the Denver & South Park ones; this message/article could be used as a 'general guide' for modifying either Bachmann or LGB Bogies - 

The bogies as supplied by Bachmann are a very good for modifying, so they paid a visit to the surgery, scalplels and machinery required and ready, for some changes to be made. 

The Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad had three distinct designs of freight car bogie during its lifetime and this was the first style. I have also made the others using the same basic idea, if you have a drawing the rest is easy! 

There are slight mismatches for what I do, for example the wheelbase of the Bachmann bogie is 3 foot 8 inches and the DSP were 4 foot, conversely the wheelbase of CCRR bogies was 3 foot 4 inches! 

This style of bogie had the brakeshoes hung from the cross pieces at each end; I do not do that as it makes it more difficult if I want to dismantle the bogies. Later the DSP hung them from the underside of the floor which for my purposes is even worse so they stay attached to the bogie itself. 

Back to my work on them - first the all the detail was removed using a sanding drum and a dentists burr for the small work, removing the center spring detail and half of the thickness at the ends of the top frameworks, be careful, and work slowly checking the levels, also take off the detail on the axleboxes and the vertical bolts each side of the axleboxes. When finished add each side of the central area, where the springs were at each side a strip 1.5mm x 1mm – this levels up the outer edges of the sides of the central part to the level of the rest of the area. 

The bogies for this flatcar have extensions at each end, which is the reason for the work above, the extensions are made from 60 thou styrene card, with the slightly difficult bit being the diagonal slopes that run from the underside of the level top pieces to the outer edges of the axleboxes.on the lower parts of the bogie, the lower end fits close against the axlebox and under the end piece of the new top extensions. Ensure these are level by ‘squinting’ along the bogie frame – any difference will be quite obvious. Glue the new ‘bits’ to the frame with epoxy resin: I use Evo-stik, but that cannot be bought in the USA, or styrene glue when possible, as it is faster to set. It will not work on the black plastic . 

One side frame has a small amount of play added into it (like the LGB version of these bogies) - shave off the lower end edges of the fixing spigot, and make the fixing hole on the sideframe an oval shape so the frame when fitted has some up & down movement. 

Moving to the center unit fill in the holes each side of the center pivot with some scrap (PVC solid foam) bits (they are 20mm deep) and a stiffener piece at the side of the main pieces. These will support the ‘end to end’ beams that the brake shoes and beams are going to be fixed to. The two sideframes can be fitted back onto the centre unit with the painted (rust and muck color) wheels fitted at the same time. 

The brakebeams , and brakeshoes are made from PVC solid foam scrap, and the ‘end to end’ beams, which are slightly flexible can be made from .060 plasticard, though I have used (as I had it in stock), some PVC sheet from the centre of doors. Fix the brake shoes onto the beam allowing for some side play by the wheels, and paint the inside face, which is against the wheels of them before fitting. When fixing them to the (pre-fixed) end to end beams they will need to be at a slope to match the wheels, add a tiny wedge to lift up the inner edge of each one. 

One sideframe has some compensation to it: to keep this working the cross pieces at the extreme ends of the bogie frames, and at the coupler end need to be free, I leave the inner end unglued and add a piece on the coupler shank to act as a stop. 

Finally here are a couple of photos 

the first shows one modified bogie with its so far untouched compatriot, don't forget to paint the wheels before they are fitted! 










the other is of the bogie upside down - showing the pillars on the bolster that accept the 'end to end' strips holding the brake shoes; made from .060 pvc in my case but .060 styrene card will work just the same. 










Whilst the modifications were being done, the paintbrush was being applied to the body, after fitting in the space between the centre stringers some lead to bring the total weight of the vehicle (including bogies) up to just over 1 pound. Black for most of the underside, red oxide slightly darkened for the sides/ends, and a mix for the deck. I have painted a couple of the planks to look like replacement ones, the rest being a very varied mixture of colors and shades. Don't forget the ends and undersides, and a set of stakes. The Denver & South Park RR cut two holes in the each end of the flatcar deck to accept a couple of stakes: these were used to restrain any load that the flatcar had across the body - there are photos showing the vehicles full of ties (sleepers here in the UK) close up against the extra, at each end, stakes. The extra stakes were fitted so the were against the inner corner of the intermediate stringers, on the outer corner. 

All stakes are removable, they have been painted in several shades as they were basically any old scrap wood that could be found! These are a bit better than that, but still are a bit filthy, and good practice for weathering! 

Here is what the deck looks like, it could be said that it is in very good condition, as these flatcars were the 'maid of all work' for the American Narrow Gauge and were greatly abused, having a very hard life. 










The deck and stakes have had a coat of Johnson's Klear added to them for protection, and the sides will be weathered much more when the transfers have been added. Those are missing ! 

I thought I had some but a close look and measuring showed that the intended transfers are 2mm too high! So it was time to switch on the computer and dig out with my 'master' for DSP transfers and adjust them to size to be eventually sent to Arizona with some more that I will need printing. That will be when I have all of the masterr done to my satisfaction - we are about 3/4 of the way there I think! 

Thats it so far and the new flatcar is almost (except for my mess up with the transfers) complete.


----------



## Big65Dude (Jan 2, 2008)

Peter -

Nicely done!


----------



## chuckger (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Peter,

Nice work on the fllat car. It looks very realistic. Nice to see someone doing the DSP&P models. Btw hows your big mason comming along?

chuckger


----------



## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, 

Thank you for the kind commnets - most appreciated. 

For Chuckger - I was waiting for some bits for it - those have npw come and I will do some more; the chassis is to go away to the soth of the country to have a motor and gearbox custom made for it, and then the valve gear, whoxe bits & pieces are also made will need sorting out. I'm getting there! 

Whilst making the above flatcar I made a slatted crate as a 'load' for it (no its not a massive full length one, its just under 4" long) from the illustration of one on the Bronson-Tate website (http://www.bronson-tate.com/kits/trackside/large-crates.shtml) where kit DTC-07 is shown. I made the floor of it solid and on that added a load made from polystyrene scrap and covered with a couple of tarpaulins. 

The price that it is ($11) is in my opinion well worth it - having scratchbuilt my own, postal charges to the UK being my main concern about it - Doug agrees but says he has a way round that - I will be buying one in due 
course, with some of his CCRR coach kits. 

The kit is mainly laser cut panels (6) with some extra strips for the stiffening strips around it. The top can be made removable for putting loads inside it. 


I have no connection with Doug Bronson, he does make good kits though!


----------



## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

Once again I stand in awe of someone who does great things.


----------

