| I decided I wanted a quick project that I could finish
up in an afternoon (and I would have succeeded had the REal World not interfered)
so I picked an East Broad Top flatcar as a likely prospect.
I took my basic dimnsions form a Bachmann On30 flat I had on had and cut
the car deck to a 24' length from a sheet of scribed siding. (Fig 1).
I used the time proven meathod of scribing wood grain in with a razor saw.
then flipped the deck over and marked out the car centerline, as well as
centerlines for the truck bolsters (Fig 2)
Since the EBT car themselves were built from steel channel I decided to do the same thing with styrene. I cut the end beams to go across the width of the car and then cut the side beams to length. |
Fig 1 |
Fig 2 |
Fig 3 |
Fig 4 |
Once the sides and ends a squared
up and glued in place, I went ahead and added the car weight, a piece of
flat steel stock. One thing about an Oscale model, I don't expect
anyone to look hard at the underside of the car, so I only have the centerbeams
extending to the weight. Instead of Channel I used back to back I
beam to give some meat for the truck bolsters to attach to. (Fig 5)
I used a section of 5/16 I beam as a coupler pocket, and built up th bolsters from chunks of styrene sheet to get the coupler pocket up to the proper height.(Fig 6) For this project I'm using Life_Lik 100 ton trucks modified for a a narrow gauge appearance. |
Fig 5 |
Fig 6 |
| Stake pockets are prolly the
toughest part of any flatcar project and this one requires 12 of them.
I used a piece of strip with a chunk of square styrene tubing glued to
them. I spaced them equally along the side of the car and used bits
of .030 styrene to "rivet" them in place.(Fig 8) Using photos from
various sources I worked out a rivet pattern for the car, and using the
trusty rivet meathod applied it (Fig 9)
|
Fig 7 |
Fig 8 |
Fig 9 |
Fig.10 |
The brake reseervoir and piston
are hidden up under the car and will prolly become a resin casting for
future construction. but for this one, I built the componets up from bits
of styrene (Fig 10)
Figure 11 Shows the completed assembly in place. Grabs were made of my old favorite staples, with the strap steps made from more robust staples. A bit of wire for a brakestaff and a Grandt Line brakewheel completed the assembly.(Fig 12) After that, she rolled to the paintshop and then into service on the TF&E division.(Fig 20) |
Fig 11 |
Fig 12 |
Fig 13
