Flat car detail

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi all,

I just received a new PRR 1950’s era flatcar that I plan to detail with a tractor load. I’d like to represent the car as a fairly new and need to know what the decking would look like after a year’s use on a small branchline hauling new farm machinery, etc…

Right now the decking is painted the body color of the rest of the car. Any ideas what color I should use as my base on the deck? I can weather from there. Pics would be helpful, many I have found are at track level with no visible decking areas…

Thanks for the help ----Rob

2

http://www.azrymuseum.org/roster/flatcar.jpg Not the exact car is acutally the same color

http://www.wwfry.org/equipment/pics/126.jpg We can see the deck, your basic wood color

3

if they are a wood deck i would go with a weathered wood color [2c]

4

Not as helpful as I thought, but here’s at least an MSTS view of the top.

5

Rob,

Here are a pair of my PRR F41s in N scale:

6

Interesting; I never noticed the “arrow” detailing on these flatcars before. [:D]

7

It must be some sort of loading/tie down indicator.

8

If you are modeling HO, AMB makes laser cut wood decks for certain cars. I don’t know if they make one for your particular brand of car, but here is the link… http://www.laserkit.com/laserkit.htm

9

Having climbed on a number of them back in that time period, I remember the decks being plain unpainted, untreated wood. If they were in use any length off time they were rough, beat up, and heavily “weathered”. The decks had numerous scrapes and gouges from the heavy loads that were moved on them, as well as nail or spike holes for packing cribing etc. Some had a plank or two replaced here and there which showed up newer than the other floor boards. A deck a year old wouldn’t be too gray from exposure, but might or might not be pretty well beat up depending on the service it had been used for.

JBB

10

Modelers Choice has excellent products.

http://modelerschoice.com/products.htm

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11

THANKS GUYS!

Great info.

Dave, I actually have the exact Pennsy flat car you posted the pic of and will be weathering them in a similar way. I’ve been on your site a few times and it has been a great source of getting N scale Pennsy ideas! Great work, keep it up…

Thanks

----Rob