OK I found a flat car load I want to model. It’s a wind turbine base tower on an 89’ car.
How do I create this load, and what should I use?
!(http://www.railcarphotos.com/pix/24/AOK 8609_Kansas City MO_Tom Stolte_2007-09-15_24697.jpg)
!(http://www.railcarphotos.com/pix/23/AOK 8624_SHREVEPORT LA_Bryce Denny_2007-09-02_23921.jpg)
And the second flat car, I want to model this load here.
Obviously it will have to fit the 89’ flat car.
Any suggestions with this one also?
!(http://www.railcarphotos.com/pix/38/ATSF 90065_Tehachapi CA_Chris Butts_1991-09-01_38541.jpg)
For the wind turbine base, check Plastruct for a tube of the approximate diameter.
I think I remember an RMC article from last year that described modleing and loading a refinery tower; the article was about oversized loads - sorry, I do not remember the month. It gives details for blocking and securing the load that would be applicable to either project.
Good luck!! Post pictures when it’s done [:)] [:)] [:)]
I don’t have a suggestion on the load, but I don’t believe you can use an 89’ flat for that heavy a load.
The prototype is using two 4 trucked flat cars at each end and if my picture in the Reading book I have of a similar load, the cars although cast in one piece have deflected about 4" due to the weight of the refinery vessel. You need a heavy duty flat car in order to move such a load rather than an 89’ car which was not designed for that type of load.
Rick J [2c]
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
Maybe I’ll just do two of the turbine base loads then.
I’ll have a look at some plastistuct tubing.
Now as far as the ends covered with that blue plastic tarp. Could I use a piece of plastic bag and paint that blue?
See this thread (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/thread/2062785.aspx for a description of the following:
For the wind turbine tower, it may be that a piece of ordinary PVC may work better than Plastruct. The plain ol’ PVC has thick walls. If you cap the ends and have a lathe, that thickness should allow you to cut the taper into the PVC so that it looks good.
Plastruct items tend to be thinner walled, which is generally good for modelling purposes, but won’t allow nearly so much taper to be cut into them because of the thinner walls.
Thanks Mike. I’ll get some PVC pipe then. But I don’t have a lathe, so it won’t have tapered ends.
Now the color, I’m trying to figure out. It’s not a pure white, it looks almost silver/white. How about using a silver base with a white coat over it?
Hello Motley, a member of my club did model two of those wind tower. I will ask him what material he used along with the diameter. I would not worry too much about tapering the tower parts. We have a manufacturer of these wind mill in town and the biggest part doesn’t appears to be tapered, if it is, it is not noticeable. I will try to post pictures for you. These units are shipped by train or trucks, mostly trucks.
Another way to taper it would be with a table-type belt sander. Get a piece long enough to provide both the finished part and a good handle, then use the sander to taper things down, while rotating the tube.
Or a whole lot of hand sanding, which would be a real pain.
However, as noted, the taper isn’t strictly necessary, but it would sure look good.
You know now that you put it that way. I’ll go ahead and try it. I mean PVC pipe is cheap stuff, so I’ll give it a whack.
I’ll post some photos of it this weekend when I start this project.
Looking carefully at the very first photo, it appears that only about 6 - 10 feet of the top end of the pylon are tapered - and it’s a uniform taper.
For your second 89-footer you might consider the blades for that wind turbine. Then the generator nacelle on a 12-wheel flat and you’ve got the whole shootin’ match.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I used to work at a wind turbine factory, so I’ll toss in my half-a-cent’s worth on this. The turbines we built sat on 200’ (I think) tall towers. The longest blades were 150’ long. The housing on top of the tower, and the stuff inside it is the part we made. The base for that looked like an upside down tank turret for lack of a better description. In it were the generators and the mechanical guts for the turbine hub. We also had a small crane in there to make it easier to change-out parts.
We got the machine bases hauled in on trucks. After assembly and testing, that’s how they went back out too despite being right next to a Cedar Rapids and Iowa City (CRANDIC) Railway line.
I frequently see semis hauling tower sections on US Hwy. 30. This road runs alongside the UP (ex-CNW) mainline, which sees the occasional turbine special hauling blades and housings.
Check out Clipper Windpower on the web, I think they still have some dimensional drawings on there. Not sure about Vestas or Siemens.
Good luck!
Chris Umscheid
Former and first “Safety Director” for the Cedar Rapids turbine factory
Chuck,
To me it looks like there are two tapers. A very subtle one over most of the length and the one that’s rather more prominent near the top. The shadows toward the right/lower end betray it. But this is a case where just the taper at the top would be all that’s needed to look right.
Michael,
Yep, PVC is cheap, one reason I suggested it as you won’t be bummed if the first try doesn’t quite work out.
The next trick will be smoothing the surface, as tapering is likely to produce an less than perfect appearance. Maybe some real fine sandpaper to finish it?
Chris,
Are the companies you named something like the Big Three? My guess each has their own design, but it’s a limited number of choices. Knowing that might help in modeling identifiable parts, although I’ve seen similar tarps/signage with company names on other shipments, so that also of help.
Some great information and help. I appreciate this!
For the ends that are covered with the blue tarp. I was thinking of using one of those blue plastic bags that they have at the Party City stores. And then adding a white decals.
Mike (Lehman), Clipper is the firm I was with (briefly), while Vestas has a blade plant near West Branch, Iowa and some other plant in former Maytag buildings in Newton, IA. Siemens I’ve seen ads for. I would imagine GE is probably also in the game.
Chris
Chris,
That’s good info to have, along with the pics and other info already in this thread. Google will surely help from there. Another handy source of modeling info is this website:
I’m not sure which company is involved, but it might be Vestia? In any case, once shipping opens on the Great Lakes, Duluth/Superior receives a number of shipments of wind turbine parts. I know at least some of these move out on the railroad, but others are trucked. Maybe it depends on distance to destination? In any case, you can use the shipping schedule above to spot the incoming loads, then the main site linked from there has pics and video of many loads. There should be some files of past shipments if you look around.
http://duluthshippingnews.com/
Duluth has also been the transhipment point for some of the really oversize loads going to the Alberta and other oil sands fields in Canada, so the Schnabels visit from time to time, also, if you like open loads in general. They’re documented there also.
Here are some prototype photos taken by a friend.
Notice the end protecting canvas is of different color. Not all units are tapered and they are also of different length
Only one end is chained and bolted to the flat car.
The opposite end simply rest on his supporting cradle
Notice the protective cushion.
Close clearance with the bridge.
If you need more photos, PM me and I will email them to you.
Wow! Those are some great photos Jack. Thanks a lot, that really helps me out.
Judging from the overhang, I just measure my cars, so I’ll need the PVC pipe to be 1.5" on the outside diameter.
And for the bases, looks like I’ll have to use some pieces of styrene.
I just finished weathering both cars today. Tomorrow I’ll pick up the PVC pipe, styrene, and scale chains.