To All: A good material for the sub assembly of scratch built freight cars is the 1/8" dense foam board. It doesn’t warp, can be drilled for grabs and with light sanding will take plastic glue and CAA. It is heavy enough that you do not need to add much weight to bring the car up to NMRA standards. It was given to me but I believe it can be purchased at craft stores. I modeled an unusual 40 ft. freight car using this material as a base. It can be found on page 25 of the book "Classic Freight Cars, The Series. " I glued corragated metal on the sides to represent what was on the prototype and drilled for grabs on the left side ends. I also used it for the floor and bolsters and drilled for the coupler box screws and truck screws. The material will hold a 2/56 screw well. The finished car looks great, sorry I do not have a pix. Try this material, you scratch builders, I highly recommend it .
Is this material also called Gator Foam or Gator Board? I have seen it used for several things, but never in the construcation of rolling stock. Versitile stuff.
Have fun,
Richard
I’ve used foam board for structures, but never rolling stock, now you’ve got thinking about that fleet of SP B50 box cars i’ve always wanted and the master that will require board by board construction to obtain them.
Dave