I have read several of the previous threads about this subject but most either recommended relying on gravity to secure the trailers to the flat cars, or suggested augmenting that with something like a pin drilled in the wheel or a small dab of caulk.
I have several Walthers, Athearn, and Accurail 85/89’ flat cars assembled and want to permanently mount the trailers to the flatcars. There is no chance I will want to separate them once they are together.
My trains are usually stored on their side in storage boxes, which means something light relying mostly on gravity to keep them together won’t work. Something rubbery might not also hold once they are on their side. I was thinking epoxy, but am not sure. I haven’t used Walthers Goo before.
Walthers Goo has the advantage that it makes a firm grip but doesn’t ‘melt’ the plastic the way regular plastics glue does. It takes a day or two for the Goo to really “set” and become hard. Once it’s hard, it’s going to stay stuck unless you change your mind - then you can remove the trailers with no harm done to them or the car. You do have to be a little careful as it is orange colored so you don’t want too much showing under the trailers.
Of course, you could just put the car and trailers in the storage box separately, and put the trailers on the car when you’re going to use it. That would allow you to switch trailers, or just run with one trailer, or run the car empty sometimes. If you have a place that receives TOFC on the layout, kinda nice to have a loaded car come in and later remove the empty flat car.
I will not try to talk you out of this idea, Benjamin, although this is not something I myself would care to do.
Lately I have been experimenting with various uses for transfer tape, which is a thin double sided tape, sort of like scotch tape in thickness, and is very strong and can be cut to shape. Something to think about. And it has other modeling uses.
At Michaels craft stores I also found a line of Glue Dots which are in essence small circles or ovals of transfer tape, some temporary adhesive and some billed as permanent. Although a little tricky to remove from the backing, the permanent ones are very strong.
I think of the Glue Dots because the oval ones are just about the right size to fit under the tires of the trailers. The appearance should be fairly unobtrusive.
They might be worth experimenting with (and the weekly paper always has a 40% coupon for any one item at Michaels so the investment would be fairly minimal – good, because it does take some practice to get the dots off the backing intact and you are likely to botch the first few). The best thing is that while they seem to hold very tightly, using a chisel blade it should be perfectly possible to pry off the trailer wheels should you change your mind down the road.
I use rubber cement. It will hold trailers to flat cars and two containers together. i lay mine on their sides as your do and they do not come apart. The trailers or containers come apart easily sometimes I use an xacto knife to pop them apart. You just wipe the rubber cement off and they just like new. Rubber cement also has the advantage over goo, in that it is opaque and just the little that you use will never bee seen.
If you are using CMW trailers, do not glue them! Adhesives eat away whatever those trailer tires are made of.
.
If your trailer has hard plastic tires, you should be OK, but I would never glue a trailer to the flatcar. I have never had a problem running with “loose” trailers.
They are made out of Vinyl…other brands are Synthetic rubber, like A-Line which I use on all My Truck/Trailer models. You can use Zap Gel PT27 if You want to glue the tires to the car…just takes a drop. I don’t glue any trailers or containers to the equipment. Containers are held in by magnets glued inside of containers floors in each corner and roofs have sheet tin glued to the roofs. There is also 1/4’’ tin glued to the well car floor. Trailers have modified king pins on all of them, which is a number #0 black wood screw with a shank that is bare so they fit in the fifth wheels further than their plastic counter parts after I cut the head off. Each trailer has a 3/8’’ hex nut glued over the king pin and one over the tandems on the trailer floor for added weight. I have over 200 containers/trailers/tractors of all flavors…a lot of ‘‘Fallen Flag’’ Truck Lines custom made by Me…used to do it for special orders.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
EDIT: I forgot to provide the link to the glue I used to hold the 3/8’’ hex nuts to the trailer. floors…that will surely work to glue the trailers to the flat cars. I have found it to be stronger than caulk, goes on crystal clear and drys crystal clear…it looks wet, when dry, also can be peeled off:
Well, partly because I model piggyback before hitches were universal, I do glue a lot of trailers in place. Lots of my piggybacks have various kit bashed fifth wheel supports to simulate pre hitch “jacking”.
I have no need or operational interest in moving them around, and I have enough piggyback flats to simulate whatever variety of loaded/unloaded conditions I might want. About 100 piggyback flats…
Mainly I glue these:
Kit bashed modified Athearn cars, and some others that do not have hitches.
I do have some cars with hitches, and generally I do not glue them.
The Athearn cars are glued with styrene cement - they have plastic wheels.
Others are glued with ACC or 5 minute epoxy, depending on the type of tires.
I don’t really have any storage issues with either type…
Well, to chime in, I don’t glue anything down. The containers, just use the pins and pockets that are molded on the models. No problems, as of yet. The bottom container is weighted. the top is not. Same with spine cars. The 5th wheel holds them in place, along with a little weight. The spine car kits (Walthers) come with stands upright, or folded down, which are not glued in place. I like the option of empty cars, or trains that have a mix of loaded and empty cars, trailers and containers.
I’d go with the tiniest of tiny dots of caulk. The same safe for plastic kind people use on the styrofoam sheets for scenery. It’ll “glue” plastic to plastic and rather firmly, but you’d be able to pry the wheels free of the flat with minimal effort if you change your mind later. Best part after that is you can literally peel the little dot off the flat or trailer (depending on what it stuck to better). Leaves no residue and won’t take any of the material it was on with it.
Containers are held in by magnets glued inside of containers floors in each corner and roofs have sheet tin glued to the roofs. There is also 1/4’’ tin glued to the well car floor. Trailers have modified king pins on all of them, which is a number #0 black wood screw with a shank that is bare so they fit in the fifth wheels further than their plastic counter parts after I cut the head off. Frank
[:-^]
Hi Frank, These are great ideas. Would you be so kind as to explain further about the #0 wood screws with smooth shank and also what tin do you use for these projects ?
The #0 Black round head wood screws I use are made by Perfect. Right below the head of the screw is about 1/8’’ of smooth shank, then the threads start. What I do is drill a #67 hole where I cut off the king-pin and screw the screw into the hole. I then back the screw out and put it in My Pana vise which has Nylon jaws and saw off the head, while it’s still in the vise, I dress the cut, with just a little champher on the end so there are no burrs. I then use needle nose pliers to screw it back into the hole, with about 1/8’’ inch sticking out. The shaft fits exactly in all the fifth wheel holes in the cars/tractors, but goes in deeper than the molded on king-pins, which holds it better on the flat cars/tractors. I do not recommend using a Dremel to cut the head off…it gets extremely hot doing it that way and if You think You can screw it in and then cut the head off…LOL You’ll find that the hole will melt before the head is cut off…Wonder how I know that?[:-^]
The tin I got quite some time ago…as a matter of fact, Walthers carried it back when they first come out with the Mi-Jack crane model, ( in the 80’s) you were supposed to glue it on inside the roof of the containers they sold, so the container would be grabbed by the crane lifting spreader bar that had magnets in the corners of the lift mechanism. I don’t believe Walthers sell them anymore, I havn’t checked. I’m sure You can find a substitute…they are around .010’’ thick. I still have a whole bunch, mainly because I cut them in half. Cir-Kit Concepts Inc. makes #0 wood screws that are similar but they are full thread…I’ve also used those, but I prefer the perfect ones because of t
Benjamin,
In yon olden days, back when the ACF hitch was first being used in the 1960’s, many railroads still used a safety chain to secure the rear of the trailer to the deck. The thinking was that the bouncing of the car would bounce the trailers right off the flat, swinging around the ACF hitch. So if you’re modeling that era, you could use a mechanical connection using chain or a tie down to hold your models down on the rear of each trailer. For the hitch, just use regular cement.
Tho’ I have to say, you might find that the ACF hitch is the weak link. They are quite fragile (well, except the Walthers 75’ ones; they are robust to say the least). Permanently gluing the trailers to these delicate hitches may result in broken pieces, especially if you lay them on their sides for transport.
I would recommend buying the 3" high A-Line boxes so that your flats can be transported standing up. They will only fit 8 cars to a box, but they should give you the best protection for your TOFC models. It’s what I use.
Thanks. The era I am modeling (1980s) didn’t have chains. But, I do agree that the hitch is a weak spot on the cars. After breaking one, I replaced all my hitches with Details West metal castings. They are much sturdier.
Aileen’s Tacky Glue. It’s a low-priced craft store item with a long shelf life if you practice good “glue hygiene.” It’s an adhesive, so it does not damage the mating surfaces. It holds securely, but can still be detached if desired. I find lots of other uses for it on my railroad, too.
