Any suggestions on building four Walthers AA tank car kits? I plan on installing sinkers as weights inside the car and upgrading to Kadee couplers. I odn’t think I need anything else before building except more Testors glue-- Plastruct doesn’t hold the plastic well. Pls don’t ask how I know. [*-)]
Thanks,
Lee
Do you have a scales to weigh the car? Adding weight to NMRA standards is good, but too much weight does not gain you anything except reduced pulling capacity on your locomotive.
Silicone caulk is good to glue down the added weight
I also use silicone caulk to hold the weight, installed in the bottom of the tank. What are Walthers AA tank cars, anyway, I don’t see anything in Walthers labeled AA.
Mike.
EDIT: Just found Walthers AA tank car kits. Never mind about my question above.
One of the challenges to building the Walthers AA (anhydrous ammonia) cars is getting the two halves of the shell to meet neatly particularly at the top. It is a challenge to use any of the quick evaporating solvent cements while struggling to clamp or rubber-band the halves together tightly. I did take some photos off a highway bridge over the yard in Galesburg IL that show that even real tank cars have corrosion and gaps in the outer shell on the top seam – there’s my prototype!
As for weight I do use the Adair Shops special weights for tank cars from time to time but I have also noticed some of the weights meant for Pinewood Derby cars are cylindrical and fit well in the bottom of tank car shells.
I have had luck recently with Faller super expert cement and now use it almost exclusively for plastic kits (learned about it in a Miles Hale instructional DVD dealing with Design Preservation structure kits). But there are times when a plastic cement that is gooey rather than watery (Testors for example) has its uses and the two halves of a Walthers tank car kit are one of those times.
Dave Nelson
Lee,
Don’t know if the tank cars you’re building have anti-personnal bars, but I recall an old MRR “Workshop” article about using eye pins as a more sturdy support for them.
I use lead wire to weight rolling stock, especially flatcars and hoppers. The stuff is fairly soft, easy to form with pliers and fit into small places.
With my small ISL I like the way heavy cars track, they tend to behave more realistically with less jerkiness. Switching is more fun when the car doesn’t scoot away at the mere touch of it’s coupler.
Today’s highly detailed, superbly painted and lettered RTR rolling stock are certainly things of beauty. But a downside occurred to me after aquiring a few, how to easily add weight without damage.
Good luck with your tanker build. Regards, Peter
I wish you luck. I purchased four Walthers tank car kits on Ebay for about $20 total a year or so ago. Try as I might, I could never get the tank joints (left side, right side, and two ends) to look good. Either the plastic was slightly warped from heat or during the molding process, or filling and sanding was the norm. I didn’t want to do that because then I would have to touch up the paint, possibly repainting major portions of the car.
After failing to make the first one look as nice as the RTR tank cars on the market now, I kept the trucks and chucked the rest. It wasn’t worth the aggrevation. Now I know what I got them for $5 each!
Thanks all for the sage advice and responses on building the cars. Yes, they are more challenging than a RTR, but I can get more satisfaction knowing that I built them despite having issues. Even some RTR cars have various problems that we must fix or address. Fixing them using a methodical process and asking for help is much easier than going ‘lone wolf.’
I recall an article discussing the Walthers cars and the writer corrected the top seam issue by filing a slight bevel on each half. The resulting grove was filled with a body filler and sanded smooth, then sprayed painted with the appropriate color. A little weathering and the job was complete. Unortunately I don’t remember the magazine and issue.
I remember a similar article, I think in Mainline Modeller, where the writer used Athearn (metal) handrail stanchions.
If you can get the Walthers kit tank car to look good after gluing together, your probably on your way to being a very good modeler. I couldn’t do it, but I never was a skilled kit builder. I have one Walthers tank car, the 26k version and it was a BEAR and I did get the halves together but they didn’t look the best and I abandoned it - still in the box unfinished some 10 years later.
Yes, thats why so many of those Walthers tank car kits are on the market; they are right up there with the Front Range Centerbeam’s and others like it - infamously difficult. More challening than RTR is putting a very soft spin on it! LOL Cheers.
I too have found the Faller Xpert to be a great workable cement. That along w/ testor’s model master, is a bit thicker and dries slower. For critical or long joints, the cement stays wet and allows for slight repositioning. Even if a small amount oozes out of the seam, it can be immediately wiped with very little to no damage to the surface. The long needle applicator also helps control the amout and placement of cement.
Some have trouble w/ those needle applicators. during constant use while assembling, you won’t have issues, however, if placing the bottle down for a longer period, squeeze to “poof” the cement out of the tube. After time the needle nozzle may clog, run a match or lighter up
Good tips Bob. The LHS owner advised me to shake up the Faller Xpert regularly and evidently that too helps keep the needle applicator clear. So far I have not had problems. When the tube was brand new I did need to open up the tube and used a very small drill bit, but no problems since. Now I know to use the match trick, thanks.
As for Walthers tank car kits I was at a train show/swap meet last month and someone had a box full of partial kits – just the plastic sprues, either unpainted white or unpainted black. So it was lacking the trucks, screws, couplers, weight, etc, but apart from that the kit was basically complete, unpainted and of course unlettered. Price? 2 for fifty cents! Perfect raw material for a weathering clinic I am preparing for next fall, with “sacrificial lamb” samples I can pass around. It is doubtful if the cars will ever see the layout.
That idea of beveling the top seam is intriguing. I also recall an article years ago about the challenge of matching some of the really unique paint colors that cars come in if you need to patch something. A guy wrote that he created his own matching paint by shaving or dunking the (matching) painted sprues into, presumably, a solvent based liquid. So far I have not had to try that idea myself.
Dave Nelson
That’s true. I’ve gotten some good deals on Walthers tank car kits for that reason. I’ve built examples of all the Walthers “modern” tank cars, including the 33K gallon LPG/anhydrous ammonia cars, as well as the 16K and 23K funnel flow cars. All of them share common parts - just about everything but the tank body.
One of the major challenges is getting the two halves of the body lined up. The parts are notorious for being warped, so they don’t like to mate properly without some coaxing. I tried rubber bands, but it’s tough to keep solvent cement from wicking around them. A better solution for me has been “quick grab” type clamps. I use them to hold the body together until I’ve applied enough solvent to keep the tank halves solidly together.
As on the car above, I use Athearn handrail stanchions from blue box diesels to replace the kit platform stanchions, as well as to add brackets for the end railings and safety bars (which are absent from the kits in any form). These help with appearance, and with making the finished car a lot more durable. They also make the kit look almost like the current production RTR versions of the same cars.
Okay, I found this article. It was in the April 1992 issue of Model Railroading magazine. The article was “refinements for the Walthers 40’ Funnel Flow tank car”, and written by Ed Sanicky. He says that “the bevel is created by light filing along the top tank edges only…Dr. Microtools body putty for filling in the gap…smoothed over with #400 fine sandpaper…You will lose the pre-drilled holes for the manway and tank filler with this process, so mark their locations for later re-drilling.”
In addition to the sketch showing the bevel, there was also a sketch showing where to add a main air line and brake rigging.
Thanks Maxman, I have been watching this, and I do have a few Walthers kits.
The last kits I did were Roundhoues/MDC. They have the tank as 1 piece, but you add the ends, and a bottom section. All seem to fit good.
You have to add your own lower safety bar on these, too, but they do include the brackets.
Mike.
We’ll see how well the car looks after I’m done. Completing is is taking awhile given that it’s my first one ever and work full-time and have three small kids. The other complicating issue is working with multiple tiny parts that need to get integrated. I plan on doing subsequent tank cars in stages and then joining things together later.
Thanks to those for suggesting ways of joining the two halves. Larger rubber bands (the kind used for postage) certainly hold things together. I like that the walkways cover most of the top seam and the endcaps do also on the sides. The glue streaks left from the Testors likely disappears once I apply Dull Coat or paint.
Safety bar is also included. That’s the two pieces of wire that need to have the ends bent up to fit. (But please don’t tell that to some of those guys in the other threads that would say they should have come pre-bent for the money the kit cost, and they will never buy a plastic kit again.)
You are almost approaching the edge of something that somewhat resembles sarcasm there.
Dave Nelson
Not there yet? I’ll have to try harder.
Mine is one of the white Procor funnel flow tank cars - it was in storage for years but I may get it out this spring and take a crack at finishing it. I think I may have used thick rubber bands to hold it together while the glue was drying.
http://www.ho-scaletrains.net/walthersfreightcars/id134.html