Ok, I’ve been collecting Ho Sherman tanks for quite a while now. Now I need the flatcars to haul them with. I need help finding the right flatcar. My time frame is anywhere between 1950-58. Im going to use this with a repair/storage depot scene Im building on my layout. Picture quonset huts, chain link fences and rows and rows of tanks. Im not a rivot counter, I just need a flat car that is fairly inexpensive, because I need alot of them, and I dont mind adding metal wheels and kadees. In this time frame, I would think they used 40’ers.
Be on the lookout for Blue-Box Athearns. I’ve picked up a few 40 and 50 footers. They are very generic and will fit your time frame. They are simple, inexpensive kits, if you can find them.
I’ve been getting these to use as idler flats for my car float facility. I got some real wood “decking” material and put it over the plastic “wood” deck of the flat car. I weathered it with India Ink in alcohol, and got a nice looking model for very little effort.
Since Athearn has discontinued the blue box line of products [:(!][V], don’t be too particular on road name if you find any, just strip and repaint / decal them to whatever road name you need. If you need any advise on this, ask the forum.
I have some M47’s riding on 50’ flats…
The car on the left is a Tichy kit (very easy to assemble). The Tichy cars are great looking kits, provided you don’t mind painting them. The Tichy kits run about $9.
The car on the right is a Pennsy prototype Bowser kit. Also nice kits, assuming you like PRR. Bowser about $13.00
Also for some variety here are some Jeep riding an Athearn 50’ flats…
Nick
The Walthers GSC 54’ flat is a nice-looking car, appropriate for your era, and reasonably priced, too. [swg]
Wayne
Sounds like a neat project. I’ve got an M-41 (I think) Walker Bulldog on an Athearn 40’ flat that is almost too narrow, although the tank model was supposed to be 1:87. I’ll just squint my eyes until I find something that fits a little better.
Just curious, but why Sherman’s in the '50s? I thought that by the time the Korean War broke out they had pretty much been scrapped and replaced with the Walker and Patton. Maybe I’ve got my history time line screwed up.
Shermans with the 76 mm gun or 105 mm howitzer were used during the Korean War but were replaced with Patton tanks during the 1950s. The U.S. also shipped many Shermans in the 1950s to allies.
Mark
For me the issue is not the flat cars it is the tanks. I model the C&O in 1943 and I need a LOT of tanks and other military equipment.
Doug M
scope our ebay for river city railroads I think is the name(rcr). They usually sell undecorated kits of the roundhouse cars. They have had lots of 5-10 undecorated wood deck flatcars with trucks and details. You need to supply weight, wheels and couplers. It can be a good thing to look for.
Mike
You are right, Mark. After I posted, I decided that I should do a little research and discovered that the Sherman’s were widely used in Korea. It does seem that by the end of the 50’s they had generally been replaced for front line use, and I find no reference to U.S. use in Vietnam.
Perhaps not for front-line use, but how about for the National Guard? Since you’re probably modelling the US, the tanks in use for training in North America would be the right ones. That gives you an excuse to use the appropriate “reporting marks” for the Guard units in your modelling area.
Any Guard vets out there who remember what tanks were in use in the 50’s and 60’s?
Mark is correct, my father was on a Sherman crew during Korea, his tour of duty was 1951-1953. I have home movies from drivers port as they did maneuvers on Okinawa.
Sheldon
Not a national guard vet, but I can remember seeing rows upon rows of long barrelled Shermans (M4A2E8, IIRC) w/ the muzzle brake lined up at an Army or National Guard depot in SE Pennsyvania. We used to drive by it on our way to HersheyPark and I can remember standing on the seat (seatbelts? whaddayamean seatbelts?) and looking as long as I could. That would have been from the late sixties to the late 70s.
According to my book on Shermans, their last combat use by the US was in Korea. After Korea Shermans were distributed to the NATO allies and allies in the Asia - Pacific area. The last combat for the Sherman tank was in the Middle East wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973 by the Israeli’s. The Israeli’s (and French) done gun upgrades and engine upgrades. The most powerful Sherman was Israel’s M51 which remained in service into the 1990’s. Interesting stuff. My source is Armored Thunderbolt by Steven Zaloga, an excellent book.
Hi!
My Dad rose thru the ranks in the Army “tank corps” in WWII, and went from assistant driver, to driver, to assistand gunner, to gunner, and finally to tank commander. He ended up with a Sherman M4 and saw action with the 1st Calvary (44th tank battalion attached) in the Phillippines, and ended up in Japan for several months of occupation. Obviously, the Sherman is near and dear.
For flat cars, I vouch for what another poster suggested - that being Athearn BB 40 & 50 foot flats. There still may be some in hobby shops, and Ebay is a good probability.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
You can get Tyco flat cars for nearly no cost. Here is a group of low budget cars on my railroad. Each one is an upgraded Tyco.
The flat cars were salvaged from a box of broken, cheap HO cars somebody gave to me. The flat cars have new decks easily made from Evergreen scribed plastic. Weight of thin sheet steel is inside the carbody hidden under the deck. They have new trucks, new body mounted Kadee couplers, and new brake wheels. The GN flat car is completely repainted with new decals. The black car has SLSF markings from the original Tyco car, but I used black paint to cover the Trailer Train lettering that was in the center of the car.
Thanks for the interesting info. I’ve got a few old Tyco flatcars from when I was a kid (70’s). I need quite a few more as I’ve accumulated 40 Roco Shermans and 12 EKO Shermans so far. That should be enough for a few rows at the storage depot, but I still need somemore for the flatcars. I will look for the BB Athearns and other kits. Im I correct in assuming I should haul only one Sherman per 40’ or 50’ flatcar?or could they manage 2 per??
This months WWII magazine has an article on the trains of the war. There are several shots of M4’s on flactcars.
http://www.historynet.com/worldwar2
Look at the issue with the U564 on the cover and then look just above the UPC code
ratled
Spent some time at Ft. Knox in 58 and there were many a Patton and Bulldog tanks but no Shermans. As for flatcars I would add some that served the Michigan area
ann, compter is actiong goofy [alien] and the area you model.