Sorry for posting this in two forums, but I am really considering trying to model this (for static display on a spur only). I have a brand new spine car set that I still need to put together. So, does anybody think this is possible?
I was thinking of using a heat gun or some other form of heat to bend the end??? And I’m sure that somebody must have a version of that cart available…
As ericsp stated, the Walthers car has metal spine. Depending how modern you want to get, why not use Athearn’s Impack cars to do it. They were made out of plastic so they can easily be bent. They are also less nicer to mess up than the Walthers car.
If you don’t mind taking the risk of it going wrong…
White metal is probably easier to distort than plastic… you should have more time before it scorches and/or turns to a nasty black blob of goo.
Two ways that I would look at it:-
Find a metal rod of the right diameter to set the bend in the spine to. Heat it and place the spine of the car onto it. You will need to experiment for the heat. What you need to do is to get it just hot enough for the white metal to soften without melting. Part of the trick will be to get heat to the top side of the spine (that needs to stretch)
You might find a metal tubes to do the same thing with either inserting a hot metal rod into the tube to heat it and then the white metal or (very possibly) putting some other form of heat through the tube.
Your biggest difficulty is likely to be not damaging any paint you want to leave on. this is where the indirect approach (2) may work better.
The thing to do will be to be patient and to increase the heat slowly so that you can see the white metal start to weaken rather than have it give out suddenly.
