I want to try my hand at a small project, making a G scale model of a flat car. I’m thinking of brass/wood combination. I am almost completely new at this, never done a model from scratch before, and have no experience with sheetmetal work.
I searched the internet for information, but just didn’t find any useful information. What I would like is to purchase a set of scale drawings for a prototype, but it seems that there is no one who does this.
If you have any web links or books or anything that might help out, please send them this way. Thanks in advance.
Well, if you’re interested in narrow gauge, see if you can find “A century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981” by Robert E. Sloan. It’s a great source of drawings of all sorts of NG freight cars.
Check my website, I’ve used styrene, as well as wood. Shouldn’t have to do anything with sheetmetal.
I recently built this from styrene:
Now, if you’re into standard gauge, that’s another issue. You might look at “The Model Railroader’s Guide to Freight Cars” from Kalmbach, or perhaps "The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood-Car Era to the Coming of Steel (Paperback)"
Personally I prefer plastic or plastic with timber deck - Enhance timber grain with a saw blade before using tho, alternayively grain your plastic the same way.
Start with a simple flat truck - I use punchings from a leather punch out of styrene sheet for rivet / bolt detail . old coat hanger wire makes good truss rods . stake pockets from styrene u section or formed in a timber press from heated sheet. Its practise and will take time but just build something and see
For plans I highly suggest Ted Stinson’s plans, the same ones that up till recently were being offered in the magazine, they have a good material list and are easy to follow. http://www.sidestreet.info/railways/plans.html
Agreed they are good plans and a good basis to start. I use aristocraft trucks generally as they seem best compromise between cost and appearance alternatively more scale trucks but they tend to be fragile
For trucks you can trawl Ebay, train shows, and swap meets for beater freight car and salvage the trucks.
Last Xmas at Big Lots (Pic-n-save) I found an almost large scale toy train set (50mm gauge!) that I salvaged the trucks from. I added a styrene spacer on each side, redrilled the axle holes and added Bachmann ore car wheels. why did I go through all this? Because for $19 I netted 6 trucks per set, the rest was pure junk. I salvaged as much as I could, but most of it ended up in the recylcle bin.
Thanks for the reply. I’m going to chase down the books you mentioned. I think I’m going to go for a flat car first, late '50’s era. It was common to have wood slats across the top and use steel for the rest of the car.
It’s interesting. I was thinking of using brass (metal) because they did in the prototype. But it seems from most of the replies that platics are the material of choice. Why? Any reason metals are not used?
It seems that most of you guys are using plastic as the base material. Why? I remember my dad doing some custom stuff in Brass in HO years (decades really) ago. Does it not “scale” up?
1 It is not feasible to make it scale thickness on grounds of cost / weight.
Brass requires soldering - soft solder is not that strong and requires the design to allow adequate solder faces . Silver solder requires higher tepmperatures and more skill
If you solder two parts adding detail or the next part can break the first joint.
4.Plastic is more user friendly , gives scale thickness in most cases , costs less and can be made to look like anything , wood graining brass is a no no. Also adding bolts , nuts ,washers and other detail is easy …
I use whatever material suits , use steel or copper for handrails , brass strip for detail and wood where appropriate. It pays to be flexible in your approach but if you are just starting I would really reccomend plastic as your main material. Lokk at the sheet and strip stock in your local model shop. Always use liquid cement IE plastruct adhesive or similar.
If you have deep pockets go for it, the cost of the necessary brass stock needed to build something the size of G rolling stock usually scares off most sane people into the strip wood or styrene aisle. Most modern cars can be built using sturdy wood or plywood subframes and a styrene sheathing to represent the steel parts but whatever floats your boat…
If you can get copies of the past year or so of GR, I’ve been running a series in my “Garden Railways Basics” column on various scratchbuilding techniques. Combine those with the pull-out plans, and you’ll be off to a great start.
Enjoy. Scratchbuilding’s a fantastic way to enjoy the hobby and create some very individual models.
Agreed K also saves money and there is a pleasure in creating something from nothing , anyone can buy a readymade wagon but if you build it yourself you have something unique and personal. it might not be as technically perfect as shop bought but you have the satisfaction of saying I made that
Why don’t you consider ordering one of the kits from Northwest or Ozark? They include some nice castings, can bundle with trucks, and have your choice of couplers. Get your feet whet and see how others give it a go.
