I just bought a Taylor diet type digital scale. I cannot believe what I am seeing! My 6" gondola only indicates 2.4 Oz. and it should be (NMRA) about 4 Oz. The thing already seems heavy to me so is there any way to check the calibration with something I already have, like a penny?
Depending on the brand of the gondola, and whether it’s plastic, metal, or wood, the scale is probably right. Most plastic gondola models don’t have weights in them.
I too was very surprised at how light some of my rolling stock was, even though it FELT heavy enough to me. I bought a digital postal scale and weighed each one of my cars. Almost all of them were too light. I added weight until they were correct and that put a stop to the random mysterious derailments I was having. Boxcars and tank cars are easy, the weight can easily be concealed inside. With hoppers and gondolas it can be concealed under a load. Only flatcars are the difficult ones. Luckily the only flats I have are (1) a crane car tender and (2) a transfer caboose. I don’t use the crane car and it’s tender very much so I didn’t bother with it. For the transfer caboose I concealed a heat sink from an old computer in the cabin. It was just the right weight.
I bought a cheap diet scale at Kmart when I was diagnosed with diabetes. It didn’t seem right, so I put a 6 1/2 oz can of tuna on it - it weighed 2 1/2 oz!!! Spend $15 or more on an accurate scale - test it with a few 1 oz fishing sinkers![B)]
Athearn 40 foot boxcars should weight around 3.50 ounces if Im not mistaken on my digital scale.
I weighted a bunch down with pennies to 4 ounces and ended up having to replace the floors as they warped badly under the goo.
I would hate to put a full lenth walthers pullman onto that scale to learn it’s way too light or something.
A penny is too light to be accurate. Take a railroad car to the post office and see if they have a self service scale (or a cooperative postal clerk). If nothing else ask them to weigh a car and tell them you are going to mail some and want to get an idea how much they weigh. That will give you an accurate measure.
Better yet pick something heavier, like an engine and have them weigh that too. that will give you two known weights and you can gauge how accurate your scale is.
Dave H.
(PS: 44 cents in pennies is about 4 oz.)
My digital scale has three capabilites: Grams, Oz and 5 pounds. It should be able to see a penny. Ive never tried it though.
I checked my scale with a business letter that was precisely one ounce. The weight is printed on the envelope. It weighed in at one ounce precisely. I have no doubts about what it says about the car weights. I have two passenger cars. The heaviest one weighed in at 3.7 ounces. Since I don’t run them I won’t bother with adding weight to them.