I've decided to create a single, consolidated thread for all future DSP&P/CCRR/DL&G/UPD&G freight cars. For our 2nd anniversary (which is tomorrow), my wife bought me some scratch building supplies. So in the past couple days I've started a 26' flat car, a 27' gondola, and a 27' boxcar. I don't have pictures of them yet...but they are coming along nicely.
In order to get the platform cars to proper weight, without permanent loads, I've decided to create a scale 3.5" pocket below the floor of each car. This is just large enough to add 4.5oz of lead weight. For most house cars, this obviously isn't necessary. The only house cars that I will have to do this with will be stock cars and the DSP&P's Barney and Smith open air boxcars (which were probably conversions from flat cars...and look like stock cars). For those, I'll be following the platform car approach. The space for the pocket is created by shortening the depth of each intermediate and center sill by a scale 4" (0.080")...with the side sills still being the proper depth. The real negative to this is that this sub-floor is at the height that the truss rods are supposed to be at...but I'd rather have great running models than perfect 1:48 scale reproductions.
In order to get the platform cars to proper weight, without permanent loads, I've decided to create a scale 3.5" pocket below the floor of each car. This is just large enough to add 4.5oz of lead weight. For most house cars, this obviously isn't necessary. The only house cars that I will have to do this with will be stock cars and the DSP&P's Barney and Smith open air boxcars (which were probably conversions from flat cars...and look like stock cars). For those, I'll be following the platform car approach. The space for the pocket is created by shortening the depth of each intermediate and center sill by a scale 4" (0.080")...with the side sills still being the proper depth. The real negative to this is that this sub-floor is at the height that the truss rods are supposed to be at...but I'd rather have great running models than perfect 1:48 scale reproductions.