Freight Car Shells
- Thread starter rmonarrez
- Start date
Depends - best bet is to start with the maufacturer of said shells. Can you identify who made them?
Next best bet is to get parts from a similar model - e.g. Accurail sells separate parts for most of their kits. You'd likely have to buy one to determine compatibility, and then could order the required parts.
Last option is to scratchbuild the underframes from wood, brass, or styrene.
Weights can be cut from sheet lead or similar dense metal. Alternatively, if you can live with permanently loaded hoppers, the weight can be concealed in a load.
Good luck, and welcome to The Gauge!
Andrew
Next best bet is to get parts from a similar model - e.g. Accurail sells separate parts for most of their kits. You'd likely have to buy one to determine compatibility, and then could order the required parts.
Last option is to scratchbuild the underframes from wood, brass, or styrene.
Weights can be cut from sheet lead or similar dense metal. Alternatively, if you can live with permanently loaded hoppers, the weight can be concealed in a load.
Good luck, and welcome to The Gauge!
Andrew
:welcome1: to the Gauge.
If you're unsure as to which company made the bodies, post a picture: someone may be able to identify the manufacturer.
Wayne
If you're unsure as to which company made the bodies, post a picture: someone may be able to identify the manufacturer.
Wayne
I suspect the cost of buying the parts to build hopper cars from those shells will cost more than buying a bunch of Athearn blue box or Accurail kits. I think I would use the shells as an opportunity to learn about scratch building with brass. If you use brass square section tubing for the back bone of the frame, you could close off one end with a soldered piece of brass sheet, and fill the center section with lead shot followed by soldering a piece of brass plate to close off the other end. If you build your frame out of brass shapes, I think you might be amazed at how much weight you could hide in the frame so that you don't need any other weight for the model.
Nice idea Russ. For the price of the parts you get some experience soldering, scratchbuilding, and several hoppers you can take pride in because YOU built them.
This is why I spend more time looking through the scrap boxes at train shows than the new items ready to run.
Dave
They Are all MDC hoppers which now belongs to athearn. Thanks for your guys help it will help me decide what i am going to do
With hoppers, the most challenging part to build (by far) is the hopper with all of its rivets. It would be really easy to fabricate a styrene frame and hide some weights under a "coal" load in the car.
Make sure that the Athearn parts are for the MDC hoppers. MDC used a die cast frame to add weight to the model. Athearn used plastic frames and put steel weights in the slope sheets for weight.