Okay. I've begun the conversion of the Bachmann Little Big Hauler hopper into a ribbed side ore car. The inside slope sheets end at a V in the middle of the car. There are no doors to dump the car out. In the middle of the bottom of the car, there is a square, hollow opening that can't be seen without disassembling the car. It looks like it would be a good place to put the hopper doors. The bottom of the slope sheets will need to be cut out to access this opening.
I used an Exacto blade with the tip broken off as a scribing tool to cut into the plastic from the bottom of the car. I followed the insides of the square opening, scribing the plastic. It took a while, but it eventually broke through. I cheated a little by using a razor saw to speed things up. The resulting opening goes straight down from the slope sheets.
The biggest problem I see with this car is that it is so short. It would be perfect if it had one more pannel in the sides. Mounting the bolsters in the correct position will put the outside wheels out past the end sills as per prototype, but there is precious little room in the middle of the car for unloading doors. I'm looking at a few ideas but haven't really found one yet.
The car comes with a 2 axle flat chassis that was modified from their bobber caboose. I'm going to need an underframe and bolsters to put the trucks in the correct position for more accurate door ideas.
As it stands, I think this idea for the car is feasible, with the proper study. The doors are the only real thing holding me up at this point. The car will need some serious detailing to bring it to the front. It has even less detail than the roundhouse ore car. I'm going to remove the cast on grab irons and make better ones. I realize why the car has few fine details, the intended operators. Little kids.
The car does have the family look I want in my hopper fleet as it was based off their 3 bay hopper. All of the side ribs still have to have pieces added to them to make them the proper depth, and new top bulbs added. I have to do this to the 3 bay hoppers to make them match the LGB EBT two bay hopper I have. I like ribbed side hoppers because I grew up watching endless strings of N&W hoppers going by.
If anyone has suggestions for realistic looking doors for this car, don't be afraid to speak up. If I likes it, Imma usin' it.
