LINDE cryo car painted and decaled


I tried using a 'T' section in plastic styrene strips, but it would not bend correctly at all.

And I thought about the 'cap' possibility as well, but did not try it.

I thought about 'shading' the rectangular strip rib might also be a method to make it look like the actual I-beam rig frame. But that could be a difficult, time consuming process as well.
 
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beiland, have you tried softening the H-columns using hot water? You'd have to experiment to see which temp results in the greatest softening, without damage to the column itself, but I believe that it could be done.

Heating styrene pieces with hot water is not new. Its been a suggested technique for straightening out bent or deformed pieces for years. Why couldn't it be used to form special pieces that need to be curved a certain way?
 
Actually I did try softing with hot water but it would get also get some of the 'straightness' out of the column I desired to get ring ribs on straight. The dampness also interfered with the 'spot welding' of the rib to the tube.
 
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Attract Majors to Create Model this Tank Car

Hey Bobby, I so much liked this tank car model that I have on at least two occasions tried to get the 'major players' to consider building an HO model of this Liquid Oxygen, Liquid Air tank car. Here is one letter I sent out about 3 years ago:

_____________________________________
TO: Athearn Model RR
Atlas Model RR
Walthers Model RR

Subject: New Product Suggestion….new Tank Car model

I’m sure you likely get a number of various such suggestions all the time, so pardon me for making another. (I’ve actually been quite good at picking successful items to market in my past....

Okay, right up front I confess to having a particular fascination with ‘tank cars’ in the model railroad hobby. Both of your companies have produced some very nice ones over the recent years. I must own at least 20 examples of the 33,000 gal propane cars from Atlas. And I’m extremely pleased with the new 13.500 gal acid cars from Athearn…I’ll be collecting a number of those. In particular I recently acquired a “Pemco” model by Athearn…the graphics and details on this car are GREAT. I ordered two of them, but was only able to get 1. Seems they sold out the first run, and now may not have enough in the second run?? I would love to have a few more.

There is another tank car model that I that has too long been neglected, and I think it could sell in fairly large numbers…. LIQUID AIR cars….externally ribbed cryogenic cars. Most specifically I’m referring to the 65-foot liquid air cars built by Union Tank Car as addressed in this attached article from Model Railroder, and these photos from Overland Models.

To my knowledge only Overland Models has ever built models of these cars,..in brass, …and they current bring about $300 to $350 each in the market (HO scale). I have to imagine a good plastic one these days could sell for at least $30-35. I would pay 35 +, and likely I would have at least 6-7 of them. I believe many other tank car fans would as well.

As near as I can tell at this time there are at least 5 variations in the graphics and construction details on these cars, and most all of these could be found in consist on any RR line in the country. So any model railroader might have a few operating on his layout.

I would further propose a couple of ‘dream schemes’ for these cars. During the Saturn V rocket program to launch a man to the moon, there was big need for liquid oxygen used as a propellant for that big rocket. I did a little research on how that oxygen arrived to Cape Canaveral (thinking it might have logically been by rail), and found that Florida East Coast RR was on a semi-strike at the time....So the oxygen was trucked into the Cape (now Kennedy), and stored in big underground tanks. Had that not been the case, imagine if that oxygen for all those Saturn rockets had arrived via special NASA Liquid Oxygen cars. I imagine we could come up with at least 2-3 different graphics for these cars.

Again I think any red-blooded American male RR modeler would want 1 or 2 of these NASA tank cars on his layout. I personally have in mind having 5-6 of these cars feeding into a diorama/module with a Saturn V rocket set to be launched. That rocket should be relatively easy to model, and should be over 5 foot tall in HO scale. That should be quite an eye-opener for both kids and adults….’the old RR transportation system lending a helping hand with the new space transportation system’. As I think about it maybe Walthers would be interested in creating a structures theme based on a NASA rocket launch scene with both the Saturn and Space Shuttle rocket models. I believe the solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle are brought in and removed by rail. And we’ll need some NASA switchers. Boys, and men, and rockets, and trains all go together in real life and our fantasies.
Regards,
View attachment 34322

View attachment 34323

View attachment 34324
___________________________________________________



More recently I made the same suggestion to Spring Mills Depot....., the folks that just recently introduced their MARVELOUS new model of the B&O wagontop caboose. They would not entertain the idea either.

So.......
 
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New Kit

…...So now I want to entertain the idea of putting together a kit. This 'kit' could be just a list of the various parts and the sources, that a modeler could reference to go out and collect those parts and build their own model.

Or if there is a certain demand out there, the 'kit' could be all of these parts gathered together in a small box to be purchased by that person desiring to convert a few of his old Athearn tank cars into new liquid oxygen ones.

In reality this can be a relatively simple model to get pretty close to authentic. However, one item I first thought was going to be real easy to do turned out to be a little disconcerting.....those reinforcement 'ring frames'. I thought about a number of different ways to construct them, and I experimented with a few of those ideas. At that time I settled on just bending both rectangular & 'H' cross-section strips of styrene plastic around the tubular tank body in a series of steps....tack down with CA, bend, tack with CA, bend, ...etc. Following all of this 'tacking down' I sought to 'fuse' the entire ring frame to the tubular body with a styrene liquid cement (in my case Tenax 7R).

All of this tacking and gluing was very time consuming, particularly when you consider 12 rings on one car. And it required more finish sanding of the adjacent tube areas than I originally anticipated.

So I am looking at some newer ideas to provide these ring frames as one-piece plastic rings that could be slid onto the tubular body and glued into place. Perhaps these rings might also incorporated the under support braces for those upper walkways. Perhaps they can be laser cut, like a lot of the newer structure kits??

Does anyone have other sources for these laser cut parts?...or does anyone have other suggestions as to how to fabricate the ring frames most economically?

Bobby Pitts has turned me onto one source of decals that he utilized ( the "Linde" ones). I'm going to ask that source about producing the "Liquid Air" decal set.
 
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NASA dream scheme decals

Finally consider that 'dream scheme' I mentioned, the NASA cars. Lets open this design up to all that might want to make suggestions. I'm thinking it should have 3 prominent letterings on the side:
1) NASA
2) Liquid Oxygen
3) Fueling our Space Exploration ...or Fueling our Exploration into Space

What do you think?? Lets see some sketches.
 
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beiland said:
Actually I did try softing with hot water but it would get also get some of the 'straightness' out of the column I desired to get ring ribs on straight. The dampness also interfered with the 'spot welding' of the rib to the tube.
Click to expand...

What I was thinking was to have a form of the proper size, (could be a dowel, a part of a junked tanker, etc), Standing up against a flat surface, and then you'd place the beam around it, keeping the column straight.
 
Now that you bring it up I think I did consider a 'form' or mold, but it was in reverse,....a circular hole on a flat plate that I could form those circular ribs inside of, that could then be slipped over the cylinder and glued on.

I can't remember if I actually tried that out. :confused:.....maybe age and memory :rolleyes::D
 
The guy at Train Cat said he had the molds ready for a N ga and latter a HO version, but he canceled the project for undeclared reasons. He was going to use alum. Molds.

Bobby
 
bobby pitts said:
The guy at Train Cat said he had the molds ready for a N ga and latter a HO version, but he canceled the project for undeclared reasons. He was going to use alum. Molds. Bobby
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Are you saying he was going to mold the car, or just the ribs??....in resin??
TrainCat
 
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beiland said:
Now that you bring it up I think I did consider a 'form' or mold, but it was in reverse,....a circular hole on a flat plate that I could form those circular ribs inside of, that could then be slipped over the cylinder and glued on.

I can't remember if I actually tried that out. :confused:.....maybe age and memory :rolleyes::D
Click to expand...

I know about the age and memory thing.

What I was postulating is by using a tube of some kind set perpendicular on a flat surface, you take the softened styrene and bend it around the tube, dowel, PVC pipe, or whatever is the size of the tank you're building, while it is laying on the flat surface. This would insure a straight 'set' to the column. It can be done quicker than trying to push the column into shape around the hole.
 
Laser Cut Ring Ribs

I just sent out a request to 2 laser cut kit builders asking what their thoughts and approx prices might be on getting these ring ribs as a precut item that could be slid onto the tubular body and glued in place.

I also asked if maybe two style ribs might be provided,....ones with the 'nub' under-supports braces for the upper walkways/handrails, ....and ones without.
 
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Bobby's Car (upper walkway version)

For those folks that might have had trouble accessing Bobby's pics, have a look here....wonderful job :cool:
 
Bobby's Car (no upper walkways version)

...this version without the upper walkways
 
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Handrail Parts and Walkways

Bobby, where did you get those excellent handrail parts, and the long grated walkways??
 
beiland said:
Bobby, where did you get those excellent handrail parts, and the long grated walkways??
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The T,s are Smokey Valley kit 102, the walkways are Tichy #3077 40' steel roof walk. I cut to
Size both length and width. Then I acc stainless frets from Plano to the edges. Thanks for posting the photos.

Bobby
 
NASA dream scheme

beiland said:
Finally consider that 'dream scheme' I mentioned, the NASA cars. Lets open this design up to all that might want to make suggestions. I'm thinking it should have 3 prominent letterings on the side:
1) NASA
2) Liquid Oxygen
3) Fueling our Space Exploration ...or Fueling our Exploration into Space

What do you think?? Lets see some sketches.
Click to expand...
Not having received any ideas here, I moved this 'dream scheme' suggestion over to this other subject thread I had previously started on 'NASA Railroad'
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20815

...more specifically here:http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showpost.php?p=298041&postcount=16
 
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beiland said:
Those Tichy walkways are plastic...correct? They sure look to be metal in the photos.
View attachment 34592

How about these etched metal ones from Plano ??
http://www.planomodelproducts.com/306.htm
Click to expand...

Yes, they are plastic. I used metal on my DUPX 29723. I use double thickness and cut into sections to prevent warping. I also used metal on the VICX car. I solder two sections to get the correct thickness. I use clothes pins to hold the two and use silver bearing to fasten together. Yes, silver bearing works on stainless, flows like water with the provided flux. You learn lots of tricks over the years.

Bobby
 
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