Side stake size

[Dave S]

I would like to turn a few flat cars I have into log carriers.

What would you say would be the size of the square tubing stock i'd need to get in order to best simulate the side stakes on the Bangor and Aroostook car in the picture i've linked below in HO scale?

http://users.silcon.com/~lgoss/BAR1024.jpg

BTW that is from a great rail picture resource site:
http://users.silcon.com/~lgoss/Homepage.htm

 

[wheeler1963]

6 X 6 scale inches

 

[Davidfd85]

I changed one over for use as a log carrier but all I used for the stakes was some wooden match sticks, stained and cut to length.

 

[Dave S]

I changed one over for use as a log carrier but all I used for the stakes was some wooden match sticks, stained and cut to length.

Yeah I thought about doing the same but didn't figure that I could make the matchsticks look enough like steel. How did it come out?

 

[Old 97]

How did it come out?

I'm curious too. Any pics?

 

[Dave S]

6 X 6 scale inches

So 6 inches divided by 87 = .0689.

Therefore this is the size I need?

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls90750.htm

 

[cv_acr]

6 X 6 scale inches

That looks a lot larger than 6x6. At least 8x8.

Which is fortunate because a 6x6 piece that long would be kinda floppy.

 

[Dave S]

That looks a lot larger than 6x6. At least 8x8.

Which is fortunate because a 6x6 piece that long would be kinda floppy.

Hence my question. I'm a lousy judge when it comes to these things.

 

[Davidfd85]

Well I didn't try to make mine look like steel just wooden stakes on the sides of the car to prevent roll off during loading and unloading. Here is a couple of pics of the car. Sorry the one is a bit blurry. The car already had some pockets on the sides so I just used some super glue and stained match sticks. I used every other pocket so there wasn't to many.

 

[Old 97]

Looks good.

 

[cv_acr]

Dave, you need to measure against a known dimension.

For example, the wheels should be 33" diameter.

The photo is not straight side-on, so it's a little skewed, but comparing the closest post to the nearby wheel, it looks about 1/4 the diameter of the wheel. So about 8".

The side sill of the car is probably 12".

 

[Dave S]

Looks good.

It sure does but I think i'm going to stick with plastic because it's easier to make it look like steel.

So:

8"x 8" huh? Divided by 87 is .091"

So either this:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls90770.htm
(a little big at .1")

or this:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls90760.htm
(a little small at .08")

Would a little big or a little small look better for the application?

 

[Cjcrescent]

It sure does but I think i'm going to stick with plastic because it's easier to make it look like steel.

So:

8"x 8" huh? Divided by 87 is .091"

So either this:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls90770.htm
(a little big at .1")

or this:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/pls/pls90760.htm
(a little small at .08")

Would a little big or a little small look better for the application?

Evergreen also sells their styrene in correct sizes for HO. Ex, you need an 8x8 square tube, they would have 2 sizes listed on the pack, what the size actually is, and what that size is in HO. They do this with their strip stock in N, HO, & O.

 

[Dave S]

Evergreen also sells their styrene in correct sizes for HO. Ex, you need an 8x8 square tube, they would have 2 sizes listed on the pack, what the size actually is, and what that size is in HO. They do this with their strip stock in N, HO, & O.

There's no exact match for an 8x8 but pretty close.

 

[Cjcrescent]

Gee, and I thought there would be. They sell most of their stuff marked this way.

 

[Dave S]

Gee, and I thought there would be. They sell most of their stuff marked this way.

Eh, I ended up getting the .1 stuff. It's just a .09 difference which is pretty close. Just to be safe though I also ordered some .08 as well so I can compare them on the cars and see which one looks better.