In various threads the subject of my log car project has come up. Well I finally have the first one done. So here it is. It starts life as a Red Caboose flat car. The decking is cut off of it. The frame is cut so its flat not a fish belly. The ends are covered in styrene sheet. Details are added. Bunks are made of brass to get the weight. The decals were part of a topic on making white decals on a printer. Not perfect but after weathering look very nice. I used various weathering techniques and use real bark shavings to simulate the leftover bark that piles up in the car. Logs were added for the finishing touches. The prototype cars are ex milwaulkee and many variations exist as milwaulkee used whatever they had to make them. After starting this project I discovered bachman made them, but the bunks are to short. I think this car came out pretty nice. I hope you like them. I have about 24 more to make.
ST Maries River Railroad Log Flat
- Thread starter d_sinsley
- Start date
funnelfan
Member
Great job on the log car. The load is a must for weight reasons. I did find it interesting that Walthers just announced the St Maries River RR (STMA) #101 for their trainline GP9M.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/931-138
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/931-138
Those buggers at Walthers would do that to me. I have already started and extensive build on the my first of three GP's used by STMA. However I am a stickler for as much accuracy as I can muster and the rebuilds of the G9s STMA uses makes them look more like GP18s. The fans are all wrong they use all 48" fans, the front two small fans are replaced by one and the rear has one 48" fan that is never seen because it is under a winterization hatch that is never removed. That will be my next showing off piece. It is interesting that they are producing it. It is a fairly obscure railroad.
for weight of the car it isn't necessary to have the load on it. I used brass for the bunks which added allot of weight and the Kaydee trucks are the HGC or whatever they are called that are heavy also. I did this on purpose so they could be run empty. They have decent weight empty and with the load they are almost to heavy. I have even thought of replacing the styrene deck with thin lead sheeting if I can find it. Or even brass sheet.
And as for the letter it was a decent job I think and the photos really accent the difference in color. with the naked eye you can see that defined difference. I am happy with it. For as may as I have to do it will be alright.
for weight of the car it isn't necessary to have the load on it. I used brass for the bunks which added allot of weight and the Kaydee trucks are the HGC or whatever they are called that are heavy also. I did this on purpose so they could be run empty. They have decent weight empty and with the load they are almost to heavy. I have even thought of replacing the styrene deck with thin lead sheeting if I can find it. Or even brass sheet.
And as for the letter it was a decent job I think and the photos really accent the difference in color. with the naked eye you can see that defined difference. I am happy with it. For as may as I have to do it will be alright.
One could also use just a scab piece of iron or steel instead of angle iron for the bunk supports. I have probably 70 or so pics of ex MILW log cars that were taken at either Western Jct or Fredrickson on the Chehalis Western around 1990. There were many different variations within the classes of these beasts.
