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Bowser Coal Cars
Thread starterf1_indy2000
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As a Christmas gift I received several Bowser Coal cars, 100 ton type. The kit is nice to put together and looks great. The thing I wonder and have some issues with is the weight. The cars are awefully light and seem to jump track on me. I have made adjustments to the trucks by loosing or tighting the scew but still I wonder if adding some weight to these cars would be helpful? How much and where would you add weight to the cars if I did so? Thanks
Definitely add weight. You may have to do research to find suggested weights, but I think 'scale weight' is actually pretty close to good. 100 tons in HO scale would be 4.85 ounces. That's in line with what this PDF states:
Common weight additions are just hunks of lead. It's easy to conseal if you put a coal load in them. Or you could just use live coal loads made of black sand. There are several sources for that on the internet as well. Looks pretty good too!
But adding weight will definitely help keep them on the track.
________ Assholes
Hoppers are easy to weight if you have or will add a dummy coal load. Just drop a few bb,s into each of the troughs until the car gets up to the recommended weight. When the coal load is dropped in you won't see the weights. For something a bit more solid I've worked pieces of aluminum foil down into the trough to make a leak proof sort of pan and then after adding the bb's drip some thick CA or even scenic cement to hold everything together. This method lets you remove the weight package if needed without it stuck to the inside of the car. Alternately Accurail has packages of dummy loads that include steel balls that are glued up under the load. Not sure if they have them for your Bowser cars or not.
I've even used steel hex nuts of various sizes on boxcar floors, one over each truck pivot and secured with CA or Walthers Goo. Lengths of plumbing solder inside the channel of a flatcar,s center beam is handy for cars that may not have a load where you can hide weight.
I used to use pennies but they slide around too much. Fishing weights can also work well. Anything that is dense and either comes in varying small sizes or can be cut into varying small sizes should work ok.
________ Nevada Medical Marijuana Dispensary
The NMRA recommends that you measure your car from coupler to coupler in inches, divide that number in half, add one, and that should be the ideal weight in ounces for your car. This system works very well for me and I don't have any weight related derailment issues.
Easiest way to add weight is to use lead. Stick them on the inside of the car, or get a load and stick them to the underside of the load.
I've gone to using pine car weights, as they come in different shapes and sizes, and are cheaper than buying the A-Line lead ones. Get yourself some 3M double stick tape, and put them in the bottom. Then, if you want, you can use a plastic or cast load (I like the ones from Motrak). If you don't want a full load, then pour some coal over the bottom (and the weights) and glue it in place, so you won't see the weights in the bottom of the car.
The wheel/tire balancing automotive weights are even cheaper and are identical to the A-line weight at less than half the cost (A-line probably repackages them).
Is there a place to buy the wheel/tire balancing weights? I've been to 4 different automotive shops (Napa, AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, and O' Reilley) as well as two tire places, and of the auto shops, they didn't have them, and the tire places told me that they bought them in bulk, and could not give them out due to EPA restrictions with consumers and lead. :rolleyes
I went to the pine car weights at that point, and they can be cut into fractions of an ounce quite easily.
ebay. $20 for 100 ounces split up into quarter ounce pieces, or 20 cents an ounce. Totally beats A-Line's price for $1.75 per ounce (assuming $7 for 4 ounces). Some sellers sell lead ones, some sell chrome plated iron. Either way, the weights have the weight of each individual piece stamped on them.
That's the best price to buy in bulk. A while ago I was able to buy 24 ounces of weight for $9. I can't find that seller anymore though.
Or, as suggested, get loads from Motrak Models. Some loads are made from hydrocal, some from resin (I think the coal loads are resin) and they add quite a bit of weight to the cars.
Ironic, yes, but depending on how many weights you are ordering, it still doesn't cost that much. They can ship up to 13 ounces for about $3 for First Class (in a padded envelope), and $5 for a small flat rate box that can fit quite a few pounds of weights.
Thank you to all for the suggestions. I happen to have a kitchen scale that weighs in ounces and I bought some bee bee's yesterday so I just plan to add the weight. I am assuming the car should weigh all together 4.85 oz? I plan to look at the links before I get started.
One other question about Bowser. I think these are awesome kits but I have a couple of lemons. Seems like the screws aren't biting into the plastic for the trucks and wont tighten which is making the car(s) wobble as it rolls, causing to eventually derail. In real life I'd be terrified if I seen a car doing what these two problem childs are doing. Any suggestions of solving this? The screws hold and aren't falling out, but they aren't getting tight. Thanks again
I thought I would revive this tread since I have another question and its been helpful on adding weight and coupler issues that arise with these cars. My question is who makes a nice coal load for the bowser coal cars? I've been looking around and seem to get nowhere. I have added bbs to provide the weight the NMRA suggested but when you look down in the cars you see black balls(I painted the bbs after I glued them in). I just put them in and treated the bbs as if they were ballast. Elmers glue with some shots of water from a surenge. It worked good. Once it settled I just painted them grimmy black. I found kadee couplers work just fine and if you press hard enough on the screw driver the screw(s) do catch the plastic. Thanks
About 10 years ago bought some #9 buck shot at a gun shop. It was $25 for 25 lb. It can be held in place w/ ordinary white glue. Have done alot of cars w/ it , given some to friends & still have about over 8 lb left!
I thought I would revive this tread since I have another question and its been helpful on adding weight and coupler issues that arise with these cars. My question is who makes a nice coal load for the bowser coal cars? I've been looking around and seem to get nowhere. I have added bbs to provide the weight the NMRA suggested but when you look down in the cars you see black balls(I painted the bbs after I glued them in). I just put them in and treated the bbs as if they were ballast. Elmers glue with some shots of water from a surenge. It worked good. Once it settled I just painted them grimmy black. I found kadee couplers work just fine and if you press hard enough on the screw driver the screw(s) do catch the plastic. Thanks
Motrak Models makes really nice loads. You can find him on eBay although if you email him you don't have to deal with eBay. The coal loads have a resin base and are quite heavy, with bits of coal glued on top. His other loads such as scrap loads have a hydrocal base (with the appropriate load detail glued on top), which is also very heavy for its size.
Once you add the load, it may become unnecessary to add any additional weight. If you still need to add weight, then you can always glue it to the underside of the load.
How much does Harbor Freight charge for them? I may be needing some soon, and I have been shopping around the internet since the source that I got them from before no longer sells them.
Are they lead or some sort of alloy? The lead ones are great as they can be cut into pieces with rail nippers while the alloy/steel/iron ones can't be cut up. (the lead ones are also heavier for their size, which may be useful in situations where space is tight)
How much does Harbor Freight charge for them? I may be needing some soon, and I have been shopping around the internet since the source that I got them from before no longer sells them.
Are they lead or some sort of alloy? The lead ones are great as they can be cut into pieces with rail nippers while the alloy/steel/iron ones can't be cut up. (the lead ones are also heavier for their size, which may be useful in situations where space is tight)
Really can't recall how much they were but I don't spend a lot of money so they had to be a decent price. They are lead and you can snip them with your snipers no problem.
