Adding Weight to IMRC Drop Bottom Gons

I have a couple of Intermountain drop bottom gondola kits that I might finally be getting to building.

The directions indicate that .75 ounce of weight needs to be added in order to bring the car up to the standard .95 ounce total weight. Weight under the wood floor is suggested: lead, brass or stainless steel.

Any suggestions as to any of these choices or any other approaches?

 

I have a resin tie load with a slab of brass cast into it in mine....

 

I put a piece of sheet lead under the floor. I bought a pack of lead sheets some years ago for this purpose. For box cars I use fishing lead weights.
It would be interesting what IM used for their RTR cars. Since I still have 3 kits in stock to be built (a find on ebay.de), I will face this problem as well.

For the general purpose gondolas with their one-cast plastic bodies the only way to add weight would be a load, at least this is what came to my mind. Any other ideas?

 

I think the answer for weight is what Atlas has done on their fishbelly and offset side hoppers. That is to cast the bottom of the car in metal with plastic for the remainder. Adds weight dow low where it does the most good. The old MDC car kits used a separate cast frame. These cars do tend to be heavier than the NMRA specs so addition power may be needed to pull them. Also placing these at the end of a train with lighter cars ahead may be a problem on curves.

 

George:

Place some lead strips on the gondola floor and then place a load in the gondola.

 

I didn't weigh mine so I don't know the amount of weight it adds. I used A-Line sheet lead 1/32" thick, cut to fit with a pair of scissors. This is glued to the plastic floor of the body with the wooden floor glued on top of the lead. They weigh approximately the same as a MT gon. The weight can be ordered directly from their web-site.

 

Weighting a empty gon or hopper does seem to be a problem. I have a number of other types of gons and coal hoppers I want to run as empties. I prefer to have all my gons and hopper cars weighing in at one ounce. I've tried flat weights replicating welded patches to fill in a rusted out spot or some such. Not the answer I'm looking for but it works for now. Any ideas?

 

Rick:

First you can add metal wheel sets to the gondolas and hoppers. The metal wheel sets will improve tracking due to the weight added. You can use A-Line lead strips on the floor of the gondola and then build a new floor out of wood strips. This can be weathered easily for aging. You then can also add a load to the gondola.

As for hoppers, A-Line also makes small round pellets(like Bee-bees) that you can place on the floor of the hopper. To cover these pellets, you can partially fill the hopper with the load of your choice. ( coal, sand, gravel, ballast or crushed glass).

Have fun..

 

Thanks Bob,

I like the idea of a false floor. Nice call.

 

Thanks Rick:

I've been using that technique for adding weight to gondolas for quite some time now.(probably eight years). It adds all the necessary weight you need as well as look quite realistic with the false bottom on top of the lead weight.

Have fun....