OK..you all know how my mind works....LOL Carefully cut the 'lid' off...so you could set it back on. Drill some small holes up through the bottom of the car....maybe even in the 'lid'. Go to Amazon and buy a bunch of these.... https://www.amazon.com/Blackett-Com...niature+Glow+Stick&qid=1714796747&sr=8-8&th=1 At night crack one and drop it in the cask...put the lid back on....fire up the train !!! Be sure to get videos !! .
Still no green ooze or glowing but the car did get it's DODX lettering and number A new gon has arrived on scene. For now, it has a pipe load It comes with a lid (Coil steel hoods) and decals. Some assembly required I'll probably do the decals and assembly just to do it Making progress on the fire truck kit too Decal work on the gons continues. No new pics there. They one other covered hopper decal project that I think I'll wait until it gets a coat of flat clear and new trucks/couplers/metal wheels on it to post.
Wow, that's a nice weathering job on that tank car! Reminds me of some of the (smaller) tank cars parked at the chemical plant where my dad worked. It also brings back memories of the smell of natural gas (actually, the mercaptan odorant that is added to otherwise-odorless NG, and was manufactured down the road from his plant.) It is interesting how smells are some of our strongest memories: the sense of taste/smell (chemical detection/identification) was one of the earliest senses developed in the primitive animal kingdom.
Well, yeah, I agree, nice weathering job on the tank car but I can't take credit for that. It's photo on the cover of a brochure for some weathering products. My skills at weathering are about 99% below that level.
A couple of updated. This fire truck is basically done. There are a couple of small touch ups that I can see now it the pictures. Went well enough I'll probably try another of the fire truck kits. Here a sample of one of the finished gons. Have a nice string of them with pipe loads now. I've had these on the workbench for a really long time So i finally threw some paint on them. Maybe just a tad of weathering and they can find a home somewhere on the layout. Then, I also finished up this covered hopper. Private owned car for the plastics division of the fictional chemical company on my layout. Just seemed like something different to try. Still need to work on that roof walk It's not much but I have managed to stretch these projects of for far longer than any of them should have take. Now, what do I make a mess of next........
Nice work on the photography then for whoever made the brochure. I thought everything in that photo was there on your desk.
Was just messing around with this and here is what I came up with. See two wheel sets that for sure need to be fixed.
Richard, I looked at the Atlas and Micro-Trains 89’ flat cars at my local train store and they had body mounted couplers. Do yours have body mounted couplers?
Thanks Richard, I was concerned that the cars with body mounted couplers would have trouble staying coupled to other cars on my curves but if they run on your layout they’ll run on mine since we have the same curves.
Beware, there's more involved than simply the minimum radius used on a route/layout to determine operability. Side-side offset between coupled railcars is most severe when transitioning between different radii, including straight/tangent (infinite radius) track. We use easements (slight, gradual increases in curve radius to meet tangent track) to minimize the worst-case radius transitions. Even with sectional track, a longer radius section can be used between tangent track and the remainder of the curve, even at the expense of a slightly shorter radius section in/near the middle of the curve, to fit in the same space. A minimum radius section buried in the apex of a larger-radius curve is easier on railcars and couplers than the same minimum radius section adjacent to straight/tangent track.
While I tend to agree with Big Jake that all he notes above is the better course, there are times it works without all that. In the pictures, you see them running on both the 11 and 12ish inch radius curves. No easements at all, The coal hopper has truck mounted couplers, the green flat has body mounted and the yellow flat has truck mounted. I fully expected the body mounted couplers on the green flat to be okay with the yellow flat but not with the coal hopper. Figured that the over hang of the green flats coupler to pull the hopper off the rail. Surprisingly, it didn't. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Thanks Richard. This is what I was concerned about. Next time I’m in my local train store I’ll pick up 2 or 3 of the flats and the frame kits.
My dad always said it; "I'd rather be lucky than good any day." And he made sure we understood the importance of that condition: Luck is a fickle mistress. There are lots of factors for whether or not a given coupling of railcars can handle a given transition between track radii. Sometimes you just gotta try it and see. But make sure to try it under a lot of conditions (e.g. in the middle of a long train, up- & down-hill [if on a grade], etc.)
Thanks sir. It's the Showcase Miniatures F-M2 Crew Cab Pumper Truck. I was a little intimidated by all the etched metal parts but it went together way easier than I expected and it did turn out nice. After building it, I now think I may try another of their fire trucks and the propane delivery truck kit they make. Just have to get around to ordering them one day. This is the kit What's in the box And the final product. If it's a vehicle you'd like to see on your layout, I'd recommend the kit. Was a fun build once I got past being nervous about it
Been working on a dummy unit of late. It's meant to represent a unit that is in transit either to a shop or back to it's home rails. Definitely not meant to be any kind of show piece but should be good enough. Still have a bit of work to do on this but here us where it's at as of today. Needs A/C units on the cab roof (they are in transit to me thanks to an extra kind fellow TB member) and horns just to name a couple of the many things still to do. The decals are from Fusion Graphics and I am very happy with them and how easy they were to use. I think I have a set of these somewhere and I wonder if that would help with how those fans look? Might be worth trying? But then again, I feel like I'm already investing more into this old unit than it's worth At least it's being fun.
Beautiful work! As long as it's still fun and affordable, such "investments" pay handsome dividends. Translation: "Yes, we want to see them!"
