Several day ago I received a package from Shapeways, ordered by Walter Smith. He sent them so I could size up the slabs needed, and laser cut them from brass. The car hardly weighs anything by itself, and using plastic slabs don't really add enough weight. The cars are a specialty car for carrying Hot Iron Slabs, and the prototype as best as I can find are all marked for CSXT leasing, manufactured by Freightcar America. These 2 builder pictures are of the prototype without road marks: I made some decals, brakewheels, and brake gear for the samples I received, as well as cut slabs for them: I installed MTL Roller Bearing trucks, and lest we not forget, trucks are a model too, so I used a metallic blue sharpie to paint the roller bearings blue like the prototype, and I rusted the wheels with Rustall, since brand new car wheels rust bright orange within the first couple weeks of a car's delivery. I painted the car Floquil Weathered Black, and the slabs with rattlecan BBQ Black, and sealed everything with Testors Dullcote. The end platforms were painted silver to match the prototype. I don't have any modern switchers, so I staged my cars on my Lester WA module, and used an NP S2 switcher I assembled from The Z Maker kit. The Hot Slab Flat Cars are designed to carry the iron slabs from foundry to customer while still hot, so are the perfect cars to go with the Marklin Blast Furnace kit and cars, or just to stage in your model yard as eye candy. I really think they look sharp. I made my own decals on the Alps, and I could only find photos of this car lettered for CSXT 60441-604606, so I numbered my cars within those numbers: Walter Smith has a huge assortment of Z Scale models available on his Shapeways storefront.
Very nice work on the cars. Very cool. I’m liking the extra details. Like the blue paint on wheel bearings. Just cool. Gonna check out that Walter smith site myself.
Rob, Excellent job on the paint and details! I have ordered Walt's models from Shapeways in the past. His models have nice details and proportions. Scott
Very nice! How does the brass slab material measure up to NMRA standards for that car's length? I probably would have used lead.
OK, so there are no standards for Z Scale at the NMRA, but I did extensive testing years ago and found it should be 0.2 grams per foot of car length. 8 grams for a 40' car. These cars are 44', so I need 8.8 grams. I put 4 slabs on the car and the 4 slabs weighed 11 grams, but I forgot to weigh the completed car with trucks and metal wheels. I think 3 slabs would be ideal, but all the photos of these cars had 4 slabs on them. I probably could have used a plastic slab and 3 metal slabs, or even 2 plastic and 2 metal slabs for perfect weight, since the cars have metal wheels.
Interesting! I didn't know NMRA hasn't published standards for Z scale yet. For shame..... Good to see someone has researched this!
Here's a short of my Fiber Laser cutting the Slabs for these cars. It takes 1200 passes at 350mm [er second to cut them from .040" thick brass. Not fast, but much faster than using a band saw to cut and grinder to clean up, and other than wiping any oils off with Acetone or Alcohol, they are ready for painting. I just used BBQ Black spray paint for them because it is a primer and paint in one. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LrTp5UThl4s
