I hope this has not been addressed before, if so My apologies (search is not working today). This is all about HO scale. My question is as follows: How to weight an empty well car to NMRA standards that is not so evident that it is an eyesore. I have several styles of cars, whether they are Gunderson husky stack or twin-stack, I have not figured out how to weight these without losing the ability to install the containers. I know that I need a substantial amount to get to the NMRA #'s, so is this even feasible? I would like to pull these cars without ALWAYS putting them at the end of the train due to string line effect. Any thoughts will be GREATLY appreciated. I won't even ask about spine cars. (I guess I just did).
Depending on your modelling period the real RRs always put empty cars at the rear of a train. No DPUs either! In recent times it seems anything goes but if you not modelling ultra modern I go back to my first statement. Sorry doesn't answer the main part of your quandary.
Depends on what you use for weights. I have some 60’ Roundhouse bulkhead flats I use quite a bit. In operation, they always come in with a load. Going out empty, i weight them so they don’t give problems. I use old weights that came off the bottoms of some old Walthers well cars. I painted and weathered the decks on the flats, I painted the weights to match the decks. If you are running, you don’t hardly notice it. You do a weight to fit at the bottom of the well and paint to hide it. Then remove when wanting to run with containers. Life is full of compromise.
I doubt you will be able to add weight without it being visible. The Athearn Huskies and Maxi III have these trapezoid-like weights over the bolsters, but there isn’t much more you can add without impeding the trucks. The old Walthers Thrall cars had a sheet weight underneath the well painted black. With the weight installed, you can’t see through to the rails, but you could pass it off as shadow and it’s not too intrusive. If you were to add weight, this is probably the best way to do it. Most new models like the Kato Maxi IV, Walthers NSC, and Scaletrains Backpacker are diecast, as that’s the only way to make the car heavy enough without adding external weights.
Thanks for your replies. I will take those and think about them. In the meantime I have performed these options: 1. I have wound some leaded solder around 2 axles on one unit that allowed an increase of 2/10 of an ounce for that unit. 2. I have added some #8/32 nuts to another 2 sets of axles, by removing a wheel and sliding on the nuts and and resetting the flange gauge. 3. I am also looking at putting some small tubing onto another unit to see how that will add weight. It is interesting on how I am trying to add weight during the weight loss time of the year lol.
I see you are still using the original plastic trucks, I would replace them with metal trucks to add some more weight, also the wheel sets have plastic axles, replacing them with Intermountain Wheelsets will add some more weight. Rick Jesionowski
Speaking of metal trucks, have you tried the Kadee High Gravity Compound trucks? It may be cheaper than replacing wheels and trucks separately, but how would the weight compare? I've never used them, and I've never seen anyone else with them either.
