Since I model the Chessie System Railroad and we all know that it was primarily a coal hauling railroad, I have been working on a project the last few years to save money. Also, the Bowser 100T hoppers weren't out at the time I started "upgrading" the "toy-line" of Life-Like hoppers. The open 100 ton hoppers are some really nice base cars to start off with and an be found at $2-$5 each. I start off by removing the trucks, and then filling the holes with styrene cement (or whatever your preference may be). I then let it dry for 24 hours and once dry I drill and tap to use screws left over from Athearn kits or and any other kits I may have screws leftover from. I use 100 ton wheels sets supplied by Athearn. I then add washers or the necessary washer to even out the cars height. After doing this I add Kadee #5 coupler and coupler boxes. You don't want the coupler boxes the extend much beyond the frame because the won't be very prototypical. Some of you may ask why not leave the trucks alone and just add Mchenry type (whisker couplers). It tried that in the past and the results by taking this route you get a much better running and prototypical piece of rolling stock. I get LOTS of comments from folks wondering who manufactured the cars because they come out looking so good. I also add metal wheels which improve performance. By using this method it saves me around $7 dollars or so as opposed to buying the Bowser cars (which YES have more detail and its always up to the individual how much and what details to add). Here is a photo of two cars in progress. I use a very thin wash of floquil paint to weather my coal hoppers. I decided to add a touch of iron ore color to the weathering since the line I model carried quite a bit of ore in the 100T open hoppers. I will post again in a few days of some more cars as they are finished if anyone would like to see a few. This first photo is the car NIB. This image is going through its trucks be swapped out. Heres one ALMOST ready to hit the rails A lone amature built the ark! A large group of professionals built the titanic!
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P.S: The bottom picture still has the LL trucks and Talgo couplers just to give you guys an idea of what the finished product looks like. A lone amature built the ark! A large group of professionals built the titanic!
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As I always say you don't have to spend a fortune to have decent looking cars. just me Ray... and just because I have Tyco doesn't mean I am not a model railroader
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I like the "patchout" (cleanup?) job on the reporting marks - nice touch!
I too always thought these were better cars than most give credit for. They had a BN and a ROCK version that were nicely done as well. Haven't converted any yet, but I do have a few for that eventual purpose. Have you thought of changing the roadnumbers? As many of these as they made it's a shame they never did that from year to year.
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had a BN and a ROCK version eh? Coool I want some Yes am a big fan of both BN & CRI&P My favorite scheme is The Rock & Route Rock Still see those even today on grain hopper cars Well that is pretty cool what you did to the car tho
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I like the "patchout" (cleanup?) job on the reporting marks - nice touch!
I too always thought these were better cars than most give credit for. They had a BN and a ROCK version that were nicely done as well. Haven't converted any yet, but I do have a few for that eventual purpose. Have you thought of changing the roadnumbers? As many of these as they made it's a shame they never did that from year to year.
Originally posted by spiderj76Â -Â January 06 2012Â :Â 1:00:32 PM
The "patchout" would have been for later Chessie System hoppers ib=n the CSX, However im glad you noticed that because that`answered your other questuion. I didnt weather that section because my future plans are to renumber them. I have A LOT of renumberinging ahead of me is all I can say.....Ill add a few finished ones over the next few days for us Chessie System goons.....lol A lone amature built the ark! A large group of professionals built the titanic!
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Here's one of the finished hoppers i have been reworking from the old Life-Like line. I added a coal load in this one too. Im going to finish a large fleet of these then is when the renumbering process will begin...
A lone amature built the ark! A large group of professionals built the titanic!
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Posted - January 06 2012 : 04:09:17 AM
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