How do you make battered gondolas? My first try with a candle did not satisfy. http://www.westportterminal.de/forum/07-12-23_IMG_2672_1200.jpg Any hints? Wolfgang
I don't have any hints and I am looking forward to some knowledgeable answers from TB. I have a nice picture collection of prototype battered gondolas that I want to use for modeling. That said, I don't think your effort is so bad, Wolfgang. Lots of those even sagged in the middle, had a bad sway back, etc. I do see that it is a general damage type; I would want to place dents more precisely. I'm not sure how to do it. But, don't do away with that one! :thumbs_up: What about using a low(er) voltage soldering iron. I have a 23 volt that is really too low for some soldering, but might do well for this. It is a small pencil type iron. This is a good Christmas project.
Not bad looking, I do wish to add that the gons we get at the (steel) Mill I work at are more bowed out in the centers, as there is less to support the sides thru there. and punctures thru the metal alsf course most of the hand holds are torn off, and the hand brake wheels bent. For a time were were buying beat up cars full of scrap, unloading the scrap, then cutting up the cars! (they saved the trucks- possibly resold them?) You also see lots of patchwork with gussets and metal overlays to make repairs.Steel mills and scrap dealers are hard on these!
Battered Gon Looks like a good start on that gon. Might rust it up a bit both inside and out. Other than that it looks OK to me.:thumbs_up:
Wolfgang, First, excellent choice of road names I really like what you have done with the damage. I might even do some cuts along the top edges where the metal has been "torn." Other than that I would rust it down and grime it up and it will look great! J
Flash, could you post your prototype pictures please? This is a pic from a gondola some years ago. This gondola from my friend Marty was in interchange service and some weeks at Westport Terminal RR trackage. Wolfgang
I usually hold the car close to a light bulb to get the overall bow in the sides, then hold a high wattage soldering iron close to the car sides to do the "individual" dents and dings. I'll have to dig out the last one I did and snap a photo or two!
Maybe not in an extreme distressed state, but this is what I have. Others are probably in some of the other RR picture sites. Hope this helps some.
Gondolas are interesting. I recently attended a clinic at my local NMRA division meeting on open loads. One of things that was pointed out in the clinic is that the prototype gondolas are almost never painted on the inside. Therefore the inside of the car has a generous coating of surface rust. Many cars have scratches, scrapes, and dents inside too. All the plastic model gondola I have seen have been factory painted all over inside and out. I have stated to paint the inside of my gondolas with roof brown spray paint. I would have used rail brown if Floquil had sold it in spray cans. (I do not have an airbrush). Almost any grimy or rust brown color would do. I hope this tidbit of information is useful to the modelers on this board. Bob Perkins
Here is a link to a picture that shows this very clearly. I had not known or considered this before. Here is another Conrail battered gondola. There should be a lot of pictures on the internet.
One of the methods that I have seen for causing damage, is to heat up the handle of a metal hobby screwdriver after softening the plastic car side a bit...and to role the handle down the side of the car and it will cause the plastic to role down. Go lightly at first and adjust to suit your need. There was an article a few years ago in a certain model train magazine on the topic of causing damage to rolling stock.
Flash- Have those cars been spotted for a while. Sure is hard to see a spur underneath. They look as rusty and disused as the barely visible rails beneath. Boxcab E50
Boxcab50: These cars are all on the NS/CSX interchange track and are in regular usage, at least for MOW. I think these gondolas are just stored for NS use later, but they did not stay there over 72 hours. These tracks are always overgrown like this and are used fairly often. I really need to start a thread on this Gurley Milling Company (then Gurmico, then Stallings Feed Co.) area as it is most interesting. There are several areas here where I honestly don't see how the cars don't derail. I am sure the crews that use these tracks are aware of it. The wooded area is very snakey, you know?
I coiled a 1/8" diameter brass tube around an old wood burning iron, attached a Tygon tube to the end of the brass tube, then used only my mouth, to softly blow air through the hot coil. (This iron did not get hot enough to solder with, but I left a 'pig tail' sticking out away from the iron so I would not burn my hand.) Coil some soft iron or aluminum wire around this section to act as a heat sink. Leave a space between coils to act as 'fins'. About 4 to 6" will prevent melting the Tygon. This way I had control of how much air, and how hot I wanted it to get, as I watched the car side at each place a 'dent' was needed. Work with the iron fairly close to the car side, using small short puffs until the plastic begins to move. Let it move as much as you want, re-heating if needed, then hold the stick in place and stop blowing until the plastic feels 'hardened'. This way you do not heat a large area of the car side. You can quickly blow a hole through the car side, but you will discover this. The 'dent' or 'scrape' was made from the inside using a wooden Lolly-Pop stick sharpened on one end, and rounded off on the other. The car was fastened down to the work bench so I could apply a little pressure while applying just enough heat to move the car side or top edge as desired. Stop blowing when you have what you want it to look like. Work one place then move to another place to allow the plastic to cool enough to 'set'. Only light finger pressure is needed. I used a piece of rail to dent the ends as if a load of rails had slipped against the end and pushed it out in places. Round ones look like a pipe load had slid into it, see? ABOVE ALL DO NOT INHALE THROUGH THE TUBE !!! (YOU WOULD ONLY DO THIS ONCE!) Inhale though your nose, and softly blow through your mouth! PRACTICE this breathing before heating the iron to make sure you don't forget, then CAREFULLY try it as the iron gets hot. You WILL learn! Being right handed, I held the iron with my left hand, and did the 'working' with my right for better control. Practice, and you will catch on to what works for you. You can actually 'weld' a plastic Cleaner's clothes bag edge to edge this way, but it takes some practice to get it right. *Maybe I can find a photo of this later on. (I did!) For this, I made another 'coil' then flattened the hot end tip in a big vice with a steel sewing needle stuck part way into the brass tube. I wiped the needle with grease first. The taper of the needle allowed me to twist it and pull it out. This provided a tiny orifice to get a tiny hot blast of air I needed to 'stitch' the film as I went along. It is tedious work, so be patient, and steady. Hope this helps. **I found it, and was even able to get back in here to post it! This is a Test Model for the "Artic Transporter Hovercraft" we were building at the time. I got a few hours flying it before it was shipped to Dead Horse, Alaska to be used at Purdoe Bay oil station. There is a scale model of the finished vehicle behind the test model. You can see the white Cab just above one of two huge 66" diameter blowers, sitting on the black cushion below them. I made the air bags and each 'finger' you see around the skirt system from .0012" thick Cleaner's Clothes Bags. It is welded entirely by hot air, and carried 11 pounds of weight when up on cushion, which meant it could transport 20 tons of freight or crude oil over Muskeg, snow, ice, water, and even a Volkswagen! (He drove around a corner into our path and we glided completely over his car. It only broke his radio antenna, and I think he broke wind!) He should not have driven onto the runway. Its a long funny story, and was a really fun job!
For this gondola I've used candle, hair dryer and dremel. Then came my airbrush with Dullcote, some chalk and again Dullcote. Now I've assembled the car. Next gondola, next chance to make it better. Flash, thank you for the prototype pics. Wolfgang
Great! :thumbs_up: One or two of the vertical side members are bent and I am not sure that is prototypical, but it is a picky point. I want to do this in N scale and will have exactly the same problem. The paint and weathering are realistic and I am sure that visitors will comment that you passed that one through the metal shredder!