Does anyone make an HO scale pallet that is accurate for the US? The only ones that I found are a European protoype. I am modeling an industrial area that needs a bunch. As usual, any assistance that can be provided most be most welcomed.
Is 100 too many?
https://www.shapeways.com/product/R89VWGJY6/ho-scale-40-quot-x48-quot-pallet-100-pack?optionId=58360325&li=marketplace
There are lesser amount for not nearly as good of a deal if you so desire.
Mike
Mike, those look good! Got me interested.
When I bought a bunch, probably off Ebay? they were yellow to start with, so they might be Prieser? but, I have a son and a SIL that work in logistics, and they have never asked me "Are those pallets the right size?"
Through the years, at job sites, I've seen all sizes. I don't think any particular size would be wrong.
Mike.
My You Tube
A "standard" pallet in the United States, I believe, is 40" by 48". However, there are millions of them out there running around in different sizes.
.
What is the world is different about European pallets as opposed to United States pallets? I have unloaded containers from all over the world, and never noticed anything distinctive about one region's pallets from another. They are all made about the same size, and of equally cheap garbage wood (unless a leased pallet), and are one of three basic designs.
The tile for my house was made in Spain, and delivered on a wrapped sealed pallet. I sure didn't notice anything odd about the pallet from Spain.
Someone please post photos for me.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
As far as I can tell, the main differences are that a standard euro pallet does not use vertically oriented stringers. Rather they use horizontal ones attached to 9 "feet" laid out like a 9 on a domino that raise the slats up high enough for a forklift to be able to lift them. That and they're measured in millimeters as opposed to inches (The dimensions still appear to be very close to a 40x48 pallet here.) It also appears that kiln dried lumber is standard though I may be mistaken (kiln dried is not required for shipments wholly within the U.S.). Perhaps someone more knowledgeable will pipe in.
Might as well link to this EUR-Pallet and to this Pallet Sizes In The US. (which includes other countries standard sizes as well).
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_details/p/8171/Default.aspx
I worked on an injection molding plant where they made plastic pallets, their main customer was who ever owns Mountain Dew brand.
They made some crazy looking stuff, some of which looked like these:
Another thing, on job sites, pallets that came with cement block, and some bricks, there was a charge, the block and/or brick company expected them back, or it was added on the bill.
Each time a delivery truck would bring more block, he'd pick up the empty pallets.
There is also a cottage industry out there where a guy with a full size pick up and a trailer will go around to job sites and pick up unclaimed pallets, I remember one guy told us he gets $7 for a pallet in reusable condition.
When I drove for a pallet manufacturer, we had to carry a tape with us to make sure we had the correct size. You could not always tell just by looking.
Hauled a lot of foreign stuff off the docks. Only difference I saw the pallets were cheaper than ours. Had to restack many because the pallet just fell apart.
Perhaps you could throw a scale tarp over your stacks when the layout police came around.
chutton01 Might as well link to this EUR-Pallet and to this Pallet Sizes In The US. (which includes other countries standard sizes as well).
When I worked at Target all of the pallets were 48x40 and were the two way entry reversible as pictured on the Pallet Sizes In The US website. Soft drinks might have been on different pallets but the vendor was responsible for stocking them, not Target employees.
The difference in these pallets which I consider standard and the pallets which are available in HO scale is the 1x4 base board across the bottom which the pallet jack has to jump over to get under the pallet.
These pallets by Ertl don't have the baseboad but it's a minor detail that I can live with or without.
Several companies make pallets but none of them really make the correct. The closest ones I've found are laser cut kits made by Crescent Locomotive works.
The 1 by 4 pallet jack jumper would be difficult to mold in plastic injection. It would need to be a seperate piece in a kit.
I would just add them with 0.015" by 0.040" strip styrene if it bothered me.
I have about a half dozen pallets I made from stripwood I use in photography. On the layout, I would not notice or bother.
SeeYou190I would just add them with 0.015" by 0.040" strip styrene if it bothered me.
But what if the pallet police come around!
The ''pallets'' without the bottom boards were refered to as skids. Not ment to be stacked, and most often used for heavy items, steel, machine parts. Most were throw aways or one ways. The better built ones were returned to the owners. They would store them untill they had a trailer load to goback.
BTW I just came from Hobbylink, a search gave me over 20 offerings for pallets. Or buy a handful of strip wood ,make your own
We had lots of pallets of various sizes at the steel plant where I worked, carrying all manner of brick and other refractory material, along with electric motors, machinery and machinery parts - you name it, it came on pallets or skids.
We also had very substantial skids (don't recall the exact size, but at least 4'x4') for shipping high-value coils of coated steel in boxcars. The skids consisted of three 6"x6" hardwood stringers, topped by 2"x6" hardwood planks, with about 1" space between them. Empty, they weighed just over 300lbs. and when new (1980s) cost $70.00 each. They were generally re-used, but if damaged (even one board), were considered scrap, and were sent to the wood dump. Scavenging for them there was encouraged because anything not taken was simply crushed and taken to landfills - with thousands of tons of material, this was a great expense.Instead, I went to the superintendent of the department which shipped the coils, and asked permission to remove their scrap skids. Evidentally, regular scrap pick-up by Yard Services wasn't all that reliable, and I was allowed to pick-up as much as I wanted - clean, easy to cut with a Skil Saw firewood, for free! I heated my house for several years burning that wood.
These HO scale ones measure 42"x48", but I don't know the manufacturer, as I got them off the "used" table at a former hobby shop...
Tichy
Wayne
US Pallets are termed four-way...40 x 48......so they would fit in a 96'' wide 40ft trailer floor and can be turned so you could get more in, until the 45ft trailers came out, then with them turned you could get even more in, especially with a 102'' wide trailer. Four-way 40 x 48 pallets were worth their weight in gold in the Trucking hey-days. All built with hardwood and screw type nails. Most European pallets Are Not four-way.
Scale models of the Truck Line where I worked for 15yrs. out of the 45 yrs. that I have in the Trucking/Intermodal Industry. All painted and built by Me with custom made graphic's by Graphic's on Demand.
Take Care!
Frank
I don't think I've seen that fleet before Frank, nice!