Hi,
I need help adding weight to my auto racks. What would you use to
add weight to a walthers auto rack? Where inside the auto rack would
you place the weight at?
Thanks,
Chris
You can put extra weight in the interior of the car by removing the roof. You should try distributing it evenly across the bottom starting in the middle and working you way out. You can use anything heavy. They do make weights specifically for adding weights to models but you can find objects that don’t cost as much in your house. Old nuts and bolts, washers, nails, whatever you can find that is metal and you are going to throw away. Some people use coins. Some people use buckshot or bee bees but I don’t like them because they are very small and round and they are a mess when they come loose.
crisco1 .....What would you use to add weight to a walthers auto rack?....
.....What would you use to add weight to a walthers auto rack?....
Lead works well and is available in sheet form, which can be easily cut using a utility knife. I also cast custom-shaped lead weights from old wheel balancing weights.
crisco1 ....Where inside the auto rack would you place the weight at?...
....Where inside the auto rack would you place the weight at?...
I'm modelling the late '30s, so don't really know what space is available for extra weight on an autorack. The real ones have side sills, so there may be some space available between those and the centre sill where you could fit in some sheet lead. You could secure it with contact cement or epoxy. If your autoracks are the early ones, with open sides, that may be your only option.
For later, enclosed autoracks, a sheet of lead atop the lower deck shouldn't be noticeable and would give you all the weight you need. Another option would be to create some simple moulds using light aluminum sheet, and cast automobile-like shapes using the wheel balancing weights as fodder for melting. However, filling all three decks with such vehicles would give you car weights measured in pounds rather than mere ounces.If you don't run your trains at rocket-sled speeds, you can place the weight just about anywhere you wish - it doesn't necessarily have to be placed low.This diesel-electric doodlebug, made from a Rivarossi combine and part of an Athearn F7 chassis....
...has its weights installed on the underside of the roof...
Total weight is 19.75oz., and many of my passenger cars are weighted in the same manner, albeit not to the same degree. They track just fine.
Wayne
For flat cars of almost any kind and make I replace the steel weight supplied with sheat lead, which sometimes needs to be rolled just a bit thinner to be a drop in replacement. Obviously any weight added should be as LOW as possible.
So that means the bottom deck surface might be a place -- such as the center area. (other threads discuss how putting scale autos on such an auto rack often makes them top leavy unless the bottom deck cars are fairly heavy and the upper deck cars are more like foil shells which give the impression of being actual models)
Dave Nelson
I suppose you could mount sheet lead vertically on the bottom deck, after cutting it into a silhouette of cars. And do it again, higher up, with something lighter.
Ed
PS: On reading the post following this one, I must add that I was assuming the Walthers closed cars. Might work on the Intermountain.
If they're open cars, all you can do is put the weight under the floor.
Years ago, I had an engine that wasn't much of a puller. And several cars I wanted it to pull. I left the weight out of ALL the cars. Everything tracked well. My point is that, in my opinion, it is weight DIFFERENCES that can cause derailments.
Is it an open auto rack or an enclosed auto rack ?
If enclosed, there should be plenty of hiding places. ...... If open, try sheet lead under the deck.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
This is an Athearn Blue Box flatcar, converted into a bulkhead flat with some ends from a Walthers kit for a GSC flatcar...
...and this is its underside, the frame removed and replaced with a custom-cast lead weight, giving it a weight of 6oz....
This one is one of the Walthers GSC flats which donated its ends to the Athearn car....
Because the underframe, sides and ends, along with the truck bolsters are all a one-piece casting (like the prototype), I couldn't eliminate the frame. Instead, I formed moulds from sheet aluminum, and cast weights sized to match the voids within the frame...
...these cars also weigh 6oz.
I can provide a link which shows how to cast your own lead weights, but the photos are out of sequence, which may cause confusion. I'll try to fix that problem later, then offer the link.
Crisco, what scale, brand and type of auto rack do you need help with?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
doctorwayne....I can provide a link which shows how to cast your own lead weights, but the photos are out of sequence, which may cause confusion. I'll try to fix that problem later, then offer the link.
Sorry for having taken so long to provide the link, below, but I had to re-organise the placement of the photos to match the accompanying text.
You can check HERE to learn how to cast your own custom weights.
Michaels sells small weights for Pine Derby cars wonder if they could be put under the cars like the A-line weights I use in flatcars.
Joe Staten Island West