Banged Up Gondolas

[Dough]

Does anybody have a clue how to model the banged up sides of an old gondola. I constantly see these, especially those in MW service, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the perfectly straight sides on my models...

[Anonymous]

I remember seeing an article a long time ago where the author pressed the section of his soldering iron between the tip and the handle against the tops of the sills of a gondola to simulate denting. I’ve never tried it myself, but the author got good results. Just make sure the tip of the soldering iron doesn’t touch the car. This technique would only seem to be good for denting the top sills of the car, it wouldn’t work for bulging the sides of the car out.]

[Morpar]

I have had decent results using a Bic lighter. Light it and hold it up to the inside of the car just until it gets soft, not melting, then use an object to deform the side. I would also recommend trying it on a junk (or someone else's) car first, just to get the hang of it! It doesn't take long for the plastic to get too hot, so don't use your thumb to try and deform the side! I speak from experience, it hurts! For a bulge I have used an old spoon, for dents, gouges, etc. the spoon handle or X-Acto knife handle. Just don't get too carried away, as a railroad would scrap a gondola that is too beat up. Good luck

[Dough]

Wow, thanks for the quick replys. I'll have to give it a shot.

[Anonymous]

I used a hot woodburning iron with a very sharp point on it and a pen knife blade. Good luck on using whatever you find that will get hot enought to melt the plastic.

Now then, painting the mangled gon is another matter altogether.

[Jetrock]

With some care, you can hold the hot soldering iron within the shell of the gondola without touching the edge--it helps if you have some sort of stand to hold both pieces, rather than your hands. Small bits of electrical tape make good patches to simulate repaired holes in gons (or holes created when you held the soldering iron too close!), painted a color similar to (but not necessarily identical to) the color of the gondola. If you're giving the gon a total repaint following adding the dent, paint the dented areas silver, apply a few dabs of rubber cement, and then apply the body coat--pick the rubber cement off to reveal the metal underneath. Add a little rust afterward.

[Anonymous]

Dough:

Try using the bowl of a heated spoon to bulge the gon sides outward. When doing wear and damage on rollingstock remember that ' less is more'...go easy.

Randy

[dknelson]

Remember .... the fumes from heated plastic are NOT safe or healthy to breathe. You might try a wood burning pen instead of a soldering iron since the heat is just that much less but again, maybe do this outdoors in fresh air. And it has to be done with care so as not to puncture the side of the car. If the plastic was softened maybe a tongue depresser pressed against the inside would capture the same effect? But again putting plastic in the oven is going to release fumes that are 1) not healthy and 2) are unlikely to make other things cooked in that oven any tastier.

Now that I think of it ... years ago a local hobby shop was selling a Mantua 2-8-2 real cheap because they had it in their front window, and the heat of the sun had softened and ruined the plastic cab and plastic tender. And someone else I know had a model ruined by keeping in a closed up auto on a hot sunny day where the heat build up was great. So just maybe it is possible using glass or a large magnifying glass and a black painted wood or cardboard box (black to capture more heat) on a sunny warm day to soften the plastic "naturally" --- rather like we used to explode ants using a magnifying glass -- and then use the tongue depresser trick to bulge out the softened plastic. But you do run the risk of distorting the entire car.
Also take a look at a real gondola before you do this -- note that it is the area between the side ribs that tends to get bulged out.
The absolute best "bulged plastic" I ever saw was an HO hopper. The guy had filled it with plastic coal and fixed the coal with diluted plastic cement. The plastic cement had softened the plastic of the car, it bulged out very realistically, and then re-hardened. But this was back in the days when nobody paid much attention to fumes and health and the like.
Dave Nelson

[orsonroy]

The problem with banging up the sides of plastic (or even resin) gondolas is the fact that the sides are grossly oversized, making the rippling and bulging of the sides look cartoon-like. I generally don't bother with beating up gon or hopper sides, prefering to let weathering suggest a hard-used car.

I have built one of the Intermountain USRA GS gondolas with beat up sides, though. When I was building one of these cars as a rebuild with steel sides (most railroads eventually did this to their composite USRA cars), I decided to use tim foil instead of plastic to represent the new sides. I folded heavy tim foil to get three thicknesses worth of foil, superglued the foil to the plastic bracing, and then banged up the sides. After painting (Floquil), I ended up with the most realistic looking gon on my layout! This technique can be used with any freight car model, but I suppose it isn't very practical for a large fleet.

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Morpar

I have had decent results using a Bic lighter. Light it and hold it up to the inside of the car just until it gets soft, not melting, then use an object to deform the side. I would also recommend trying it on a junk (or someone else's) car first, just to get the hang of it! It doesn't take long for the plastic to get too hot, so don't use your thumb to try and deform the side! I speak from experience, it hurts! For a bulge I have used an old spoon, for dents, gouges, etc. the spoon handle or X-Acto knife handle. Just don't get too carried away, as a railroad would scrap a gondola that is too beat up. Good luck

This is pretty much the technique that I use also with okay results, just don't get carried away, becasue something too beat up would probably been taken off the rails, and as mentioned above, practice on a hulk first. On a couple of my old MOW gons, I banged up the top rail. Another idae is to take a dremel or some rough sand paper and make some divets on the sides as dents. One last idea, is to take a weathered car and paint clean patches around grab irons and make raised squares or outlines to represent welded repairs made recently. Good luck.

[Jetrock]

I think some lines' threshold of "too beat up" is higher than others. As an adherent of the "make your rolling stock look like it has been through hell and back" school of weathering, based on the number of beat-to-crud overly-abused gons I've seen, I prefer a bashed-up gon, but then, I prefer rusty, dusty switch engines.

Although a lot depends on its use--if you use gons for something like a steel mill (delivering rolls of new steel) your gons will look better than gons used to deliver scrap metal to a junkyard.

[Dough]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll have to try out some techniques on some of the older ones. I agree with you Jetrock. Even if I do overdo it a little I can't imagine it being any worse thatn some of the MW trains that I have seen. I am modeling one and this is why I'm asking. The brand new look just wasn't cutting it.

[Anonymous]

I think a lighter would work i am not sure. I found my car in a junkpile at the club i belong to.