Great work on the gons. I have some also with loads glued in. Dr. Wayne's point aobut loads is a valid one. Perhaps it makes sense to run one without any loads for variety?
Yes, I too am guilty of getting dirty fingers after working with artist paint, chalk, India Ink, etc. To avoid that, Walmart sells packages of plastic gloves that are dirt cheap.
Here's the company that makes the kits for the gondolas. These are pretty advanced and best handled after sometime building simpler models. They also will need to be painted and lettered, but when done, it's hard to beat the satisfaction of finishing a resin kit compared to a styrene model.
http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/6640.html
Alvie
Very interesting. I have never saw a train scale model. Could you tell me from which company you bought this kit?
It would be very interesting to create a bunch of cart with scale models.
Stéphan
Wayne's right. My cats don't think twice about them, but do get annoyed when I'm working on trains models and not making time for them.
riogrande5761The real question is ... do the cat's think well of the gondolas?
Good point, Jim, but I have a feeling that most cats think well only of themselves, and everything and everyone else is inconsequential.
Wayne
The real question is ... do the cat's think well of the gondolas?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
In addition to the comments above, I do have to ask; What locomotive in that gon gave up it's boiler shell for this load? I'm afraid I have more "donors" on hand than I'd like to admit. Dan
doctorwayne makes a good point about removable loads - a point I will keep in mind. Nice job weathering the cars.
DEW
BEAUSABRE cats think well of me While gondolas were not as likely to interchange on other railroads like boxcars, I figured a pair of gondolas in a PRR train is not completely unlikely, even a pair of grizzled old wagons like these. And adding a load of scrap seemed right for these cars as both are at the ends of their lives. Reading served the Bethlehem Steel mills in Bethlehem (duh) and Steelton (south of Harrisburg) and maybe other facilities. So the scrap load is entirely appropriate. As far as cars being on the PRR, the two railroads interchanged at many points and exchanged plenty of traffic. Maybe the scrap is being shipped to a mill around Pittsburgh, which was PRR territory, from either a spot on the Reading or because there wasn't a PRR car available, so the station agent used what he had, so as to service the customer.
cats think well of me While gondolas were not as likely to interchange on other railroads like boxcars, I figured a pair of gondolas in a PRR train is not completely unlikely, even a pair of grizzled old wagons like these. And adding a load of scrap seemed right for these cars as both are at the ends of their lives.
Reading served the Bethlehem Steel mills in Bethlehem (duh) and Steelton (south of Harrisburg) and maybe other facilities. So the scrap load is entirely appropriate. As far as cars being on the PRR, the two railroads interchanged at many points and exchanged plenty of traffic. Maybe the scrap is being shipped to a mill around Pittsburgh, which was PRR territory, from either a spot on the Reading or because there wasn't a PRR car available, so the station agent used what he had, so as to service the customer.
That's my overall thinking too, plus the "it's my freight train and freight car collection, I'll do what I wish" aspect that's both plausible and likely prototypical. While I've not seen, or looked much, for evidence of these specific Reading gondolas hauling scrap on PRR freight trains, I'm sure similar examples of "foreign road" freight cars being using for scrap on another road's freight trains are out there.
Doctorwayne,
Thank you for the photos and suggestions. When I did the model I had wanted underframe detail and didn't think that it's barely visable from most layout viewing angles. I've since bought several feet, and pounds, of 1/32" sheet lead for adding weight to cars which I've used for other models. Next loads for gondolas I do will be removeable such as the large pipe loads in a trio of PRR gondolas were not glued in place.
Interesting-looking cars, and somewhat similar to the styrene gondola kits offered by Tichy, at least as far as they both appear to be flatcars to which sides and ends have been added.
I do wonder, though, why you'd make the loads permanently part of the cars. If they had been made-to-fit, but with only the parts of the load cemented together, and not also cemented to the cars, you could have made other, different, loads that could be changed-out at any time, or, simply remove the load and allow the car to run as an empty. If the cars needed more weight for more reliable tracking, weight could have been added to the underbody, as the cars have drop sidesills which are deep enough to hide a fair-sized weight.
I use mostly live (loose) loads in my open cars, and each load, when not in use, is simply dumped into a labelled container which lists the types and sizes of cars into which each particular load will fit.
Here's a somewhat beat-up Proto gondola...
...which could be termed to be an empty car...
...despite the junk that's still in the car, left-over from its previous lading.
Here are a few other loads, all made-up of either loose items or cemented together as loads in one or more assembly(s)...
This load lifts out as a single unit, and will fit into any of another ten cars-or-so that are exactly the same, other than being lettered for other railroads...
Many, if not most, "empty" gondolas aren't actually empty, but usually cluttered with bits and pieces from previous loads...
...some of it's simply junk and some of it's dunnage left-over from a previous load...
Your loads look fine, but had they been removeable, you'd likley have gotten more use out of those cars.
HA!
Looks like you weathered your hands too. Glad to know I'm not the only one with " rusty" fingers .
Nice job on those guns!
I love gondolas, and yes, they look better with a nick/ ding/ dent here and there.
I have seen a real gondola with a stenciled on it saying CUT NO HOLES.... and it had several holes cut in the sides!
Let's face it, gondolas get beat up, and yours look just fine!
Rust...... It's a good thing !
Hi all,
A few years ago I started building a pair of Funaro and Camerlengo Reading GHd gondolas. The models came two to a package and were my first resin flat-kits I.E the ends, sides, floor, and underframe are seperate. I'd done one piece bodies before so I was a bit intimidated and a bit excited. With any resin kit, got to take one's time fitting, sanding, and yes, some problem solving. The kits overall went together pretty well. Here are my first pictures of the models. I don't have any from before the models were painted or primed. Just these from after painting and when I added scrap loads. I added weight concealed under the loads with pennies glued in place. The only additions were the loads, Kadee air hoses, Walthers Andrews trucks, Intermountain Code88 wheels, and Sergent couplers.
Like the Reading XMp boxcar I'd shown before, these were introduced prior to WW1 with the last nine being in service in 1953. The cars had outside stake pockets when built but the pockets were removed over time. I think mainly by 1940. While gondolas were not as likely to interchange on other railroads like boxcars, I figured a pair of gondolas in a PRR train is not completely unlikely, even a pair of grizzled old wagons like these. And adding a load of scrap seemed right for these cars as both are at the ends of their lives.
I used the kit's decals, Tru-Color engine black paint, and just weathered with Monroe Models weathering powders, and various washes and dry-brushed effects of acrylic earth and engine black. Plus painted the couplers rust. I nicked the tops of the sides to help give the impression these were well-worn gondolas.
This photo is to show the contrast between a weathered car and one not yet weathered.
Finally a pair of weathered models.
I thankfully did not have the peeling paint problem from the Reading XMp boxcar I'd built before. I had washed these I think more thoroughly before painting, and I'd used a primer coat. At one point I added HO 1x8s I think to the inside to represent the different strips of wood but after adding scrap loads those were no longer visable. The scrap loads were made from an HO steam engine scrap load set I think for HOn3 models I'd found at a hobby store, and various bits of scrap stuff from my junk boxes. I started using cut up sprues from kits but liked the railroad-stuff much more, like the old water column, wheels, boxcar doors, spare gondola ends. I did some weathering and painting of the scrap loads too.