This started off as an Athearn undec which I bought over at Hartmann's in Intervale NH, back when Athearn announced they were discontinuing the blue box line. I figured I oughta stock up before they all disappeared.
This is the undercarriage after I added some brake rigging. The train line pipe is 0.040 brass wire and the brake rods are 0.020 wire, the smallest I have. I am pleased with the bit of chain connecting the hand brake rod to the airt cylinder. I didn't bother with air piping between the triple valve and the air reservoir. Maybe next time.
The couplers are real Kadee's. It came with Bachmann EZ-mates. But, to change out a failed EZ-mate requires taking the frame apart and destroying the brake rigging. So I put in Kadees to reduce the chances of failure. I also drilled the coupler boxes for a 2-56 screw. Should a coupler need replacing, I can saw the coupler box lid loose from the frame, and preserve the brake rigging.
Red paint is Krylon "Fusion for Plastic" gloss #2328 "Red pepper/ Safety Red" over a coat of red auto primer. The undec plastic is dark black and I figured the red needed some help from a primer to cover well. The black undercarriage is painted in Rustoleum #2089 Dark Gray Auto Primer. The trucks are painted with Red Auto Primer. All paint is hardware store rattle cans, I don't have an air brush. Decals are Walthers D38 Tank Car dated 1993. They were hard to find. After much Googling I found a small one person dealer who had some left. The wheel faces are brush painted with oily black, as well as the axles which are bright steel and need to be toned down.
The flammable placards were printed on my Inkjet and stuck on with Duco cement. Some kind soul posted the art work on the last HO tank car thread on this site. The grab irons on the domes and the tank ends are wire.
Anyhow, that's the next addition to my tank car fleet. For a shake-the-box Athearn kit, it gave me several evenings of tinkering.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Great job! I like it.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Cool thanks for posting.
Nice car made better by some tasty mods.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Old Model Railroading adage. No sooner do you finish a project than you find the same thing for sale ready to run. I visited the Concord NH train show last Sunday, and low and behold, a Mobilgas triple decker tank car turned up. $5.
This is the same car, by Athearn, with an Athearn factory paint job. By the horn-hook couplers we know it's been around for a number of years. Looks like Athearn and I agree on the right shade of red for the tank. This pix is just as I brought it home from the show. So now I have two of 'em. It's missing the "flammable" placards, but I ought to be able to whip some up from bits of wire and strip brass. Dunno if I will bother with brake rigging, it doesn't show up very well.