Great tutorial Mike! I have a bunch of flat cars that need loads, and the commercial stuff is way too expensive.
Are those Plastruct beams?
Thanks
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
First, mark the middle of your blocking.
Then CA a 2x4 upright on the mark.
Then you line things up. The end pair should go directly over the bolster, while the two in the middle should support things by being over a crossmember.
Glue the first beam on, keeping things as square as possible.
The second beam goes on the opposite side of the middle sticker.
Add more stickers...
A closeup
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Got an easy to build open load you'd like to share? Take some pics to illustrate and join me here. This is a load of steel beams that doesn't quite fit a 65' mill gon, so requires the use of idler cars. The car's drop ends allow the overhang, but the beams can't sit on the floor and have to clear the folded ends, so I measure and cut 4 pieces of blocking to fit the width of the interior.
That and a dozen bits of scale 2x4 are about all you need other than some big beams, Plastruct in this case.
Sure, the crosssection is a little coarse, but this model is meant to be be layout quality -- if it looks good at 3' it's all good. The secret to this is this elestic cord made for stringing beads.