Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Metal scrap gondola car

In the midst of my structure modeling I decided to build one of the few rail car kits I still have remaining.  It is a Westerfield USRA mill gondola.  I used to buy many of Westerfields kits and accumulated a lot of them.  Eventually I sold most of them on Ebay so I have only about a dozen left.   I have no idea if I will build the rest of them - TBD.  I filled this gondola with rusty metal scrap.


I lettered the gon with my model railroad decals and weathered it with chalk.  You may note that the couplers have no trip pins as I do not uncouple my cars with uncoupling "ramps".  If I need to uncouple cars on the layout I use a toothpick.  For the most part I do not operate my model railroad although it is fully functional with the exception of the layout in the second room where the track has no power at this time.  The only time I run a train is when I have visitors.  My only modeling interest now is scratch building structures for the most part, and scenicing the layout as I progress.

My rusty metal scrap came from a charcoal grill I had many years ago, which had deteriorated over time and was mostly rust.  I boxed the rust pieces and broke them into small pieces.  I have separated the rust pieces into various sizes.  Below is a photo of some of the rust boxes.


They range from chunks to rust dust.

I have decided on my next structure and have a working sketch.  It will be a very small structure which I will post in the near future.



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