Hi Jace; There was a great article on converting the metal Fler flatcar to scale by Bernie Thomas in the old S Gauge Herald. Maybe the NASG library can help you with that one. Dick Karnes also had an article on flat car conversions in an old Dispatch (I think).
The easiest conversion is to use the ace part, but that leaves the car way to high in the air. With a drill press or milling machine you can remove the Flyer truck mount and add your own bolster and coupler mount. A middle ground approach would be to build your own truck mount over the Flyer part to raise the trucks just enough to not catch while turning. For the metal deck, one solution is to put a piece of Scotch tape or similar clear "cellophane tape" (a term which I'm sure dates me horribly) over the opening. Fill from the back with Epoxy. Once it hardens, peel off the tape (which you can do because the tape adhesive is all the Epoxy could bond to) and cut in board lines with a razor saw. There are a number of good techniques for simulating a wood deck on a cast part. There were at least two versions of the plastic flat car, one nearly identical the metal car, the other from the Pikemaster period with somewhat different details and less complete underframe. The prototypes for the original AF flatcar were a series of C&NW cars illustrated in the 1925 CBC. Similar cars (about 46 ft length, 13 stake pockets) were used by Missouri Pacific and L&N, the last named having an overhanging deck. I think American Models used photos of both the C&NW prototype and the MP cars in ads for their flatcar, although they have a different number of stake pockets! Some of the MP cars where converted to Piggyback service and used into the 1970s. Canadian Pacific had a car with the same length and stake pocket count, but with straight side sills (a reasonably easy conversion on the plastic cars). I have a photo of my model and it's prototype in the group Photos section here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/photos/album/1744648877/pic/list Hope this is helpful! Pieter E. Roos --- On Sun, 2/27/11, JGG KahnSr <[email protected]> wrote: > I think what Tom is referring to is the truck mount--that > enormous clunky thing--rather than the fishbelly > underframe. > Certainly with the plastic flats I shall laminate some > Evergreen scribed planking, particularly to conceal the big > holes > in the deck, replace the brake wheel and drill out the > stake pockets (I suspect I shall have the energy and > motivation > to do that no more than twice). > My conversions tend to be only the old really mass-market > items that have been around forever--mostly because they > are cheap, being so common. The more recent Lionel > production does NOT strike me as cheap. My general > approach > to the AF conversions I've done and propose doing is that > the car must look respectable when I am done but not > require > enormous effort or time in the reworking (I think I am a > respectable kit and even scratch builder after all these > years, but > I mostly intend to spend that much effort in O scale, my > primary interest). And it makes no sense to me to > invest more > than--at most--$20 in a conversion, including trucks and > Kadees, when AM cars are readily available for that (and > occasionally > less), and for a bit more SHS cars which are of a > high-enough quality to need little tweaking, even for the > most fastidious. > Frankly, I didn't go into S scale to put lots of time or > effort or money into locomotives and rolling stock--some, > just not a lot-- > as I can and will continue to do that in O scale. It > was the amount of quite good to excellent commercial > products now > available that tempted me in the first place as something > to enjoy playing with without all that is involved with my > more serious > interests. Perhaps that is a variation on toy train > mentality. Guilty as charged. > > Jace Kahn > > General Manager > Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co. ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
