Tom, if you guessed that our long time mentor, Jack Troxell, did the
milling you would be correct. However, I think any machine shop would
probably do that for you. I bet it didn't take 20 minutes per car.
Although, I've got way too much on my plate technology wise, it would be
nice to be able to do that when needed.
I would also assume that picking up an old commercial unit would be
fairly inexpensive due to all the computerized unit's now being standard.
To answer Matt, I had considered just using the sides from the plastic
version (mainly to preserve the general shape and rivet detail) to be
the answer, but the metal car has all the weight you need while any kind
of resin, or plastic would be lacking. Also remember these were done
long before Archer rivets. It's those worn, beat-up planks that make a
flat car. My lone Rex flat car is in storage as I'd like to get rid of
that cast deck on it too. I did a fair job of weathering my SHS and
Smokey Mountain versions, so they play nicely with my old AF versions.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
Bob,
Thanks for that information. I, too,somewhere picked up the caveat
that the ACE flatcar bolsters cause the car to ride too high for
prototypical appearances. I will have to craft a bolster similar to
what you did. I would like to grind those round mounting circles
down, but that could be time consuming. Never thought about milling
down the metal deck. I don't know who would do it for me. Anyway,
thanks for the input.
Tom Baker
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