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Wrecked TLDX Tank Car on SP Flat
This model is a case of turning lemons into lemonade.
I built this tank car many years ago from a Roller Bearing Models "craftsman" kit,
inspired by a prototype car I'd seen somewhere (I really like tank cars, especially
those with interesting paint schemes like the red stripe on this one).
It won 1st place, freight category, at the 1989 NMRA-PCR Coast Division meet in Santa Clara, CA.
But the model was badly damaged one day as I was unloading my pickup after a
Free-mo event. The car was in a storage bin, along with several other tank cars,
when the entire bin tumbled out of the truck, did a 360, and landed on the driveway.
Of course it was fragile tank cars - why couldn't it have been, say, nice sturdy boxcars? Argh!
I couldn't see a way to easily get the car into operable condition again, but I did have
a Roundhouse 60' SP flat car that needed a load. So I worked with the damage on the tank
car, enhancing it to appear as if the car had derailed onto its side and slid a little ways
(ladders and railings bent toward the brake end, dirt and scratches on the tank, etc.).
I then crafted some wooden shipping blocks and tie-down cables to mount the car
on the flat, as if it's on the way to a repair shop or perhaps the scrap yard.
This model is a case of turning lemons into lemonade.
I built this tank car many years ago from a Roller Bearing Models "craftsman" kit,
inspired by a prototype car I'd seen somewhere (I really like tank cars, especially
those with interesting paint schemes like the red stripe on this one).
It won 1st place, freight category, at the 1989 NMRA-PCR Coast Division meet in Santa Clara, CA.
But the model was badly damaged one day as I was unloading my pickup after a
Free-mo event. The car was in a storage bin, along with several other tank cars,
when the entire bin tumbled out of the truck, did a 360, and landed on the driveway.
Of course it was fragile tank cars - why couldn't it have been, say, nice sturdy boxcars? Argh!
I couldn't see a way to easily get the car into operable condition again, but I did have
a Roundhouse 60' SP flat car that needed a load. So I worked with the damage on the tank
car, enhancing it to appear as if the car had derailed onto its side and slid a little ways
(ladders and railings bent toward the brake end, dirt and scratches on the tank, etc.).
I then crafted some wooden shipping blocks and tie-down cables to mount the car
on the flat, as if it's on the way to a repair shop or perhaps the scrap yard.