Here is a close-up of the flatcar (wagon) that I built from scratch. The car measures about 5.5 feet long in Gn15 scale, which is a reasonable size. The process was actually a lot easier than I had first thought. Take a Ho freight car and remove the body. Then I cut off the couplers and pockets next because I was going to use a link & pin system. A cut was made just behind both sets of wheels after the cross-beams which gave me a flat area to apply glue. Next I cut a piece of styrene the width of the wheels and the length of both sets together. The styrene kept the wheels aligned and square so that the flat car would track well and go around curves properly.
Then came the wood deck. It is made out of craft sticks the same size as an ice-cream stick. First I cut the sides and ends; glued them together with wood glue and made it square by using a jig that I had made out of scrap pine. When dryed it was glued to the wheel assembly with plastic cement. the deck planks were cut to size so that they would be flush with the frame. The couplers were made with a double layer of sticks with a hole made using a pin-vise where the two are glued together. A short piece of brass rod was cut for the pin and inserted into the hole.
After making the second flat-car, the only thing that is left to do is paint and weather the cars to taste.
In the next installment I'll discuss the process used to do the basic ground cover on the layout. Stay tuned.
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