i have several red caboose centerbeam cars. due to their design they are really light and tend to derail on long trains. of course there are several loads available out there that add a bit of weight. unfortunately they all seem to be made from balsa. i decided to built my own. several points had to be accomplished : - easy to build - cheap - flexible design - add weight and - therefore improve tracking of the cars.
the following pictures will show you how i built my loads. what you need : - 4mm balsa - 1mm balsa - 4mm steel rod - ca glue - white glue - sharp hobby knife - steel saw or cutting disk
first cut the 4mm balsa into stripes 16mm x 137mm. then cut the steel rod into pieces of 136mm.
then glue the steel rods to the balsa stripes using ca glue
after that cut the 1mm balsa into pieces which cover the 4mm balsa and the steel rod.
glue the 1mm balsa on top of the loads.
your loads should now look like this.
design and print the covers. bring some variation into your design ! some logos upside down, slightly angled. whatever. use your imagination.
now cut your covers into size and glue them around your loads using white glue.
here are some pics of the finished loads on some cars.
some are upside down
warped cover
uneven load
due to the steelrod immediately on the deck and in the center of the car these centerbeams now really track well.
how to build loads for centerbeams
Posted - 06/19/2010 : 13:16:01
