Flat Car Kit

[RailMan63]

Hi everyone. I just purchased 3 of these On30 flat car kits on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/North-Alabama-Models-flat-car-kit-SR-RL-prototype-28-On30-On2/393157706093?ssPageName

They have wood decks.
I was wondering if anybody could tell me what color the ET&WNC flat car decks are, and if using stain on these wooden decks would be a better choice than painting them with my airbrush.

Thanks in advance!

[Ton N]

I stain my wood always with a vinegar steel-wool solution.
Your asking for a ET&WNC colour scheme but you bought SR&RL cars. ??

Ton

[RailMan63]

Yup. To me a flat car is a flat car.Kind of like how all of the Bachmann G Scale rolling stock is made from the same molds, and then painted , and lettered, for the various railroads that they're supposed to represent.
In this case, it will work for me as well!
Thanks, Ton!

[p51]

As far as I know, the ET&WNC flats had bare wood decks, as most other wood topped flats were. The problem is all the photos I have of ET&WNC flats from my collection and in books, none show the deck from above looking down.
This is the only shot I've seen showing the deck, I think this was taken around the time they ripped up the 3-foot line: http://www.tarheelpress.com/img172.gif
Looks like weathered bare wood to me, but you can't really tell if it was painted black as well at one point. I have some color photos from the latter era of the 3-foot operation but none show flat cars.
The ET&WNC had 32-foot flats that were more than a little beefier than the SR&RL ones you're getting. But you make a point about flats being flats.

[RailMan63]

Thanks!
I knew that the ET&WNC flat cars were 32 footers. I'm trying to build these kits to work with all of my other On30 locomotives,regardless of road name,or historical accuracy as to length of the cars.
Which is something that most of the model train manufactures seem to be guilty of ,anyway.
I'm currently thinking of staining the wood in natural wood color,and painting the bodies black while adding generic numbers to each car.
I really like the finished look of these kits, and find the wood decks to be very appealing.
I'm currently making a generic freight consist of the 3 Bachmann tank cars, and these 3 SR-RL flat cars, along with the Bachmann caboose that I have (which is going to remain unlettered,at least for now).
I may add an unlettered box car, or two, but that will be in the future.

[RailMan63]

The 3 kits arrived today. They look awesome!
I did,however, notice right away that they are going to need trucks for On30 as they came with On2 scale trucks and wheel sets.
Do you think that the Bachmann On30 trucks and wheel sets would work for these cars ?
Any suggestions would be welcome !
On another note, the bodies are 1 inch longer than the Bachmann On30 flat cars are.
I measured them up against a Bachmann Spectrum On30 D&RGW flat car (Item# 27318 ), and they are pretty much the same size, just one inch longer.
These are supposed to represent a 28 foot flat car. If the Bachmann car is shorter, then what length flat car is the Bachmann car supposed to represent?
Certainly less than the 32 foot dimensions that we already discussed for an ET&WNC flat car.

[ksivils]

If you are interested and really want ET&WNC flat cars you can get two different versions from Keith Wiseman.

https://wisemanmodelservices.com/O-Scale-On3-On30/On3-On30-FREIGHT-CAR-KITS-TRUCKS-AND-PARTS/On3-On30-ETandWNC-32-FOOT-FLAT-CAR-KIT

[RailMan63]

Interesting. I bought one of his On30 flanger kits from him last month.
I didn't see the flat cars.
But then again, I was only looking for a flanger at that time.
Thanks for the heads up!

[RailMan63]

I figured it out on my own.
I removed the trucks from my Bachmann flat car ,and attached them to one of the flat car frames.
The Bachmann trucks worked with plenty of clearance for them to turn on curves.
So,I went online and found the same trucks.
They are the Bachmann #29901 freight trucks.
I spent less than $50.00 for all three sets, so that wasn't too bad.
I'm now looking forward to building these kits once the new trucks arrive.
I'll post a video of them on youtube within the next couple of weeks once I receive the trucks, and complete the kits.
This is going to be fun !

[J. S. Bach]

Looking at the kit floating in the 'bay, it appears that they would be easy to lengthen/shorten.

[RailMan63]

Could be. But I'm going to build them as they are.
I first have to finish my Gabriel diecast 1/20th 1929 Ford Model A pickup truck (for my large scale trains), which I just started yesterday by preparing the truck bed for paint (Createx Florescent Red ).
I expect the truck to take a couple of weeks, or more, to build, what with my current work schedule and all.
I'll decide after the truck is finished as to which kit to build next.
I may go with the Wiseman C&S flanger before I start the flats.
I expect the flanger to take at least a month to build,as it is quite intricate, with many small parts.
We'll see!
Later!