Large Scale Central

A New Diet Coke car

Modeling
#1

I had some fun with this build. At the G show in Springfield I bought a LGB Diet Coke mini tank car and immediately thought that I needed a mini box car to go with it. The idea is that because they are “Diet” they should be smaller, like they are on a diet, get it LOL
I had a nondescript LGB boxcar collecting dust so I carefully cut it down on my mitre saw. I then painted it silver, masked for the white oval and shot that too. The only problem was finding decals to match the full sized Diet Coke car. I found the main decal on line but the glass was an issue. I ended up tracing the one on the full size car, cutting a pattern and spraying the black. I then hand painted the red and made another pattern for the white which I dabbed on. It passes the 5’ rule.

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#2

Looks great!!! So how much did you cut out of the car?

#3

Thanks! Nearly 6" was cut out. 3 from each end.

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#4

Making one cut to remove some( actually 2 cuts) but to make 2 on each side of the door and make them invisible, wow!! Once people stop think g grain hopper cars are made of gold I hope to get a couple and shorten them to represent new sand hopper cars

#5

Cutting up a perfectly good car is an uneasy prospect.
Thanks. I used some scrap wood to make interior bracing on the box car to avoid flexing as my 12" chop saw sliced through it and it still got messed up a bit. The vertical rivet lines helped to hide the cuts and a bit of putty was used. :shushing_face:

That is a neat idea to shorten those hopper cars and make them in to sand cars.

#6

Outstanding workmanship !!!

#7

I guess your Coke car only has 6 oz. drinks and not the 12 oz. that the larger car has.

#8

Todd, just free thinking here if you ( me actually) was to spray some low expanding foam sealant that it may give some decent strength to a car like a hopper car if it was to go under the chop or band saw

#9

The foam might work but I would test it first. Any wiggle or deflection will ruin the project as you know.

#10

HA! Good one John. Those tiny cans are funny.

#11

I would be afraid of filling the whole car with it , I envision an explosion if overfilled , may test it out on a big aluminum can to see what happens

#12

You might want to tinfoil the insde of the car before you fill. :sunglasses:

#13

That’s probably a good idea to make it easy to remove when all the sawing is over