Yeah the deck is at the right height with the Kadee mounted underneath it. I could remove some material and move the Kadee higher than the bottom of the deck, if the deck should be lower toward the wheels.
The question is: should the deck be lowered down toward the wheels in order to “look right” ???
It is also entirely possible this whole thing is a stupid question 
Jim Rowson said:
The question is: should the deck be lowered down toward the wheels in order to “look right” ???
That’s why I linked to the pictures I did. Looking at where the side sill rides in relation to what can be seen of the wheels.
Ah, Forrest, I totally misunderstood the point of those pictures! My bad. It appears from looking at those that the spacing on my car is not out of bounds eh?
Thanks for the historical photos, those are awesome!
Jim, the car may look high, because the car is basically a flat car. Cars with side sheathing, like boxcars and passenger cars, usually look lower on the trucks, because the sheathing usually extends below the frame of the car. Its an illusion, because the frame is at the same height, so that the couplers can mate up.
My point, with my question, was that if the coupler is at the right height, the frame has to be at the right height.
David Maynard said:
Jim, the car may look high, because the car is basically a flat car. Cars with side sheathing, like boxcars and passenger cars, usually look lower on the trucks, because the sheathing usually extends below the frame of the car. Its an illusion, because the frame is at the same height, so that the couplers can mate up.
My point, with my question, was that if the coupler is at the right height, the frame has to be at the right height.
What David said.
It’s a car that was built in the backshops of the railroad. It’s not supposed to look “storebought.”
As long as it doesn’t look like this I’m happy. Thanks!
ewwew. That’s bad.
Finally got to a milestone that justified posting again on this project. Just took the car out for its maiden voyage around the layout. So far so good :-).
Progress since last update: undercarriage done (truss rods, trucks, couplers), first cut at using magnets to hold on the top filler cap, and have most of the work done to build a ladder and catwalk to give access to the filler cap. Glue is drying on the ladder.
Still some stuff to do (another set of turnbuckles, stirrup steps, add battery and connector for power hookup to the Climax, possibly add a hose and associated pipe/valve, little details like a toolbox, etc.), but it now looks enough like the original inspiration car to make me happy.
Cheers!
Looks great !
How do the truss rods coincide with the magnetic door opening? Do they just slide into the timber?
Rooster: Yes, they just slide into holes a bit. Seems to be no problem so far. I did ACC the truss rods where they intersect, and will probably need to glue the other end (and the turnbuckles I add there of course) so things don’t move too much.
Other than being a little fiddly to close (have to line up the truss rods with the holes on both sides), it isn’t too bad. I don’t anticipate opening this thing up ever, until I need to replace the battery pack or a fuse. So a little fiddly is ok by me.
Thanks!
Very nice job Jim! 
Thanks Joe!
And here’s the ladder and a better view of the catwalk, for what it’s worth.
Cheers!
Beautiful Jim, great work!
Jim,
Your tank car turned out really, really nice. Enjoyed your build.
Doc Watson
Well done Jim. I always enjoy seeing a new twist from the norm.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Great build Jim
Dennis
Thanks, all!
I will admit, though, that I thought building the tank car was going to be the hardest part of this. But now I’m in the middle of Airwire, sound, battery conversion of the Climax. Sheesh!
Well, I’m still not quite done here yet since the whole point of this was to do a battery conversion of my Climax. I’ve got the electronics working with the battery so all that stuff is good. It turns out though that the Airwire receiver/motor driver is a tight fit in the Climax tender (like, it is too long). With that and my own harebrained desire to convert the Climax to be a wood burner, I decided to nuke the existing tender and build a wooden one.
I am going to guess this is not prototypical. Oh well.
Here’s where I am right now:
Still to do
Any suggestions to improve this?
Jim,
Love your wooden tender tank, I don’t think I have ever seen one on a class B but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t done somewhere. A tree fell on the tender tank and punched multiple holes or it was all rusted out and not fixable. To far to go or to expensive for a replacement, have to get the loco back in service. Wooden tank very plausible.
If your talking about attaching the tender tank to the loco deck my suggestion would be; If you have room in the inside front corners of the tank clue a small block in each corner and run a small hidden screw up through the deck. For the back attach an angle bracket (metal) and bolt it to the tender then screw it to the wood end beam, very prototypical even for metal tanks.
Just a suggestion if your going wood burner perhaps changing the stack to a wood burner stack with cinder trap would be something to consider.
Looks great.
Rick
Thanks Rick. Glad to hear this doesn’t look too weird :-).
As to attaching the tender, your idea of screws from below seems just fine. I was starting to think that way myself and you just helped me solidify the decision. Certainly the first thing to try.
Yeah, should go with a wood burner stack. Sadly this was a used loco and only came with the stack you see. I’ll have to see what I can find.
Cheers!
