Friday, February 13, 2026

More Flat-Car conversions

Last year I bought a lot of 2 used flat-cars. I actually bought it the just to get one of the flat-cars, the upper one in the following photo looking like a heavy duty one. The lower one just came with the deal and I have several similar of this type in my collection already:

Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train

Heavy Duty Flat-Car

In my fleet of Flat-Cars I wanted some of them to stand out, and this one looked like a larger 'heavy duty' Flat-Car for heavier loads. It also looked almost ready as is and would need minimal efforts and changes to be ready for military service in a rake in some of my G-scale military trains:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
This is actually an American Standard Gauge Flat-Car by Accucraft, which also runs on 45mm gauge. I wanted to make it look more like a narrow gauge car so I 3D printed and added buffers to the buffer beams. To the buffers I added hooks for the 3 link couplings for my WDLR train:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train

The bogies were of an American type and had American knuckle-couplers attached to them. As I don't use this type of couplings on my rolling stock I just tried to replace them with LGB ones, but they didn't fit very well on these bogies. So I replaced the American bogies with LGB ones which had original LGB couplings attached. The LGB bogie (lightly weathered) to the left, and the original American one I replaced to the right:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
The floor was given a blackwash followed by a drybrush, and I washed the wagon sides to make the rivets looks rusty:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train

The other Flat-Car in the job lot

I have several similar Flat-Cars of this type already, but it followed the purchase. This was brown and had American lettering:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
It didn't have any buffers usually found on narrow gauge rolling stock, so I 3D-printed some from a free stl-file found on Thingeverse:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
To make it fit my other military rolling stock I just spray-painted it grey in a slightly other shade than the similar Flat-Cars and painted the floor:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train

Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train

Salvaged from spare box

This is strictly not a pure 'Flat-Car' as it has more similarities to stake-wagons. It was included in a job lot I bought a couple of years ago. I couldn't use it as it was so heavily used that it's axle-slots had become oval and the wheels didn't spin properly and the wagon wouldn't roll anymore. I didn't buy the job lot for this wagon in the first place, so it was sent to my spare box for future projects. 
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train
While working on some of my other military 'wagon projects' I got some Miliput left over and I decided to stuff it into the oval axle-slots to see if I could repair them. When it was completely cured and hard I drilled new holes for the axles. This seemed to work, as the wagon and wheels were running freely again now. Then it was given a coat of grey paint, had the floor painted and finally given a blackwash and drybrushed:
Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train

Converting a LGB flatcar and a Accucraft flatcar to military flatcars for use in a G-scale LGB Heeresfeldbahn train and a 16mm scale WDLR train


I didn't make any loads which I fixed to these cars as I want to be able to swap out different loads on them.

8 comments:

  1. Great work Roger - your military train is growing longer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Maudlin Jack Tar. I've actually have more wagons that any of my locomotives can pull. -And I still have some projects in the pipeline. -I'll guess I'm going to need another locomotive soon...

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  2. A couple of useful model conversions and I learned about how flat cars are different :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Peter. I still have a lot of other type of cars in my 'secondhand pile' awaiting remodeling. Time will show if they make it to the blog.

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  3. Roger,

    I am very impressed with the way you have modified these wagons so that you can use them on your narrow-gauge model military railway.

    all the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much for your kind words Bob. Perhaps they will re-appear in the blog in future 'day out posts'......
      - Perhaps also with some new (interchangeably) military loads to set the scene.

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  4. Three very useful flat wagons or load wagons refreshed and renewed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not making any loads for them now means I can make and temporary move some (military) loads in the future. I think the 'heavy duty' car will be able to move pretty heavy loads...
      Thanks for reading and commenting Mark

      Delete

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