In the June issue I explained how I built these small, inexpensive cars. This month I will discuss a number of different variations of the design. This variant simply adds some 1/4" square stakes onto the basic flatcar design. I actually did not glue the stakes in, which allows removing them to use some other variant on the same flatcar, expanding the rolling stock possibilities for the diehard cheapskate (must be that Scottish blood). The end stakes in this case were 5-1/2" long, allowing logs to be stacked up fairly high. Someone more ambitious might want to put planking across the stakes on each end.

Although not shown installed in the above photo, the stakes are supported at the tops by wire rope. The wire rope itself is simply picture hanging wire with swaged loops. The swaged fittings are short bits of 3/32" aluminum tubing, crimped in a stripper/crimper tool used for electrical work. I made the loops fairly snug so that they can be force fitted on without needing any adhesive, allowing them to be snugged down over the loaded logs.

I stained the stakes with the same weathering mixture as used on the decks, but only applied one coat on the theory that the stakes probably get replaced more often. The deck and stakes were sprayed with Krylon clear satin "paint" to provide some resistance to moisture.

The pulpwood logs are 4" long pieces of tree branches cut ("pruned", if my wife asks) from various victims around the yard. Lilacs and maple shoots seem to have a nice bark texture. I found that it took an awful lot of pieces to make a full load, and there is still room for a few more.

My converted Bachmann 2-4-2T has a terrible overhang problem on the small radius curves I use. I put a drawbar on the back, and needed a dedicated car to connect to the drawbar, with a conventional coupler on the far end. One of the Hartland cars was thus slated for conversion to some sort of tender. Some testing with drawbars of 0.060" x 1/4" styrene revealed that a 4-5/8" drawbar connected to the stock coupler mounting stud on the Hartland body would get through 2' radius reverse curves.

The basic flatcar design was lengthened to about 7-1/4" to take up some of the space between the back of the loco cab and the deck. In this version, the deck is applied over the tops of the end beams. A plank width of 9/16" was used, with the first plank in back of the cab being extra wide. The planks were cut away a bit where steps were added on either side, and no stake notches were cut. The steps were added after epoxying the Hartland body to the frame/deck assembly to avoid accidents in the clamping process.

The Hartland body was epoxied with the KayDee coupler end against the frame, rather than spaced apart to accommodate stakes, and the coupler mounting hole was drilled a little bit towards the inner edge of the rectangle, rather than in the center. The frame was painted black to match the loco.

The superstructure to be added will depend on the fuel the loco uses. A three-sided bin could be built for wood or coal. Since my 2-4-2T is intended to represent an oil burner, I am making a tank assembly using one of the Hartland tanks and a rectangular tank made from thick sheet styrene. This will most likely be attached to the deck by screws from underneath. Eventually I will try to cram a battery and/or sound system into the tanks.

I am still thinking of additional cars that I can build using these inexpensive Hartland "Value Line" cars. My next project will involve some simple passenger cars and I will tell you about them in a future issue.

Jeff Semprebon