Need opinions and advice

[Iain]

OK, a whole bunch of firsts for me:
First of January
First day of the year
First scratchbuilt freight car
First scratchbuilt anything in brass





And yes, the ladle does turn
(Really, I was too lazy to solder it to keep it from turning)

[3rdrail]

First, learn how to spell "opinion" and "ladle".  ;D ;D ;D

Since it is a first and you want to learn, here are some brutal observations. To begin with, the ladle requires a spout, or two, if bidirectional. The spilled metal detail does not hide the lack thereof. Since the hot metal or slag in the ladle weighs many tons, there is a motor used to turn the ladle. I do not see it modeled. While no one would go near it while in use, men need to have access to the floor of the car to work on the machinery. Where are the stirrups and handgrabs? Finally, and most important, I see at least three cases where things are out of line, to the point where the prototype would implode if built the same way...Not a very safe way to handle molten metal. The bearing supports should be exactly perpendicular to the floor and the ladle should rotate on the exact same axis with regard to the supporting shafts.

Straighten things out, add the necessary additional details, and you'll have yourself an interesting and unusual model. 

[Chris333]

2 days ago there were 2 more hot metal cars down the street.  What is the difference between this short car and these longer ones?

[Iain]

Well, it was late and I was tired, re the poor spelling.

It is far from finished.  The ladle is just a stand in until I can get to the metal lathe.  Looking at it, the end platforms need to be longer, as well.

I did not think of the spouts.


For the turning axis, a drill press will be used on the final ladel.

The bearing supports are not finished yet.  I was going to add some bracing to them, as well as the turning equipment inboard of them.


For the most part, this is an experiment.  Full production will not begin for a while yet.  I plan to do as many of these as I can, mass producing all the parts before hand and then assembling them like a kit.  One thing I may try to do is to actually lighten it a bit.  The car is 2 1/4 inches long and yet weighs more than most of my locomotives.

Chris, I'll be needing some of those as well!  I think that for the most part bottle cars are used for the actual metal, and the ladle cars are for slag.

[Chris333]

I just went down the street and took some pics, but Railimages is all funny right now.

One car hadn't been rebuilt yet, but was cleaned of all it's slag around the opening. Even without it you could see a bunch of small metal piece sticking out like they were put there to collect the slag on purpose.

[SAH]

Chris, I'll be needing some of those as well!  I think that for the most part bottle cars are used for the actual metal, and the ladle cars are for slag.

Correct Iain.  The bottle car takes the iron from the blast furnace to the steel making operation (Open Hearth, BOF, etc.)  It looks like you're building a slag car.  I haven't been to Peach Creek Shops website recently but they had some good looking slag and hot metal cars.  Pretty pricey though.     Do you have a proto photo you're working from?

From your other posts it sounds like you have a steel mill in the works.  Any particular prototype or location?  If I had more space I'd likely have an EL based layout serving the steel industry in the Mahoning Valley.  Some day perhaps.

Chris, did you take those hot metal bottle photos outside WCI?

Steve

[Chris333]

Steve,

They are always down at the small CSX wye on DeForest, the small yard that is there because of WCI.

About every month I see a new one there and I have a feeling they re-build them in a building down east of the wye before the track ends in Niles. I'm pretty sure it is the ex Youngstown Steel CAR building that also made a few of Erie's flatcars. YSC was in Niles YSDoor was in Austintown.

One car I saw was going to Pittsburgh, the re-built one today said Inland Steel, East Chicago on the paperwork.

I don't know if these cars come from WCI or not?

[Chris333]

Here is the rebuilt car from today:


Paperwork taped to it:


Next victom waiting in line:


Sorry it was getting dark (5 pm)

[Iain]

My mill is freelanced, but the blast furnaces will be based on drawings of a prototype in Wharton, NJ.

At $33 a pop for the Peach Creek bottle cars, I think I'll pass.  I may buy one just to get ideas on how to put things together, but that's it.

Chris, the more pics you can get me, the better; especially detail shots of the fiddly bits at the ends.

Notice how the wheelsets protrude past the end platforms a bit.  The same thing happens on the ladle cars.  I did this, but I am not sure about coupler mounting clearance.

Everything but the current ladle is based on a prototype.