DRAGON WHALEBELLY - What Color

[John]

These might actually be a good candidate for 3d printing .. you could hollow them out ..

[peteski]

These might actually be a good candidate for 3d printing .. you could hollow them out ..

Absolutely!
Hopefully the printing artifacts could be easily smoothed (since these cars are baby-butt smooth).

[John]

http://qconnection.biz/forms/CBQ%20Instructions.pdf
http://qconnection.biz/forms/SAL%20Instructions.pdf

http://qconnection.biz/Whalebelly%20Proto.htm

http://magazine.trainlife.com/ptm_1978_2/  -- starting page 27

[propmeup1]

I finally was notified from Kaslo that my three cars are on their way here. I already have the MS decals, trucks and couplers. All I need is the three cars. Why I ordered three, Because MS gives enough decals for three Dragon cars.  Didn't want to have a set go to waist but now I can't screw one up either.    So with all I read about building these beauties is I need to put on my do not disturb sign and dig into it.   I suspect they will have a bit of weight to them since they are solid.

[peteski]

  I suspect they will have a bit of weight to them since they are solid.

The problem is that their center of gravity is very high, making them rather tippy. I wonder how many people have ran these in a train and what was the experience.  It seems that they might tip over with just the slightest provocation.  I was thinking  of hollowing one out, but there is no way to do this without some serious work.

Those cars would be perfect for the casting method using a closed 2-piece mold, pouring small amount of resin, then turning the mold around in every direction while the resin sets.  I think it is called "slush casting". That would coat the inner surface of the mold with resin, making a hollow body.  At least then it would be easier to add some ballast at the bottom of the body, making the car much more stable.

[Missaberoad]

Might be possible to drill a hole in the bottom and add a small tungsten disk (one of the pinewood weights might work)... Would make a very heavy car but would lower the center of gravity. Putty and sand to taste to conceal the hole.

[bnsfdash8]

I've ran my 2 towards the front of 40ish car trains without issue, but they are definitely top heavy compared to other cars.

[John]

Might be possible to drill a hole in the bottom and add a small tungsten disk (one of the pinewood weights might work)... Would make a very heavy car but would lower the center of gravity. Putty and sand to taste to conceal the hole.

It would take some careful work -- there are some details molded on that might get in the way

[propmeup1]

The three cars I ordered came in today. I'll give results soon.

[propmeup1]

I have one together in about an hour complete. Not much of a problem except lack of info to place a few items exactly but once I dug up some photos it became clear.  I put it in a 40 car train at different areas and it runs everywhere without issues, so far. I will build the other two and paint them and then take a few photos.   So far I recommend these cars.

[Bottomdrain]

This is the original brass version that came bare brass! I originally saw the car at Rice Yard in Waycross Georgia many years before it was a model and fell in love with it! No decals were available, so I used box car decals! A guy in Georgia has reissued
the outstanding resin version he came out with a few years ago! This brass [ Guests cannot view attachments ]
model was put together by someone who took pride in what they were doing!

[peteski]

Coming back from an annual trek to our favorite vacation spot in Maine, we drive by the Dragon Cement plant. Here is a couple of heavily weathered cars.

[up__1995]

This is a neat project, nice job to those who have built those models.

I am thinking of exploring a project like this in my down time this winter. I have much of the info I need to CAD the car, but I have a couple additional questions.

-- Is the car still in service? I noticed that a few of the Dragon cars on RRPA seemed to be active as late as early 2021, but are they still used?

-- Are there additional roads besides BN, SCL, and Dragon that I can look into on RRPA and other online sources?

Thanks!

[peteski]

-- Is the car still in service? I noticed that a few of the Dragon cars on RRPA seemed to be active as late as early 2021, but are they still used?

Yes,  The photos I posted in the post above yours are current (taken in August 2021).  I doubt they were taken out of service within the last few months.

[haasmarc]

What is the time frame/location for these?