Adding weight to Intermountain reefers?

[Kentuckian]

Since I don't have a good hacksaw, it would be a little hard for me to cut, but that's my problem!

Hacksaws? We don’t need no stinkin’ hacksaws!



 
Very informative thread. Thanks to all!

[mmagliaro]

You can get lead sheet here:
https://www.rotometals.com

About $11 for a 12" x 12"  1/32" thick sheet.    Lead is easy to score and cut with a utility knife, or even a pair of scissors when it's
thin.
They have $18 for 1/16" thick, and they have thicker and larger sheets also.

About 25% denser than steel and a heck of a lot easier to cut.
At 1/16" thickness, a strip 3/8" wide x 3" long will get you about 1/2 ounce.

[Simon D.]

PVA reacts with lead I think?


In the UK, and in the US from Amazon at least, lead strip is available in strips about 1/4" wide from tropical fish suppliers to weigh down plants.  Thin and very easily worked.


https://www.amazon.com/Supa-Big-10-Plant-Weights/dp/B003NF7IV8/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=lead+weight+aquarium&qid=1619469263&sr=8-4


(Hope this link works, otherwise search for 'lead weight aquarium')

[wazzou]

I bought this box of Self Adhesive wheel weights for about $18.00 some 25 years ago, or so. 
576 weights in total and I've used roughly 60% of them in that time.




Great for building kits to achieve the proper weight or adding some to existing models that don't require shoving them through a hatch.   

[peteski]

Probably won't be too many more years before someone comes up with a DCC coupler....so our (by then $150) freight cars will not only moo and cluck, but also uncouple when someone pushes the "Netflix" button on the upstairs TV remote.

Kato's Kobo Shop Mikado loco has a DCC-operated tender coupler.


See http://spookshow.net/loco/kato282.html

I'm also not sure why suddenly everybody is so against using lead.  If handled properly it is a perfectly safe metal, used for decades as N scale ballast.  I have bought couple of linear feet of lead flashing at Home Depot few years back.  It is about 1/16" thick. Just cut it into rectangles of whatever weight you want to install in the car, and glue it to the floor.  It won't kill you.

[nickelplate759]

I'm with @peteski .    Use lead.    Wash your hands after handling.  Don't leave it where children or pets can get at it.  And do NOT eat it.

It's easy to work with, and nicely heavy.  In sheets (like the flashing he mentions) you can shape it with finger pressure, and laminate enough of it to get a good deal of weight.  I added 1/2 oz of lead sheet to an Atlas/Kato RSD12 without having to modify the frame at all.

[Kentuckian]

Certainly, I use lead or tungsten when space is an issue, such as in locomotives. These particular reefers have plenty of space, so my primary concern is cost. I have a quick way of cutting steel and the price was right, since I found a piece of 0.5”x0.125” in my father-in-law’s material rack!

[nkalanaga]

Metallic lead is fairly safe, as it's nonsoluble in water.  Even swallowed, it won't digest, just goes straight through.  Lead oxides, the white powder you sometimes see on lead, can be water soluble, and more dangerous, but most wheel weights, or new sheets, don't have that problem.  It's various lead compounds that cause most lead poisoning.