doctorwayne Wrote:Who makes that depressed-centre flatcar?Gidday Wayne, Its a kitbash of a kitbash. I hope you don't mind the long version, but some years ago there was a "tidy up" at the local club and from the work bench cupboards a small box of "Junk" was to be thrown out. At that time my model railroading, apart from club activities, was centred around assembling Athearn BB and MDC freight car kits to the recommended NMRA weights and fitting Kadees or EzMate MkII to the correct height, but I did recognise that the "Junk" had possibilities and might get me into the arcane arts of kitbashing, so I was allowed to take the rubbish away.
The depressed centre car, one of the junk items, was produced by Jouef, had huge pizza cutter wheels , a broken truck, horrible couplers, and was, I think,of an OO European prototype. However with its with its HO scale 45 foot length and 8'9" width, I thought I could get away with "Americanising" it. So I removed the trucks, drilled and tapped for 2-56 screws to attach the Athearn trucks and wheels, and Kadee coupler boxes, added lead weight underneath, fitted a Athearn BB caboose brake wheel assembly, bent and fitted some stirrups from staples, made some tie down rings from spare Kadee coupler boxes, and volia.......
Time passed and I started lurking and later joined another forum. Amongst the great contributions there, were some very informative, (and inspiring) ones from a certain Canadian Gentleman with a penchant for kitbashing freight cars into specific cars for his 1930s railroad.
Upon occasionally looking upon my depressed centre kit bash I was reminded of a teachers comment on a school report from years before that went along the lines.... " did well but could TRY HARDER..." and an accidental link to this.....http://prr.railfan.net/freight/freightph...ew.jpg&fr= ........got me thinking( there wasn't too much of a burning smell 
) and though its very freelanced, this is how it ended up.....The air tanks are made from sprue, the attaching straps from card, brake wheels from the spares box and stirrups and grap irons from .012" brass wire. and squirted with paint from a cheap rattle can. The trucks and wheels are Proto ones.( even if Buckeyes were readily available I doubt if they would fit.) It still needs a load, decaling and weathering.
I see that the Funaro and Camerlengo make a kit for the F-29, .....http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/8170.html but apart from the fact that the LHSs' (not that local actually) go "Who???", and looking at the "Dollar Car" projects in the older Model Railroaders, I've added a scratch built version to my "Things to possibly do one day if I get round to it" list.
To anyone who views this and hasn't tried a kitbash, but is tempted, then Give It A Go. While it can be frustrating at times, it can be very satisfying and hey if I can do it, so should you.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."