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DSC_5247I had a number of old "scale" 1940's Lionel tank cars. They all had rusted tanks and were near worthless. I've always liked the look of them and they really fit well with other scale cars. They are all metal with heavy die-cast frames so are well worth saving. I just finished my third rebuild. I have done two Shell cars and the last one was done with the Ethel Brand. I remember my Mom always asking for Ethel when she bought gas so when I saw an old Walthers decal set for sale I bought it. In fact that's the hard part about saving the tank cars. Not many decals available for them. Driving with my parents as a kid I remember long strings of black tank cars on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Wish there were more decal sets for these old tankers. DonDSC_5249

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Last edited by scale rail
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It's super easy. The frames are most times fine. Just a little WD-40 on them. The tanks only need fine sanding to get the rust and old yellowed decals off. Most of the painted is with rattle can flat paint. I air brush a gloss finish on them, let dry and add the decals. Then a flat finished is air brushed and let dry then assemble. I have it down to about three hours . Of course drying time in the Maui Sun helps speed up everything. It's a fun project and very easy. Don

These cars all use the the pre war 2755 frames. The 2755 came with 4 warning placards and 4 corner steps. Many of the post war versions had some of these details reduced or eliminated, ie two warning placards and zero corner steps.

The repro parts guys have these parts if you want to add the detail back. In the case of the corner steps they can be made easily with staples from a staple gun.

Pete

Last edited by Norton

I  keep a look out for old tank cars too although not to restore too much. Found  an old gray one which was really dirty but had decent decals so spent time cleaning it. Like to keep them original. Also picked up a Standard gauge tank car for parts but ended up fixing it up to run. Couldn't get myself to scrap a car that really wasn't in bad shape for parts. Part of the fun. The ugliest are the big, high early Standard gauge tank cars.

I really like the way those cars have been rehabbed, Don. Given how substantial those cars are, its good to see them saved.

I run a tank car unit train of various makers 1, 2 and 3-dome cars, and a Sunoco 2555 is always at the front of the train (unless I'm running K-Line die-cast cars). The weight up front generally provides better tracking and operational qualities.

When my father used to stop at our local Standard Oil back in the 50's, I remember him always saying "Hi, Fritz, fill'er up with Ethyl", which I understood to be a higher grade of gasoline. I didn't know it was also a brand.

Well done all!

Last edited by jay jay
jay jay posted:

When my father used to stop at our local Standard Oil back in the 50's, I remember him always saying "Hi, Fritz, fill'er up with Ethyl", which I understood to be a higher grade of gasoline. I didn't know it was also a brand.

Well done all!

John, Ethyl Corp made the additive, tetra ethyl lead. I don't think they sold gasoline through retail. Their product was added by the gas companies to the fuel. Among other things like valve/valve seat protection is also increased the octane value. Today you would ask for 93 instead of 89 or whatever is the highest octane in your area.

 

Last edited by Norton
Norton posted:
jay jay posted:

When my father used to stop at our local Standard Oil back in the 50's, I remember him always saying "Hi, Fritz, fill'er up with Ethyl", which I understood to be a higher grade of gasoline. I didn't know it was also a brand.

Well done all!

John, Ethyl Corp made the additive, tetra ethyl lead. I don't think they sold gasoline through retail. Their product was added by the gas companies to the fuel. Among other things like valve/valve seat protection is also increased the octane value. Today you would ask for 93 instead of 89 or whatever is the highest octane in your area.

 

Thanks, Norton! I did not know that. Now it makes sense. 

It's really funny, but I never noticed that before!  I guess I expected that FRA design regulations or other safety requirements would have required ladders.  Maybe they did after a certain period  and these cars were just old.  I'd be curious to know from some of you with knowledge of the subject!  ie, what cars or car owners did not have ladders for example. 

Jesse, do you have any old pictures of the tank cars or loading platforms that you mention?  Would be great to add them for reference!

 

It would help all of us model them more accurately and more importantly, we might not feel the need to add ladders to that grungy old tanker that lost them long ago

 

Thanks for the fun

Steamer posted:

this one has the ladder on the back side 

72400162

Agreed, but it looks like some do and some don't in both of those group pictures.  Again, it would be cool to know what variations there were and why and by what companies.  Just useless trivia but neat stuff..  Plus it lets us mess with the scale guys, cause I'll be all their cars have ladders

Roving Sign posted:
Jim 1939 posted:

They are nice cars and easy to redo. O scale decals for any type car are getting hard to find though.

Arent we just printing them on InkJets these days?

Yes for many that is true but a few of us old guys haven't caught up yet so store bought decals did the job quite nicely and there WAS many to choose from.

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