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Richard - no, only the first two.  I have scratchbuilt many tank cars, but the last two were made professionally by folks in the business of selling model trains.  Lobaugh had a group of pro builders who would build a kit in exchange for another similar kit - a real loser financially, but we have many outstanding examples of such craftsmanship from pre-1941.

Originally Posted by Norton:
Originally Posted by palallin:

Don't count out small tank cars--they have come in just about every size.  An 8,000 gallon tankcar is very small in 1/48 scale.

Don't discount Lionel's offerings. The pre war and post war tin cars are scale size if lacking in ultimate detail. They would make a good starting point. 

 

Right. For comparison, here are a few shots of an Atlas O 8,000 gal. scale tank car, a Lionel traditional tank car, and a Lionel 8,000 gal. scale tank car.

 

The Atlas O car and the Lionel car are virtually identical in size. (And actually, the more recent Lionel cars have are slightly more detailed, with additional rivet detail.)

 

The Lionel scale 8,000 gal. car, while shorter, is still an 8,000 gal car, because in this design the tank is wider, as shown in the photos comparing it with the Atlas car.

 

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Last edited by breezinup

Lionel and Bachmann have made 3-dome tank cars that have chunky details, yet they look scale sized with Atlas O and Weaver box cars and open-top hoppers. Do you need finely detailed models instead? 

The broken, plastic, roller bearing trucks were replaced with metal, journal bearing trucks on this MPC/LIONEL 3-dome tank car. 

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Andrew

 

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Here are some two and three dome tank cars that a two railer friend picked up for me in 2016 in Chicago and two tanks cars I picked up  back in March 2017 during my second visit to the Chicago O scale show.

Tank car 1Tank car 2

I could not make it to Chicago in 2016, so I ask my two railer friend to find me a two or three rail car. He found this great looking UTLX tree dome tank for me.

 

Texas Company 2 dome tank car

I picked up these tow 2 dome tank cars in Chicago back in March.  The Texas Company two dome was an undecorated brass model. My two railer friend painted and lettered the car for me, and I added the Atlas three rail trucks.

 Tydol Veedol tank car

I found this Tydol Veedol two tank car ready to run. all I had to do was add the switch out the two rail trucks for Atlas three rail trucks. Atlas has announced a single dome Tydol Veedol tank car in the Masters Line that I will have to order for sure.

I like the fact that two and three rail O scale tank cars always come with private ownership markings. The Lionel 3 dome tank cars and MTH three dome tank cars are nice, but more often then not they are made with railroad road names, which is just not prototypically correct for most  tank cars.  

Take care,

Richard

 

 

 

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Last edited by Richard Gonzales
pro hobby posted:

K-Line all metal single dome tankcar.  Nice detail.  How close to scale on this one???

 

 

K-LINE tankcar single dome

I have always considered these to be scale size. IIRC, This one is not all metal, rather, it hs a metal frame and a plastic body.

This is the old AMT mold from 1951 or so.

"One thing about tank cars: they come in a variety of sizes:"

Yes, they do. Some guys thought my project below was "inaccurate" - then I showed them a prototype photo similar to the one above. The repaint's road name, etc, is correct, though the capacities are wrong, if you care to think about it. (The Marx data is probably closer.)

Before and after examples. I added some brake equipment details, but you can't see them here. 

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Last edited by D500
D500 posted:

"One thing about tank cars: they come in a variety of sizes:"

Yes, they do. Some guys thought my project below was "inaccurate" - then I showed them a prototype photo similar to the one above. The repaint's road name, etc, is correct, though the capacities are wrong, if you care to think about it. (The Marx data is probably closer.)

Before and after examples. I added some brake equipment details, but you can't see them here. 

DSCN2620a

There are a number of Marx scale tank cars converted to S gauge on my pike. It's cool that they are different than the basic postwar Flyer, especially the orange shell cars.

Hate to revive a really old thread, but has anyone ever seen or heard of a Lobaugh CHEMICAL tank car kit?  I have seen lots and lots of the J&L cars(most painted silver), lots of the SP Crude Oil ones(though never one painted correctly), and quite a few of the other assorted Magnolia 3 domes, Mobilgas single dome, Shell double dome, etc ones, but this kit has a chemical dome and I have never seen one like it before.

Really like tank cars, have quite a few from all manufacturers.  In and on my list of things to do, when other projects are completed, wish to re-letter tank cars like these pictured.  These are historic for the early 20th century oil company, and forerunner of Continental Oil Co..... CONOCO.  Also, the original MARX cars??

Jesse   TCAIMG_5224IMG_5225

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Last edited by texastrain

Nice older thread.  I really like tank cars.  However, due to my later entry into O-gauge, I don't have a big fleet built up yet.  But here's a couple of several that I have right now.......................

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The tank car on the left is a PW Lionel tank car, with ProtoCraft decals and late model Lionel trucks.  Although not a lot of detail, I really like the Lionel PW tank car with its die-cast metal frame and stamped/rolled metal tank, tank ends, and ladders.  I selected the "North American" decals from ProtoCraft's website, because Lionel's tank car is a pretty darned good stand-in for the prototype picture that ProtoCraft shows for this particular road name.

The tank car on the right is one of Menard's new single-dome tank cars.  I really like the looks of these tank cars, but those fantasy paint schemes are something else, oy vey! (Sorry Mark )!  About the only thing I've done so far before giving it the rattle-can flat black paint job, was to razor-saw off those ubiquitous molded-on stirrups and add some staples for better looks, and also add some internal weight (the cars are a little too lightweight, in my opinion).  I'm also debating whether or not to scratch-build some new ladders (the existing ones are molded plastic, and fairly chunky-looking), and maybe scuff and paint those "chrome" hand rails.  And lastly, select some decals to finish it up with.  Like the Lionel tank car, not a lot of detail, but for twenty bucks, I think it looks good and suits my purposes just fine. 

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Who doesn't like tank cars?  Here are a few of mine....

Oldies, but, goodies.  I've been running these conventionally for 30 years.

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These are two Famous American Railroad tankers.  You might be able to make out the logo on the left side.

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These are my favorites.  Love the large size, and they go perfectly with the engine.

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Part of the LOTS warbonnet SF series.

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These four are Menard's SF triple tankers.

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Menard's UP's.

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I've never cared if they are prototypical.  To me, they are all gorgeous.  I would never consider weathering cars for my toy train layouts.

Jerry

 

 

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Not a regular style tank car by any means, Helium cars first came about in the late 1920s and later versions lasted through the 1990s. Here is my recently finished restoration and 3-rail conversion of a 2-rail kit car that I purchased at a train show.  After a small repair for a missing roof panel, conversion to 3-rail, adding some missing details the original builder never installed, a repaint and re-decal, it finally came together and turned out great.

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mountain482 posted:

Not a regular style tank car by any means, Helium cars first came about in the late 1920s and later versions lasted through the 1990s. Here is my recently finished restoration and 3-rail conversion of a 2-rail kit car that I purchased at a train show.  After a small repair for a missing roof panel, conversion to 3-rail, adding some missing details the original builder never installed, a repaint and re-decal, it finally came together and turned out greatIMG_20191129_110240985

Neat car!  I have some of these in N-scale (although a later prototype version, but still look a lot alike).

Dog gone it all, anyway.  Now I've got another project to add to my list of things I want to do.  I guess it will become project #7,394 on my ever-growing list! 

Thanks Paul! I have seen the N gauge version and it's a 3rd generation or later car with 30 tanks (all were visually similar). Mine is a 2nd generation car with 28 tanks.  It's a worthwhile project to take on if you can find one!  The first picture below is what it looked like when I first got it. The second and third show it after converting it to 3-rail and repairing the roof panel.

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mountain482 posted:

Thanks Paul! I have seen the N gauge version and it's a 3rd generation or later car with 30 tanks (all were visually similar). Mine is a 2nd generation car with 28 tanks.

Yeah!  I think these cars would be fairly easy to scratch build.  I could simply measure up my N-scale cars, and make new O-scale drawings, if a search for scale drawings comes up empty.  The hardest part for me would be running down some decals.

I really need to learn how to make my own decals.  I think that's #2,943 on my list of things to do. 

Paul,

It shouldn't be too bad to build one from scratch but I have seen some partially built on eBay including some that have been mis-listed as other types of cars. I have not come across any O-scale plans online.

The decals I used came from Tichy Train Group except for the eagle.  I got my decal set from eBay.  The Tichy set is for the third and later generation cars and comes in U.S. Navy, Department of the Interior, and Atomic Energy Commission. The latter two owned the cars after the U.S. Navy.  I adapted the set for my car since it's a second generation car.  I made the eagle decal by heavily editing a clear photo I took of the original that was on my car. I then resized it and printed it on decal paper.

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