Anyone make their own barges

There are kits available for barges from Deerfield Laser as does Train Troll.

I think that Model Tech also sells a fair number of resin castings for detailing.

Don,

I found that there are no great kits or models out there.  Even some of the ones at shows are lacking and not very dimensionally correct for modern, industrial coal barges.  Most have an 'old timey, Huckelberry Finn look.  I scratch built mine based on photos I collected.  The water line varies quite a bit depending on the load.  This scene will get another pour of envirotex and textured after the tow boat is completed.

Dave

Check out the Walthers Car Float plastic model kit.  It is an HO kit but models a 3 track float.  Its dimensions are 36" long by 5 1/2" in width.  Or in Oscale it would be 144 ft by 22 ft; enough for 2 tracks of 3 cars each.

The deck of the float is flat steel plate with the rail raised on blocks so water will drain.  There is a blog on the model construction as part of the Bronx Terminal.

Bronx Terminal Car Float

These pictures are from there.

All the cleats and bollards are present but undersized.

If one wanted to make it larger, more to O scale, its slab construction would be easy to extend and widen with plastic sheet.  I purchased an unbuilt model off ebay for this purpose.

Jan

Don

Here are links to two places I found which sell marine related detail parts.

Crow River Products

Frenchman River Model Works

I purchased a number of detail items here for my car float and harbor project on which I am currently working.

I want a gold dredge, for MY river scene.....I would like to know if an HO dredge model/kit has been done?  I have photographed the dredge sitting in its pond north of Virginia City, Montana, but would like to see some others in photographs.  There is a huge one in Skagway, Alaska but have not seen a photo of it.  Probably too large.  Those dredges were found in a great many mining camps, locations, and states.

Don,

I have built a number of barges using styrene plastic sheets.  If you have a picture of what you want, you can start figuring out actual dimensions. You can than scale down the dimensions so the structure will fit your layout. Most barges do not have too many elaborate curves so fabricating out of flat sheets is pretty easy.

Good luck with the project.

Alan Graziano

Don, I make my own from basswood parts I fabricate on my laser cutter.

On color, flat and gloss blacks, battleship grey (gloss alkyd mostly),  red anti-rust primers, and copper anti-fowling made up the majority of barges I've seen on the Detroit River. Ones with control houses, the "cab" really varied in color though. Usually neglected through use and a patchwork of paints for repairs and touch-up.

 One thing I look for 1st on the deck of a good sized boat, even a model, is the shark candy.