Creating a Short Car Chassis

Cut a plastic car in half, PVC glue it together.

Do what El Classico has said.  I've done it.  You already have the truck mountings in place then.

For what its worth dept...MTH has made a 'test car' that is 4 1/2" long from coupler to coupler.  

It has a metal frame, mounted on one long truck.  The couplers are non-operable.  And it may be too short for your project.

Mine was purchased in 2000.  

Start from scratch and use styrene............

I actually have a spare Lionel flatcar, yellow NYC, that you could use. Email me if you are interested.

JTrains posted:

As a project, I’m thinking about building my first piece of rolling stock.  One of the things I’d like it to be is short ... my first design hurdle would be to create a suitable frame/chassis.  Seems like I have a couple of options:

• Use a piece of sheet metal and start from scratch.
• Take an existing chassis from a cheap car, cut out the middle, and then attach the two ends together.

Which approach would folks suggest? ...

I've done both for 3-rail kitbashing with damaged body shells that I cut down to a shorter length: gondolas, tenders, cabooses, etc. It depends on what kind of car body you want, and what spare parts you might have to work with. Do you have any other particulars about the kind of car you want to build?

JTrains posted:

 

• Take an existing chassis from a cheap car, cut out the middle, and then attach the two ends together.

 

That's what I did to three Lionel Traditional flats to shorten them to hold 1/2 sections of track.  Zap-a-Gap was used two attach both halves together.  A little styrene and green putty as filler then prep, paint and letter.

Ace posted:

JTrains posted:

As a project, I’m thinking about building my first piece of rolling stock.  One of the things I’d like it to be is short ... my first design hurdle would be to create a suitable frame/chassis.  Seems like I have a couple of options:

• Use a piece of sheet metal and start from scratch.
• Take an existing chassis from a cheap car, cut out the middle, and then attach the two ends together.

Which approach would folks suggest? ...

I've done both for 3-rail kitbashing with damaged body shells that I cut down to a shorter length: gondolas, tenders, cabooses, etc. It depends on what kind of car body you want, and what spare parts you might have to work with. Do you have any other particulars about the kind of car you want to build?

I'm thinking about creating either a shortened flat car (ala what M&OVL posted pictures of) or perhaps a shortened tank car of some sort.  Basically to create one (and then more) MoW cars that I'll paint and decal with my layout's roadname. I don't have a ton of spare parts to start with - so I can start wherever it seems most beneficial.

I got lucky at a train show recently and picked up three shortened flatcar bodies like Keith's from a vendor who had quite a few that were in a lot of trains he had purchased.  Got them for $2 each.  If there are any train shows in your area that would be a good place to start.  Check under the tables for the beat up stuff.

Yeah, "junk" damaged cars can sometimes be found for real cheap, and they make good kitbash material. Once I picked up a typical postwar Lionel gondola with a piece broken out of the lower "fishbelly" section, and cut out the center section to make a shorty gondola. Some of the postwar cabooses are real cheap, especially if damaged, and are also good kitbashing material.

A friend gave me a Marx caboose with three broken corners. I cut off the roof, squared the ends, shortened the body to fit, and glued the shortened roof back on. Shortened the metal underframe to fit. Custom shorty caboose!

I once mashed a Marx 4 wheel NYC caboose, one of the orange ones, onto a Lionel MPC caboose frame. Sold it, but I am seriously regretting that.

Below: old Atlas scale bobber; old Walthers brass heavyweight truck; stock Atlas couplers. Lionel Vulcan loco w/chopped cab (body sliced into 3 pieces, cab chopped, re-assembled). Just an FYI.

The project that you describe is a good place to start, and the suggestions about using an existing car and truck mounts is wise; save the "scratching" for later, after your skills - and spare parts stash - grow.

It's a slippery slope you are contemplating; as projects grow, so does you stack of "leftovers", which, in turn, suggest other projects, which later add to your stash...you see what I mean. I've suffered from this for years.

It's fun.