A couple of guys asked for the details of how I added a red oak wood deck and load to a Menards flatcar, so here goes...
Here are the donor and recipient flatcars -
Disassemble the donor. In this case it is the Menards black Penn flatcar with chained and tarped load. If you are as lucky as I am, you will notice a couple of hot glue blobs holding the chain ends to the underside of the car. Never fear, just run the glue spots under piping hot water until you can peel it free. It took maybe twenty seconds. Next, remove the chain by pulling through the stake pockets and then the two screws holding the resin load down. Presto, step one is done.
Now for the fun stuff. For the rest of the upgrade you will need the following -
7/8" Red Oak Edge Banding (Iron on), Oddly enough... Menards back by the doors and trim etc...
Xacto Knife with sharp blade.
Scissors.
Iron.
CA Glue.
Nail file. TIP - don't steal it from your wife...
Cut eleven (11) lengths of the edge banding about 1/4 longer that the width of the flatcar.
Now you get to cut all eleven of these in to roughly 3/16" strips of "decking". It can be done with a straight edge and an Xacto knife or you can cheat like me and use an old paper cutter. Regardless of methodology, this step is as much fun as a trip to the dentist... Cut them straight!
Keep cutting and laying them out until you have enough planks to cover the deck.
This is an important step. Place all of the strips in a bowl and mix thoroughly by hand. When you are satisfied, mix again. This will insure that the strips are mixed up and not with their cut partner.
Next, place a full width strip over the first plank of the flatcar, aligning carefully. Once you are happy, hit it with your iron for about 10 seconds. The glue on the edge banding must hit 200 degrees to fully activate. I used the highest setting on my iron. You will have a few seconds after removing the iron to fine adjust the placement.
Trim the starter strip.
Now you can begin planking in earnest. I was able to place about four strips before it was time to tack iron them as they like to run away from a guy. To tack iron simple hit the group of strips for a few seconds with the iron. Just enough to hold them down. We will iron them down permanent at the end of the planking. They are adjustable while hot so now is the time... DO NOT MAKE THEM PERFECT and try to alter the grain as needed as you go. You will need to make a few cuts to get around the brake wheel support bracing. When done, hit the entire deck with the iron, make any quick adjustments and let cool. Don't worry about melting the car, I couldn't.
Home stretch. Lay they car face down and use an Xacto knife to score the excess material. Snap it off and hit with an emery board type nail file.
Again with the do nots... DO NOT SAND THE DECK it will kill the appearance you just spent the last hour or two achieving.
Use the donor car as a drilling guide and drill a pair of 3/32 holes to attach the load. You will also want to use an Xacto knife and remove the decking from the four stake pockets the chain passes through.
To finish up, hit the deck with a good wipe of Minwax Tung Oil, Menards paint department. After it dries install the load and chain as it was on the donor car and there you have it! I did no further weathering as the red oak will oxidize in time and just keep getting a richer tone. A single pass of Tung Oil will not leave a shiny surface.
I hope this is useful to someone.
Thanks Menards for the great train cars!
Ted
