39 - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Build A GATX “Whale Belly” Covered Hopper
Ed Reutling
Some years back, this car was offered in O Scale as a
brass import (by the Car Works, I believe). They are few and
far between, so far as availability is concerned, and some
of us may find it hard to justify the cost. Here’s a fairly easy
to do kitbash from the very available Weaver 50’ tank car.
I’m not too sure if the 40’ car will do, but there wouldn’t
be much room to play with. Use the 50’ tank to have some
extra material, in case an error is made.
I learned there are nice plans and an article in the
November 1989 Mainline Modeler regarding the GATX car,
as ordered by SAL and CB&Q. Mainline Modeler has given
me permission to reproduce the drawing for this article (Fig.
1, page 42).
The Body
I would recommend starting with the trapezoidalshaped
flat filler pieces which are easily seen on each side.
I chose 0.080” styrene. Once those are made, cut the bottom
half out of the “donor car” for the sloped bottom and
center saddle sheets of the car. Using the flat filler pieces as
a guide, cut the center section of the tank to fit the center
of the filler (Photo 1). Easy so far.
1
The next step is a bit difficult to do correctly. I’m not that
good at all, so my model slope sheets would never work in
the real world. All I did to determine how long the pieces
of the Weaver tank bottom I needed was to measure the
length from the trapezoidal fillers, and add another 0.025”
for the additional material needed due to the slope of these
two sections. Pictures sure help with this concept! Don’t
forget to cut an angle on both ends of the slope sheets
and note that they have a left and right aspect. When
both halves of the bottom are finished, glue them together
(Photo 2) along the center seam. You have now done
[maybe] the most difficult step in the conversion.
2
Now, you have the top and ends (which might remind
you of the old Sikorsky “Skycrane”), but the top is too long.
Determine the amount to be removed and, using your
trusty razor saw, either remove the extra from the center of
the top section or from one end. Photo 3 (page 43) shows
a way of tightly stretching a slip of paper to give a nice
straight and square line around the half-cylinder. Either
way, you will now have three major pieces to reassemble:
the completed top and end, a separate end, and the new
July/Aug ’08 - O Scale Trains • 41