Building Your Freight Car Fleet on a Budget Part 1: Flat Cars

Honorable Mention
As an alternate to Accurail sideframes and metal wheelsets, you should consider Kadee trucks. They have a wide variety of styles: Andrews, Bettendorf, arch bar, and roller bearing; and of course they include Kadee’s metal wheels on plastic axles. The trucks are cast metal and most are fully sprung with individual springs. I did not include them in this video because of the cost: these trucks will run you $13 - $16 per car. Also, there is no option to use cheaper Delrin wheelsets if your budget is tight. See them here: https://www.kadee.com/shop-by-categor...

As this video was nearing completion, I became aware that Walthers makes and sells “Walthers Proto” turned metal wheelsets. These are apparently the old Proto 2000 wheelsets, simply rebranded. They retail at $95 per 100 axles, but some retailers offer then for less than $70. I have no experience with these wheelsets, but I expect they would be nearly identical to Intermountain at 10% to 20% lower cost. Please let me know your experience.

Here are two additional kits I considered for this video, along with the reasons I decided not to include them:

Owl Mountain Models F-50 Series 40’-10” Flat Car Kit. This is a beautifully detailed styrene kit with trucks, Kadee couplers and decals (limited selection) included. In the end, I decided not to include these in the video because of the price: $40 retail plus shipping. I felt that this defeated the “on a budget” theme of this series. I have one of these kits – you can check ‛em out here: https://www.owlmtmodels.com/2000-seri...

Funaro & Camarlengo makes several different resin flat car kits. Look in the 6400, 6500, 6700 and 6900 series. These kits cost about $40 for a two-car pack including decals. Resin kits are not for the beginner, which is why I didn’t include them in this video, but you should definitely consider these. http://www.fandckits.com/index.html

In addition to my Rescuing Flat Cars video, be sure to check out this recent video from Charles Smiley:    • Видео  

A Note About Tariffs
The Evemodel flat cars are made in China, and are subject to import tariffs as this video is posted. So far, the online price has not changed.
Tichy and Central Valley models are made in the US and are not subject to tariffs.

Although Red Caboose and Proto 2000 kits were not made in the US, they are no longer in production, so import tariffs will not apply (unless, of course, you purchase the kits from someone outside the US.)

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Links to items mentioned in this video. (Note: I am NOT endorsing any particular product(s), nor am I compensated by or connected to any of the companies mentioned.) I do NOT guarantee that these links will give you the best available price! Consider these links to be a starting point for your search.

Bettendorf Truck Sideframes:https://accurailinc.com/products/151-...

Andrews Truck Sideframes: https://accurailinc.com/products/153-...

Roller Bearing Truck Sideframes: https://accurailinc.com/products/152-... Note all cars built after 1968 were required to have roller bearing trucks. If you model an era later than the mid-1970s, you should be using roller bearing sideframes exclusively.

Intermountain Wheelsets: https://www.intermountain-railway.com...

Accurail Wheelsets: https://accurailinc.com/products/208-...

Kadee Wheelsets: https://www.kadee.com/shop-by-categor...

Evemodel Flat Cars: https://www.eve-modeler.com/products/...

Tichy 40’ Flat Car: https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/...

Tichy 53’ Flat Car: https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/...

Central Valley Flat Car: https://www.cvmw.com/1000/1003.htm
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This video was edited using Shotcut for Linux. Video footage and still images were recorded using a Galaxy A10e phone and a Nikon D7100 camera.

0:00 Introduction
1:42 Freight Car Trucks
4:33 Option 1 – Least Effort
6:45 Option 2 – Moderate Effort
9:28 Option 3 – Moderate Effort
10:19 Assembling the Central Valley Flat Car Kits
13:15 Option 4 – Most Effort
14:16 Conclusion