Detail associates has a tank car dome in their parts line, cast in
resin I believe. Could someone fill me on what kits this is intended
for? I assume it is meant to correct a kit or make possible an
alternative model.

Bill Welch

On Nov 8, 2005, at 1:24 PM, lnbill wrote:

Detail associates has a tank car dome in their parts line, cast in
resin I believe. Could someone fill me on what kits this is intended
for? I assume it is meant to correct a kit or make possible an
alternative model.

Bill:

It can be used as part of the Athearn kitbash to create a GATC Type 30 as written up by Richard in RMJ several years ago.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

Speedwitch Media
645 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, CT 06437
info@...
www.speedwitch.com
(650) 787-1912

Bill Welch asked:

Detail associates has a tank car dome in their parts line, cast in
resin I believe. Could someone fill me on what kits this is intended
for? I assume it is meant to correct a kit or make possible an
alternative model.

While you can probably use it for other projects, I believe the original
intent of the DA tank car dome was to aid in converting Athearn's 40'
tank car into a closer representation of the Southern Pacific O-50-13
class of cars.

Tony Thompson once did an article on how to create a proper height dome
using the dome from another carbody to get the extra height. I suspect
the Detail Associates dome was produced in response to that, for those
of us who can't cut straight <g>.

Shawn Beckert

Shawn;
Thanks for those insights!

All;

All interested should also be aware that the DA dome is pretty "fat",
representing a 2% dome for a large capacity car. This is NOT the dome
for that 8k or 6k car you've been working on. Remember, that 2% volume
(and hence, dome diameter and height) applies to the capacity of the
car, and the Athearn car is a whopper.

Elden Gatwood

Elden Gatwood wrote:

All interested should also be aware that the DA dome is pretty "fat",
representing a 2% dome for a large capacity car. This is NOT the dome
for that 8k or 6k car you've been working on. Remember, that 2% volume
(and hence, dome diameter and height) applies to the capacity of the
car, and the Athearn car is a whopper.

As my feeble memory recalls, the SP O-50-13's were 12,500 gallons capacity.
And yes, they were built by GATC, I believe in the early-to-mid 1940's. I
don't know if GATC made a Type 30 of that size; I'm sure Richard will know.
Somewhere at home I have partial copies of the erection drawings for three
different classes of SP tank car, showing the domes and their measurements.
I'll try and dig those out and look at the height and diameter figures.

Shawn Beckert

I wrote:

As my feeble memory recalls, the SP O-50-13's were
12,500 gallons capacity.

My feeble memory was right for once:

http://www.railgoat.railfan.net/photos/sp/sp062899.jpg

Note the extra height of the dome as compared to the
Athearn tank car. Note too that to do this class the
stirrup steps will have to be reworked, among other items.

Shawn Beckert

On Nov 8, 2005, at 2:14 PM, Beckert, Shawn wrote:

Elden Gatwood wrote:

All interested should also be aware that the DA dome is pretty "fat",
representing a 2% dome for a large capacity car. This is NOT the dome
for that 8k or 6k car you've been working on. Remember, that 2% volume
(and hence, dome diameter and height) applies to the capacity of the
car, and the Athearn car is a whopper.

As my feeble memory recalls, the SP O-50-13's were 12,500 gallons capacity.
And yes, they were built by GATC, I believe in the early-to-mid 1940's. I
don't know if GATC made a Type 30 of that size; I'm sure Richard will know.
Somewhere at home I have partial copies of the erection drawings for three
different classes of SP tank car, showing the domes and their measurements.
I'll try and dig those out and look at the height and diameter figures.

I believe Richard's kitbash (the GATX one) was for a 10,000 gal car.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

Speedwitch Media
645 Tanner Marsh Road, Guilford, CT 06437
info@...
www.speedwitch.com
(650) 787-1912

I may be mashing two different articles together, however if I
remember correctly, the article had both the 12.5k car and the 10k
car, which had several sections removed from the tank and frame. Both
the DA dome as well as the double-stack dome were featured. The photos
in the article were black and white, but the tone of the photo
suggested that the DA dome was brass instead of resin (?).
New question: Tichy's tank car detail set includes the dome from
their "USRA" (sic) tank car. Is this dome valid for any possible
prototype derived from a bashed Athearn tank car?

Regards,
Phil Buchwald

Phil;
There is also a dome done by PSC in brass. The DA one I have is resin.
Both are for a large capacity (10-12k?) car.

Tichy's large and small tank car domes are very nicely done, but I am
sorry I do not have the dimensions at hand. They do work for some
applications, but be aware that in order for you to fit one on a bashed
Athearn, you may be working with a larger hole than the Tichy dome(s)
may fit, and thus, you may have to apply a filler ring in the tank hole.
One the riveted cars, this is the biggest job you can get into. It
could be done by embossing a replacement dome collar with rivets, but
why bother? These domes would go nicely on other kits, like the IM Type
27, but again, why?

The DA and PSC domes were sized for that car, so they will do a decent
job, if you indeed want to do the GATC 10k car, or one of the RR-owned
(12k) cars. Richard's model is super.

The Tichy domes are also nice in that they represent an early dome with
a sharp edge between tank top and sides. If you look through your ACF
books, you can see a number of examples. The presence of 2 valves also
makes it specific to certain manufacturers and car orders, as most, but
not all, were outfitted with two of them after the late teens/early
twenties.

I am still trying to figure out dimensional issues and kit issues and I
did make a run at explaining some of the kit issues at the WPM meet Oct
9, but I have not yet completed my summary of model dimensions (I do not
own them all!). If you are interested, I will keep you all informed and
make that available.

Elden Gatwood

Anyone tried to do a multidome tank-bash from an 8k Type 21
or 8k Type 27? The additional domes could be larger or smaller
or two different sizes...

Tim O.

Bill Welch wrote:

Detail associates has a tank car dome in their parts line, cast in
resin I believe. Could someone fill me on what kits this is intended
for? I assume it is meant to correct a kit or make possible an
alternative model.

As several have replied, Bill, it's for the Athearn tank car. And though it's true I published an article on converting one of these models for SP use, I got my ideas and the basics of my method from a Richard Hfendrickson article years before in _Prototype Modeler_ magazine. I have one of the DA resin domes and will try a conversion, but it involves removing the Athearn dome (which is way too small) and replacing with a hole which will accept the DA dome. They once made a white metal part for this purpose (experimentally only, I am told), and Richard did one of those conversions too. I guess I should look back at his article to see if there are "helpful hints" I should know about.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

Tim;
I started one, but got disheartened when I tried to paste on those
alternating rivets where the interior tank heads were located. Too
difficult for me. I wish I had the talent.

There are several bashes that look more do-able to me. I am in the
middle of bashing an Athearn 3-dome into something like a STCC car that
appeared in Mainline Modeler back in the 90's. It is quite do-able, and
about the only thing that looks like the Athearn car.

I am also bashing some other classes of tank car from the P2K, IM and RC
cars. I would really like to do a good job on a couple early acid cars,
but also an ICC 103C-W. I have also bashed a Type 21 with a smaller
dome, as an OESX car, plus I would also like to do a later UTLX car like
Mont Switzer did so well for MM. They are all reasonable projects, for
somebody at my level of skill.

Elden