Model Plate Steel Load Pictures

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I have included pictures that I used in the Power Point presentation for the Plate Steel Loads clinic at the 2012 NMRA Convention in Grand Rapids MI. Following the Plate Steel Loads handout and using these pictures will give you a step by step procedure on how to make this model. These models are not difficult, nor are they very hard to do. The only step that has any real difficulty is attaching the clamp straps to the model. The last several pictures are of the models that I have made with plate steel loads.

Paint the truck frames and wheel sets brown to give them the look of old weathered trucks and wheels. Don't paint the wheel tread or the outer lip of the tread. This gives the look of a wheel sets that have been through the retainers in hump yards.

Remove the cast on grab irons and stirrups. Replace them with formed wire grab irons and stirrups.

Cut some of the board ends to simulate broken boards. Distress the deck with a razor saw.

Weather the deck as described in the handout.

Plates ready to paint. Put the blue painters tape to cover some of the plastic. This gives you a clean, unpainted surface to glue the load together.

Clamps are cut from a piece of .020 plastic, .045 cut wide. Bend clamps by heating them with a hair dryer. If you want to contact me about how I did the clamps, please feel free to do so. Send me an e-mail with a phone number and best time to call. I will be happy to call you and discuss how I did the clamps. They are not hard to do, but I can talk you thought it faster on the phone than I can through e-mails.