A question on scale comparison

[Guest]

Hi,

Is there a railway scale that equates to 1:100?

And, if so, are containers available in this scale?

I am building a container ship and am considering buying the containers to go on it. I'll need about five hundred so all donations gratefully received..:-)

Scottie

[Guest]

Unless you are going to be removing these containers from the deck, why not build an empty shell out of plasticard and stick the containers to the outside of it, that way you can most probably save yourself a few hundred, plus less weight, always a problem with deck stored cargo.

[Guest]

i would consider just buying a small number of containers... say rib sided , rivet sided , smooth sided and similar, then make some silicon moulds of the sides, then cast in resin and apply to the ' plasticard' shell' as bog standard suggests.... this way you keep the uniformity, and keep the detail but get rid of the potenitial weight and horrific costs associated with hundreds of shop bought containers...

as for scale then the nearest commercially available is likely to be 00/HO scale....

[Guest]

Now why didn't I think of that... Doh!

Thanks guys, moulding sounds like a great idea and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them.

If my calculations are correct a 100th scale 40' container would be 8 cms long, is that the size of OO guage?

Scottie

[Guest]

Someone must have a railway container truck and can measure it for you. What will bring this to life is:

A) Don't make a 'box' and cover it as containers are never loaded that regularly. Check out some photo's on the web and you will see that it will be more realistic to have the arangement not quite so regular and

B) Add the tie bars used to secure the containers, these are always missed off models and are a very important feature of any container deck cargo. Once again check some pictures on the web for details. They are only a bar with a bottle screw in the middle that locate on the containers feet but the way they are laced is quite significant.

[Guest]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for that, it's very good advice but perhaps you could elaborate a little.

By 'irregular loading' do you mean a mixture of containers in each stack? This is what I was planning to do.

The plans I'm working off show 'lashing' detail, which I assumed were steel cables, from the support pillars to the lower two containers only.

Is a 'bottle screw' a tube with a left and right hand thread?

I've spent a lot of time scouring the web but haven't found any pictures showing container ships in any great detail, can you point me somewhere?

TIA

Scottie

[Guest]

Give me a bit of time Scottie, I'll have a ,look this evening and explain it all a bit clearer.

Container lashings have to be ridgid so that they can be fitted from deck level. I'll find some pictures as well.

[Guest]

the plus is with moulded sides and ends then you can make any arrangement you wish, i totally agree that making a 'box' would be dull - which is why i said plasticard shell !

and irregular loading would be far more realistic..... again as said the tie bars could be moulded in too- i mould portacabins and shipping containers in N scale both has cross tie bars moulded in , there is no reason why these cant be added in 00 scale....

you could always buy a few of the irregular types to all to the realism, say buy a few 'tank containers' and maybe some of the 20ft containers that have the tarpaulin tops ( top loaders) and stuff to make a change and add to the realism, 00 scale decals are also readily available too so you can have your mearsk, evergreen and cosco containers too !

[Guest]

see http://www.solentwaters.co.uk/Genera...201/page2.html

for container detail, some good pics, a very useful site.

J.

[Guest]

Howdy Scottie,

CARDMODELS TO THE RESCUE! lol, Why Buy the containers when you can print off your own? Check out this link for containers of all sizes.

http://home.wanadoo.nl/schatborn/

Here you will find paper models of containers like you would find on ships or on train flatcars anywhere in the world. See the photos below:

20 ft containers:



40 ft single containers:



40 ft "4 in 1" container models:



Anyway you get the idea..... here is a photo of the actual models completed:

sorry its so small, thats the was it was on the site.

The good thing about cardmodels is, you can scale them to the size you need with any photo editing program, if you mess up, you print another, and last but not least, the only expense is your paper/card stock and ink.....a whole lot cheaper than buying "boxes".

I hope this has been of some help to you, have a good day,

Greg

ps, I keep telling ya'll that "if you can think of it, theres probably a card model of it".

Try testing me sometime on this lol.

[Guest]

Scottie, attached are a couple of pictures off the web which show some quite irregular stowage of containers on a ship. They may not always be quite as irregular as these but remember any cargo could consist of differrent sizes and types of containers. The loading plan is always dictated by the order in which the containers are to be loaded and discharged and in any one port there will always be a percentage of each. Consequently it is important that the containers for the next port are not at the bottom of a hold!

The weight of the containers also plays a significant part in the arrangement and these are continuously fed into the loading computer to determine the condition of the vessel's stability at any time during the loading and discharging. Some of the more sophisticated ones are linked into the ballast system and can control the pumping of ballast to compensate for the movement of the containers during this time.

The site Jankers provided a link for gives a superb description of the lashing system used on containers and is worth a read. It is also worth remembering that all lashing equipment is stowed on deck in 'bins' around the hatches. This consists of the bottlescrews, tie bars and the 'twist-locks', all explained on the site.

The tie bars are attached in the middle to the bottle screws which have a right hand and a left hand thread and when the bottle is rotated the bars are extended or contracted. The tie bars are always arranged diagonally and will always be tied from the deck to the feet of the tier above the first tier. This ensures that the second is held and secured to the deck.

Lots of things to bear in mind when constructing a cargo of containers.

Also it is very rare that a cargo is all of the same company's containers as all container ship companies have agreements with other companies to carry thier own containers. Consequently although a Maersk ship may have predominately Maersk containers she may well also have some other containers from companies in the same consortium.

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[Guest]

see http://www.solentwaters.co.uk/Genera...201/page2.htmlfor container detail, some good pics, a very useful site.

J.

Very useful site, thanks John, this one's been bookmarked.

I am pleased to see that the lashing detail on my plan is very accurate.

Scottie

[Guest]

Big thank you to everyone who has helped me with this.

Richard, re loading etc, that has helped me make sense of many things on the plans.

Greg, I still prefer to have 'textured' containers but if I can't find a suitable mould the card models will be an acceptable alternative.

I'm a long way from making containers as I've only just started the hull but I do like to plan ahead so all of this information has been stored.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Scottie

[Guest]

By the way Scottie, you don't have to be quite as random as this!!!

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[Guest]

hey scottie 2212

i have just placed the masters for 2 containers into silicon, as part of my expanding model railway scenics sideline - i have fabricated 2 containers by kitbashing some plastic kit containers for sides and fabricating tops and bottoms and then added some finer details, plastic stip for the hinges and door detailing and similar.... the 2 containers are 20 foot versions ( so only little ones ) for use on a HO/ OO scale, but once the silicon sets, then i cn start casting in resin !

i plan to make the containers whole in resin with a hollow section in the centre to reduce weight....

if you want i can send one up just for you to take a look at, maybe help you out planning your next vessel......

PM if you need to know more....