Car warping

Careful use of your low heat soldering gun can make interesting warps and bends in the sides and even the ends of gondola cars.

Warping

Hold against the side or just close and bend with some tool? Low setting?

Heating Plastics for warping

(Not my cup o' tea - but glad to help with my industrial experience.)

Plastics soften before they melt - and you're likely going to use that as the method to warp the wall of the cars.

For starter, find the material used for your car... many different materials over the decades, but they typically include styrene and modified styrenes (including ABS and SAN).  Using heat to soften CAST Acrylic Will NOT work! But thermoplastic acrylic will... so do some basic research first.  Also. plasticizers (additives that make it flex) are often used in processing... and leach out over time... making things brittle! 

Google search suggested: Modern Plastics Encyclopedia.

Melting points of plastic are higher than the temp you want,,, (you just want to soften it.)  For most, you'll be in the range of 350 to 450 to Melt the stuff.  So stop well before that.    Solder melts substantially lower than that.  So such a "heater" (perhaps a hot-air paint stripper?) may suffice.  You may want to find/make an irregular surface to press against the softened sides and restrain the plastic from rebounding toward the original shape.

Do be aware of possible damage to painted surfaces (but re-weathering those may add lots to the overall effect!)

Good luck with it!

I've posted this one somewhere here before...

It shows an Accurail gon that I distressed and weathered.  I used a small candle to heat areas of the body and then deform with some rounded item as a tool.  I then used oils and powders to do the weathering.  Yes, be careful to not totally melt the plastic!

That is SO lifelike!

Looks spectacular...   unlike the Brand (Life-like) this IS lifelike!

Have you entered that into any shows... seems it should be.

bent sides

can add some interesting visual effects. Someday I'd like to model this car....DaveB 

Good Advice

That is EXACTLY the look I'd like to try on some cars I use for scrap loads. Many thanks to all for your advice. Will consult the Google link and "practice" on the two cars I have in my scrap bin.

I haven't done it myself

But others have added bulges by building up the car sides with putty. This of course works best when you have a loaded car. The wall thickness of a plastic model gondola is so much more than the prototype metal one relative to scale that it can be hard to get dings and dents to scale when viewed from both outside and inside.

What about metal?

I've got a photo of a steam locomotive with a dented cylinder jacket. My plan to replicate the damage is to carve out a hollow in the cast metal cylinder, and then add a thin (probably .005") brass wrapper.  I'l then dent the brass, in the hope that it will dent and deform in realistic ways.

I've thought about doing the same for gons and hoppers.  Especially since the vast majority of the dents I have seen point outward, it would be a simple job to add a dented brass overlay onto the flat car sides.  I'd take pieces of brass, beat them up on a slightly soft surface, and then carefully trim them to perfectly fit the spaces between the ribs.  A little glue and paint, and they would look like parts of the car.

Heat good, sometimes too good...

I have tried candles, soldering irons, butane torches...all delivered too much heat too quickly, at least for realistic results that I found satisfying. The models looked melted, not bent. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but that level of heat can cause the plastic to shrivel, which gives the trick away (in my opinion). 

I heard from another modeler about using a kettle on the stove, and carefully using steam to heat plastic for better results:

These wrecked ore cars were warped with steam from a kettle on low boil. I was able to hold the model in the steam while protecting my hand, and using a metal object to bend the soft plastic. Repeated applications of gentle heat followed by using the tool to bend the plastic produced these results. I am not going to share more details...this is a potentially dangerous procedure that requires the utmost care to avoid burns or injury! You are warned, I do not advise this unless you are extremely careful and know what you are doing! I accept no responsibility for any results from someone trying this without taking adequate safety precautions. Did I say, "be careful"?

If you can make some of your model metal, dents are easy! I added the ding in the front edge of the custom roof I built on my Porter #2:

 The whole roof panel is lead sheet, to add weight. It was easy to add a few dings to imply a hard life on my little copper mining road.

Sometimes you can just score, carve or bend the plastic, like with this N scale bad-ordered boxcar:

No heat needed here...a twisted ladder, scored car side and bent door, implying a sideswiping accident, all done with a hobby knife, followed by weathering.

Sheet metal effects

Dear MRHers,

If you're looking for "sheet metal effects" such as the bumped cylinder jacket, or scale-thickness car sides "munched sheet" effects, consider using regular kitchen aluminium foil....
(Arguably easier and cheaper to work with than 0.005" sheet brass...)

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Some dings and dents for your scrap gons

A photo of some wagons in scrap service near Vancouver September 2013

Loading wagons with an electromagnet is not a gentle procedure..

Verne - re the Porter dent...

A marvelous detail!   (when did you drop it?)  And the boxcar offers lots of ideas for my least favorite cars!

Thanks for those.

Melted versus banged up

I agree with Verne about avoiding the melted look.

if I am going to leave the car empty, I sometimes thin the interior of open cars with a bit in a Dremel tool before doing the heat-and-push process.

I sometimes soften the surface with lacquer thinner or solvent glue and stipple it with a wire brush to simulate deep rust and corrosion.

i add patches over holes with thin styrene or paper, sometimes over a hole actually worked through from the interior.

The Prof's suggestion on using foil is something I will try when I get home from the Winter Quarters.

Dents and Dings

I use a soldering iron to soften the sides then a dowel to shape them.  If the plastic gets too soft and a hole develops - no problem, the shop just welds on a patch.

re: dents and dings

One last safety point - do this in a well-ventilated area.  The plastics, paints and finishes being softened/melted may well give off toxic/nauseating fumes.  (Not to mention accidentally setting off the smoke detector.) 

Build it dented

http://www.yardoffice.com/RR/Modeling/howto/GATCscratch.html for an amazing sideswiped model.

Dents and Damaged cars

I have 2 different ways of damaging a car.  Some I put in the oven at 250 and I have a light from a old 8 mm movie camera that gives off a lot of heat.  I put the car near it until it gets a little soft.  I would like to show some of my cars so how do I post them to this site??

How much is too much?

If the damage would make the car unsafe, such as the ripped away ladder on the Erie box, it needs to be repaired by the road it is on. Can not be accepted in interchange. So off to the RIP track. or set out on nearest siding for a mobile repair truck to come and fix it. It the damage is the fault of the road they pay to fix but if maybe caused by a non-railroad vehicle sideswiping it for example the sideswiper will have to pay. The bill will list every last screw and nut as well as all the big parts and the labor.

Nice looking work!

Nice looking work!