Looks great

Big too.  Hopefully you design it so it can rotate to simulate unloading, please.

Impressive model

Saying that it is "Impressive" is the first word that came to my mind, but I feel it is far from expressing my first impression. Thanks for sharing. I can't say I have ever seen a car like the real one in the photo. It appears that and lettering on the car would be a waste of time. So no use putting a big "Lionel" on the sides like one model maker used to do and ruin the product. I am also assuming the button on the housing is for operating the turning motor, and if it is, that will make Ivan happy.

Wow!

Wow, your work is beautiful!  The model turned out great, Your CAD work should be praised...nice!

Bruce B.

Hot Metal Car Prototype Photo

Please give me credit for the prototype photo.  I shot it at the ArcelorMittal Steel Mill in East Chicago, IN on April 13, 2010 and it is posted on my Flickr page along with many more steel mill shots.

Thank you,

John Eagan

I wonder way the need for

I wonder way the need for such a big capacity (prototype) car? Could it be that this was transporting its load a fair distance from the source??

I would think it might be a problem for some EAF facilities to handle such a big batch at one time?

side lettering

G'day Captain Mike,

Having worked around smaller but similar cars in the steel industry some-place-else, the side lettering was raised steel letters welded to the side. It was pretty easy to paint the letters with heat resisting paint using a roller with a LONG extended handle.  This kept the painter away from the heat being radiated by this type of wagon. 

I'm not sure what that "button" was on the prototype, but it won't have been for rotating the barrel to pour. In real life, the bigger housing covered the electric motor, wiring and gearbox to rotate the barrel. The motor was powered by a 3-phase "extension lead" from the ground. The switch to rotate the barrel and the operator driving that switch were behind armoured glass in a control cabin at the steelmake or caster plant. 

The largest hot metal used used locally were 250 tonnes capacity cars for about 400 tonnes on 8 axles. They transported molten iron from the blast furnaces to the steelmake shops only. These were route restricted inside the plant to specific tracks laid with very heavy rails. The 300 ton capacity car over 12 axles for probably a 450 ton rolling weight would give a lighter footprint on the rails for use over lighter weight rails and other infrastructure like bridges and drains.  

If it is a steel transporter car rather than a molten iron then the contents are a lot hotter. Molten iron was transported at about 1400 to 1450 Celsius. Tapping temperatures at the steel make shop were regularly at 1800 Celsius, with some long treatment time heats being tapped at 2200 Celsius.  Stainless steel tapping temperatures were also close to 2000 Celsius when they left the furnace. 

The steel plant I worked at had 300 ton capacity BOF furnaces. I suspect that those at the East Chicago plant may have been bigger. One of these hot metal cars carries enough molten iron for just 1 heat of steel that could be ready to tap at about 20 minutes after charging. Some quick reference checking found that this plant had a BOF capacity of +6 Million tonnes of steel per year with "everything running". So that's why you need 300-ton capacity hot metal cars. 

Dunstan, that is a very good start you have made. Please keep the updates coming as you progress your build,