Vintage kit tank car builds

[Dennis Holler]

Found another Lobaugh tank car, kind of curious though as it doesn't use the normal common fabricated brass channel frame... but it isn't like any of the others either. I'm wondering if there were any other variations on the tank car frame before or after.

I had to remind myself to be careful though, I managed to shift the tank a smidge as you can see so will have to fix that.
It's not as nice as Bob's but hey you take what you can get lol.

[bob turner]

That is prewar Lobaugh. In a lot of ways, prewar is better - the underframe ends are cast in red art bronze, and the ends of the tank have rivet impressions. Postwar tanks had the sheet brass underframes, and at first no rivets on the tanks. In the '50's, the tanks became wrappers with more or less full rivet detail.

I have several of these, including a pair of pristine kits. Not sure, but I think your underframe castings were cut to fit the Auel trucks. I can check, but right now I shall just type from memory.

Prewar Lobaugh tanks came in multiple flavors - 8,000, 10,000, and 12,000 gal tanks, plus the J&L with sand cast domes and the SP Crude Oil tank.

I have only one of the 12,000 gal tanks - wish I had more. I would trade a pristine 8,000 gal kit for a 12,000 gal needing repairs and paint.

As you might guess, I am a tank car freak, with maybe 40 or so around here - vast majority are Lobaugh and Scale Craft, but three are full scale Lionel 715, and a couple USH. Scratch builts abound.

[bob turner]

Here is the 12,000 gal tank. It took me a long time to identify it as Lobaugh - note the Auel trucks and the strange decals. Still, I like it, and wish I had more:

[bob turner]

And Lionel - absolutely stock, except I insulated the wheelsets. Even the wheels had prototype legends cast in. Note that Lionel was way ahead of the coupler business in 1939, and also note that you cannot buy better looking sprung trucks!



I did re-gauge the track after this photo was taken. That's no guarantee, of course, but I get most of them on the track now.

For some reason I don't have the more common Lobaugh tanks in my photo album. I can probably fix that.

[Dennis Holler]

Here is a crazy one, Walthers, and check out those ball bearing wheels. I think I have a loose pair of these as well but funny to actually find them on a car.

It's gotten pretty yellow with age though.
Here is another Lobaugh with a terrible paint and decal job!

Here is an earlier Walthers Crestline wood tank with the cast bronze ends and built up center section also a smaller aluminum done than the later giant dome... This one is probably a loss, so discolored. I was able to get most of it off the non lettered areas, but man the rest is gonna be tough!

I haven't seen any of those big 12,000 gal tanks around....

[bob turner]

This is the 1950s version - wrapper with faint rivets everywhere. The skirt around the base of the dome is something I do when I am refinishing a Lobaugh tank. Not original.

Bob Anson made the decals - they are identical to the ones Lobaugh used on factory painted Mobilgas tanks. I think I have about seven of these red beauties!

[bob turner]

I believe this to be a factory assembled/painted car. I have two.

[Dennis Holler]

I like it, and was waiting for you to post that Mobilgas one. I might like to repaint one of mine in that Red if I can remember what you used lol. I know I asked you a few years ago and you told me but I forgot!! lol

I have a couple of Lobaugh tank car kits, I think one is a three dome and the other is a single but one is missing bronze tank cradles and a few other frame parts. I could probably duplicate them with a little effort.

[bob turner]

From memory, I think it was Dupli-Color Chrysler Fire Red. Can't find the can - maybe it is at the airport.

On the wood tank cars - Lacquer based sanding sealer is the key. It encapsulates the wood, and allows decades of exposure without wood grain showing. You see it on the Walthers passenger car roofs (admittedly superior basswood) but I use it on white pine with great success. Takes maybe four coats.

Then you coat that with a high gloss spray paint - Dupli-Color is expensive, but the nozzles do not clog, and you get every last drop. Plus, it dries pretty quick. Still, wait a week before decalling.

[bob turner]

These two are all brass except for that giant Walthers dome and the trucks. Beautifully done, and I suspect scratchbuilt. I got three of them in an estate sale. All I did was clean them up and hit them with rattle can orange. Orange is a tough color to buy - I really like the color on the one with decals, but cannot seem to buy it any more. I am hoping that Scale Coat makes a reniassance, and I can once again mix until happy.

[R.K. Maroon]

I will say that Lobaugh had a really first rate line of tank cars. I have a few to post. Here's another Shell three-dome:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3m3yzjlhh6wyfbhcfwq2q/Lobaugh-3-Dome-Tank-Car-Shell-SCCX-1105.jpg?rlkey=h9baw0wv1w3utazucwu902gf5

Here is a listing from the 1940 catalog:

https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r0i673hf5sxu9lddvy3c3/LOBAUGH-1940-035-Shell-Tank-Car.jpg?rlkey=2ckkmi7v1vqf38mv4opp71ima

The car is also listed in the 1953 catalog (and perhaps others), but no photo is shown.

Dennis -- Maybe you should go back to your first post in this thread and edit it to change the title to "Vintage Tank Cars"? We could go on for a while.

Jim

[bob turner]

Me likes tank cars. Another Lobaugh. I have had it for a long time, but just noticed this evening that one of the bands was replaced with wire.

One of the neat things about Lobaugh is that the tanks are held with real turnbuckle-like bands, tightened with a screwdriver from under the frame. Most had four bands, like this one - a strip of brass was soldered to two barrels, tapped 1-72, and tightened against a strap or washer under the frame.

I am going to say that a good number of my tanks could use refinishing and new decals.



Unrelated - there are two Lobaugh tanks on eBay right now, in addition to the 12,000 gallon thing that languishes at $87 - one is currently at around ten bucks plus $20 shipping, and the other, which has been seriously modified, decreasing, in my opinion, its value, is starting at $270. I won't be bidding.

[Dennis Holler]

Yes, I saw the cheaper one and am bidding on it lol. Yes I almost view tank cars as fondly as I do billboard reefers due to the variety.

[bob turner]

Dennis - the color is Dupli-Color Chrysler "Flame Red," BCC0419. Very close to the Lobaugh factory paint. The white decals are not prototypical, so you will not find them commercially. Bob did them on an Alps printer. Quite pleased.

This is a Mini-Scale tank. It is identical to the MiLoco, except it is a Zamac alloy, and the MiLoco was aluminum. Both are cast in two halves, and whatever glue they used back then is good for eight decades!

[bob turner]

I am not totally nuts - but sometimes I wonder . . .



Left - MiLoco. Middle and right are Lobaugh - the one on the right is a 1950s version, as you can see by the rivets.