The Home Machinist!

Thanks for the tip.

I assembled and disassembled the truck mount a half dozen times before I got it right. Of course the other end will go much quicker now.

In the first pic I left the brass screws at length so that i could see how everything was lining up.

The second pic show the hardware assembled.

The third pic show that my clevis pin was too short. Back to HD and one more disassembly tomorrow.

Done for now. Not bad for 1 week (with 2 days off).

I still need to run the router around the decking and paint the deck edge dark grey, give it a second coat of paint, and fix my mistake on the coupler pocket. But I will do that as filler work over the next 3 months while building the locomotive.

If I end up with spare time I'll add stake pockets, queen posts and other trim.

But for the time being I am happy with the progress made in such a short amount of time.

Looks good! Will this be getting brakes?

eventually, but not right away. I do need to add safety chain attach points though

As a distraction from my GE 50T project, I brought the flat car from storage and welded the coupler pocket inside ends in place and the angle iron for the safety attachment points.

I also routed all the deck edges for a nice, clean edge + routed out the deck for 7 stakes on each side. (no pockets yet though.)

Hey that's looking good! Glad my car technique is useful for someone...and yes you can get away with no welding, I think you've done everything right there. On the 9" gauge Mesa Grande cars it is a similar deal with a metal plate on top of a wood bolster. One time the rear truck on a tender got caught on something in a derailment and it tore the whole plate off and bits of the bolster wood, but other than that never seen a problem doing it that way. We just made a new bolster piece and off and running. Not likely to happen in 7.5" as the forces, speeds and weights are so much lower.

My sweetheart gave the flat car a second coat of paint. We then gave it a number and painted the edge of the decking black. What a difference:

Looking good!