"Old Ties - A Load For A Gondola"

Back in Chapter 12 I gave ideas and instructions on how to make both scrap metal and old wood loads for gondolas.  The scrap metal load went on to become an article for the "original"  RMC (Aug 2013).

In Chapter 22 I gave you everything you needed to know about modeling a scrap tie pile.

In this chapter I'll tie (pun unintended) the two ideas together in modeling a load for a gondola.  I again used my wife's (used) Diamond matches.  They come 300 to a box so you get plenty to go the distance should you choose to make a full load (photo 1).  I made a partial load filling in the remainder of the floor with bric-a-brac and some Monster Model Works tie plates.  The ties only consist of a single layer on top of a piece of 1/8 tick balsa and some grey cardboard for height (photo 2).  I painted/stained the match stick ties individually with a combination of black, grey and brown.  This is a bit tedious but, (I think) worth the effort for achieving realism.

A caveat:  I don't go to the rather insane level of explanation the contemporary modeling magazines go in describing my how-to methods.  The "chapters" are meant to be inspirational.  If you chose to follow up on any of my ideas you welcome to approach them in your own manner.

Cheers,

Wayne Sittner