As a lead in to building my Schoema, which is still languishing on my bench as a pile of plastic rectangles, I've started to build some rolling stock. I like this as a way to get a feel for the scale, although making locos is probably more fun because they go Anyway, I've built two (and a half) flat wagons as the base for a light HIAB-type work crane. The wagons are based on some tunnel construction stock used at the Neuer Distelrasentunnel in Germany - I found some detail pictures which I've since lost, so I can't post those, but you can see the general sort of thing in this image from Wikipedia:

Image from de.wikipedia by Reinhard Dietrich. Public Domain.

Edit: found the detail picture I was after here: http://fotoportal.fo...2&s=akt14&b=107. Still not sure if my representation of the brake line attachments is anything like the real one but it looks OK on the model.

The chassis are from Hornby Railroad mineral wagons with some bits trimmed off, and everything else is styrene with a pinch of brass wire. Given the chassis choice, mine are much shorter than the real thing and have fixed knuckle couplers (Kadee no. 148) rather than the pivoted ones on the real thing. The HO knuckles are under scale here, but better than nothing. I kept the recessed mounting because it looks cool, and built a representation of all the end fittings since there isn't really any other detail on the wagons!

Here are the two together with the start of the crane. The parts are from a 1:35 scale Trumpeter kit of the LAV-R APC, which I got for a bargain price - I was originally considering taking something from a die-cast toy, but didn't find what I wanted. I'm almost sorry not to make the kit up properly since it's really nice, but it's also full of lovely bits (and etched mesh, and other details) which are going to help me detail the crane's hydraulic power unit.

I'm not sure if the second wagon should be a match truck pure-and-simple, or possibly carry some kind of unitised freight with the crane boom supported above it? I'm leaning towards the latter although I don't want to give away what the cargo might be for fear of incurring mockery...