HO Scale Chooch Style Very Large Shipping Crates

Large shipping crates are a classic flat car load, seen hauling machinery, industrial equipment, and oversized freight across railroads in every era. This HO scale Chooch-style crate set captures the look of traditional wooden shipping crates while solving a common problem from other brands: excessive weight.

Many commercial brand model crate loads are significantly heavier than necessary, making it difficult to bring rolling stock into compliance with NMRA Recommended Practice RP-20.1. This set is specifically designed to provide excellent visual mass without unnecessary weight, giving you far greater control over final car weighting. If you want your freight cars to look right and run right, these are the crates you want.

Each crate features carefully modeled planking, bracing, and support detail, creating a convincing wood-crate appearance once painted and weathered. Supplied unpainted, they’re ready for finishes ranging from fresh timber to heavily weathered, grime-stained freight that’s seen plenty of miles.

The set includes multiple crate sizes, allowing you to build varied and believable loads. Use them together for a full flat car shipment, or distribute them across different cars, yards, or workshop scenes for added realism. Photos show the crates displayed on a HO scale 50-foot flat car for reference only — the flat car is not included.

Compared to traditional Chooch-brand crates, these models are dramatically lighter, making it far easier to fine-tune car weight using hidden loads, steel shot, or other preferred methods while staying within NMRA guidelines. This makes them especially well-suited for operating layouts where performance matters just as much as appearance.

This load set is part of the wider ScaleRail3D HO scale range, which includes flat car loads, industrial details, and structures designed to improve realism and operational reliability on HO scale model railroad layouts. Explore the full collection on our HO Scale hub page to find compatible loads and scenery for your railroad.

What’s Included

• Set of 5 HO scale shipping crates in multiple sizes
• All crates supplied unpainted
• Flat car not included

Scale & Dimensions

All dimensions are HO scale:

• Very Large Crate with Supports:
  3 7/16 × 1 1/32 × 1 1/8 in (87 × 26 × 29 mm)
  Weight: 0.6 oz (Chooch equivalent ~2.1 oz)
• Crate 2:
  1 9/16 × 13/16 × 13/16 in (40 × 20 × 20 mm)
  Weight: 0.2 oz (Chooch ~0.7 oz)
• Crate 3:
  1 5/16 × 33/64 × 34/64 in (33 × 13 × 14 mm)
  Weight: < 0.1 oz
• Crate 4:
  31/32 × 15/16 × 11/32 in (25 × 24 × 26 mm)
  Weight: 0.3 oz (Chooch ~1.0 oz)
• Crate 5:
  7/8 × 13/16 × 13/16 in (22 × 20 × 20 mm)
  Weight: < 0.1 oz

Assembly & Customization

• Supplied as individual crate pieces
• Arrange and secure as desired
• Ideal for custom load configurations
• Glue optional depending on use

Painting & Weathering

• 3D prints arrive paint-ready
• Accept acrylics, enamels, and weathering powders
• Perfect for wood tones, faded paint, grime, and handling marks

Ideal Uses on Your Layout

• Flat car freight loads
• NMRA-compliant operating layouts
• Industrial yards and warehouses
• Workshops and dock scenes
• Dioramas and layout photography

Why Choose This Load

These crates give you the look of classic Chooch-style freight without the weight penalty. Designed for modelers who care about both realism and performance, they’re an ideal solution for achieving correct car weight while keeping freight trains visually impressive and operationally reliable.