GT Wheel Car part 2

This post details the construction of the wheel rack and finally details of the GT wheel car I have been working on.

To construct the wheel rack I started with strip styrene, which I cut to length, stacked and clamped together. I then used a ball end mill in the milling machine to create the grooves for the wheels to rest in.

The next step was to replicate the sheet metal lining the wheel grooves.  This was done with 0.005" styrene.  I came up with a method to form it into the semi circle grooves.  The pictures pretty much explain the method.

First glue strip into circular groove(I used an Xacto knife handle to push them down in the groove.)

I then clamped the remaining strip portions with a couple pcs of wood.

Four of these wheel groove parts were assembled into the rack with various sizes of sheet, strip and angle styrene. Resulting in what can be seen in this photo.  Rivets harvested from an Athearn boxcar and NBW's were used to detail the rack.  The NBW's are not yet installed in this photo.

The car was painted with True Color Freight Car Red.  I pieced together decals from sets I had on hand.  Unfortunately none of the  'CAPY', 'LD LMT' or 'LT WT' decals I had would fit. I will look for a N-scale set to see if I can make that work.   The car number is made up and some of the decals don't perfectly match the CV prototype car, but the number chosen is consistent with other GT service cars of the time.

Weathering was my normal routine of Ak Enamels and Pan Pastels.  

The deck wood was simulated by first spraying it with Tamiya Sky Grey.  I then mixed up four different washes using Valeo Acrylics. A couple of greys and a couple of browns/sand colours.  The wash is very thin.  I would guess 80% water and 20% paint.  Individual boards are then painted with the washes using a micro brush.  After letting it dry for an hour or so, I use Hunter Line Cordovan Brown stain and give the entire deck a light wash.  I applied two light washes in this case. I think it simulates old grey wood. This is by far my best effort yet at simulating old grey wood and it is mostly covered up - figures it would work out that way.....

The wheel sets are from Tichy.  I wanted them to look like wheels that just came out of service and are on there way from a remote RIP track, back to the wheel lathe in one of the online shops.  After assembling the wheel sets I dipped them in Pledge and let them tack up.  When ready I dusted on powders to simulate rust.  The treads were then painted silver. (If Idid it again I would use a silver Sharpy marker instead.)  The finally step was a AK enamel wash (Dark Wash in this case.)

This was a fun project and will ad an interesting freight car to break up the string of endless boxcars in a consist.

  

CV / GT Wheel Flat Part 1

   I am always on the look out for photos, of interesting company service freight cars.  When I came across this photo, at Bob's Photos I new I had to build one for my layout. The picture was taken in 1955 at New London Connecticut.

New London Connecticut - Bob Photos

   The GT and CV had very similar freight cars in company service.  Most likely similar, if not exact copies were rebuilt from older cars at the same time, for both roads. I don't have a photo of a GT wheel car, but this CV photo was enough proof for me to consider building a GT version.  The length of the car is stencilled as 36' 10". I am not sure if this is the overall length, or inside measurement between the two bulk heads.  The CV and GT both had 40' flat cars of this design. Never the less, I think a kit bash of a 40' Tichy flat car can make for a reasonable facsimile.

    The changes I made to the kit are as follows.

- remove all cast ribs on each stake pocket(6 per).  I cut and sanded these ribs away.  The rivets were removed in the process, so I also installed 4 rivets per pocket. I also filled the small holes in the stake pockets.
- replace kit sill steps with ones from Yarmouth Model Works.
- remove various rivets from the side sill.
- add a small piece of styrene on each side sill corner, to represent how the end plate wraps over onto the side sill.  Add three rivets per corner.
- make a brake staff base, from a bent up A-Line sill step.
- add air hoses and small 'U' shaped attachment strap.
- detail the brake rigging with wire and chains.
- trucks are Kadee HGC Arch Bar. The extra mass of the HGC trucks really helps to get this very light car up to spec. some extra lead will also be added between the fish belly center sills.
- coupler cut bars attached with Yarmouth eye bolts.

   I've been waffling back and forth, on priming of freight cars before top coat.  I've decided to prime all my cars in the future.  Before priming, I also used a mini grit blaster I borrowed to blast the entire car, except for the deck.  I think, I'll get one of these as I really like how it prepares the surface. Here is a photo with it in primer.  I used a new to me product from Tamiya, their surface primer in a bottle, thinned with lacquer thinner.  I actually failed to read the bottle and thinned it with Tamiya acrylic thinner, right in my airbrush paint cup.  Opps.....well that made a gooey mess that took about an hour to thoroughly clean up. 

   In my next post I will show the construction of the wheel rack.  No commercial decal set for CV/GT MoW or flat cars exists.  I will be piecing the decals together from letter sets again unfortunately.

Grand Trunk 25 Ton American Ohio Model E Crane

The Grand Trunk(NEL) had at least one 25 ton locomotive crane that I know of.  It spent most of its time in Island Pond moving coal around.  For my work Train I wanted to include a crane as part of the consist.  So I kit bashed this model using the one and only picture of the crane stationed in Island Pond as reference.  The picture can be found in the John Ames Grand Trunk Trackside book published by Morning Sun.  I believe the prototype to be an American Ohio model E.

The model uses a Walthers 25ton crane for the mechanism and deck.  The rest of the kit is in the trash  bin.  I scratch built the Cab from Sheet styrene.  The Smoke box was made from acrylic turned on my jewellers lathe.  The boom is a brass etching from Custom Finishing Models, and hook is a pewter casting from the same manufacturer.  I made all the pulleys from brass tube and washers.  All the brass parts are soldered.

The big challenge with this project was the windows.  On the prototype they are fine metal bars with glass inserted and have 9 or more panes.   I tried and failed a few times before I came up with a solution I liked.  

I designed the windows in Draftsight and then printed them on overhead transparencies using my laser printer.  This captured the fine look of the mutens on the prototype.

This was a fun project and much different than the endless string of Boxcars I have been working on. Now that the fun is over, its back to more Boxcars!!  

Weathered Boxcars

  Here are some pictures of my latest efforts.  I pulled out the weathering supplies and finished off a few projects that have been built, but not weathered.  Other than the Grant Trunk Tool car these cars are projects which I started in the spring but only recently finished.

  They are all weathered with MIG products washes and Pan Pastels, except the BAR car which just got an India ink Alcohol wash and some artists oils (I scratched the paint. So I  added a rust spot to cover it up.)

  In the pictures the cars all look glossier than they appear to the eye.  I need to work on my lighting a bit more to get the dusty look of the models to show up.

First up the Grand Trunk Tool Car. 

Next is a P&LE Steel Side Rebuilt Boxcar based on the Tichy kit, with many upgrades including but not limited to doors and decals from Speedwitch media.  I went heavy with the weathering on this car as it would be nearing the end of its life for my future Grand Trunk(NEL) layout time frame.

Third is a EJ&E car.  This is a Branchline Car kit bash.  It's based on an Article from the August 2013 issue of RMC.  Decals are from Tichy.

Finally a BAR PS-1 using the Intermountain kit and Highball Graphics Decals. 

Grand Trunk Tool Car part 2

I made good progress on the Grand Trunk Tool car this week.  Its now painted and the decals are done.  I used True Colour CN Freight Car Red.  The decals are pieced together from and old Steam Shack Kit for a Central Vermont Single Sheathed Boxcar, which also had GTW decals included - the rest are cobbled together from a Microscale lettering set.  In my previous post I forgot to mention I removed the sill from the window to the right of the door to better simulate the flush frame as on the prototype.  The car needs weathering and brake line hoses, but I will hold off on the weathering until I get the MoW train complete as I plan to weather them all at the same time.
 

The Picture was taken in my new Photo Box.  My son and I put this together last weekend.   Its based on an article found in the April 2017 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine.  Basically it's a cardboard box with cut outs and tissue paper applied. The light fixtures are clamp on units from the hardware section at Lowes.  For bulbs I used LED's.  I can't remember what Kelvin, but I purchased them to match a White Balance setting available in my Camera.  Total cost was around $50.  I took these blog pictures with my iphone.  I've taken a bunch with my camera but couldn't remember where the cord was last night to download them to my computer.  The photo box really helps in taking higher quality photos.  My son loves taking photos and he spent a hour or two doing just that on the weekend.  I'll share some of his work in a future post, when I track down that cord..........

Grand Trunk Tool Car

My current project is another piece of rolling stock for a typical Grand Trunk (NEL) work Train.  Inspiration came from a picture I purchased from Bob's Photos at the New England RPM in Enfield a couple of years ago.  It's from 1971 and is taken at St.Albans Vermont. 

My friend and fellow modeller Pierre Oliver suggested scratch building the sides and ends from styrene car siding, and using Accurail's fish belly under frame.  Tichy Train Group work train doors, windows, and  wood boxcar doors make up the basic assembly.

Just need a roof then.  I could not find a suitable roof in my stash or on the internet.  I could substitute a different roof, but roof's are so visible on the layout, so I wanted to get it right.

 I put the project back in my stash and then about a year later by surprise Pierre presented me with a resin casting of the correct Murphy flat panel roof.  He had just purchased the masters for the line of Canadian prototype resin detail parts formally marketed by Sylvan scale models and this roof is one of the offerings.  Pierre's Yarmouth Model Works doesn't yet have these parts ready for market but I'm sure it wont be to long.

After a evening and an afternoon of modelling here is where I'm at.

It has my usual level of detail, K-brake and all associated rigging/plumbing, wire grabs, nbw's, laser cut running board and some rivets for the bolster connections to the side frames. The vents are from Grant Line and City Classics.

I painted the window frames and surrounding areas, before adding the window glazing and gluing on the roof.  I will now just mask off the window frames and paint the rest of the car.  I don't like just masking the glazing as pushing to hard can send it into the car while masking.  I learned that lesson on a previous project......

I'm not sure what the car actually was used for though.  Is it a tool car or something else?  The three roof vent stacks sure are interesting.  The label on the door in the prototype photo says "Flamable"  -  "keep lights and flames away".  Hopefully one the blog's reader will know?

Grand Trunk Work Cars

For the last few months I've been collecting kits and detail parts to construct a typical 1960's era Grand Trunk Work Train.  From the information I gathered, a typical Work Train would consist of the following:

Caboose
Bunk or Camp Car
Tool Car
Several, 40' Flat Cars
Small Crane
Hopper or Side Dump Car
Jordan Spreader

Here is a picture of the first car completed.

  The kit is a Tichy 40' Flat car.  The Grand Trunk owned very similar flat cars to which the Tichy kit represents.  The main difference being the type of stake pockets.  The kit is supplied with cast style stake pockets, with three ribs cast into them, on the sides and face of the pocket.  The prototype cars had stamped steel stake pockets, with only one dart centered on either side of the pocket.  To accomplish the conversion to a stamped pocket, I sand the face of each Tichy stake pocket and then carve off the four left over ribs on the top and bottom leaving only the center two ribs on either side.  This conversion takes about an hour to do all 24 stake pockets.  The GT flat cars also only have 11 stake pocket but changing this is more involved an not worth the effort in my opinion.

  I also added cut levers and air hoses, wood side stakes and wood boards on the B end,  but other than that it's built straight from the kit instructions.  After reviewing a prototype photo I can see that the sill steps are to short, and need to be replaced with longer ones, as this is a typical feature of the Canadian built version of these flat cars.  I painted the car with True Colour CN Freight Car Red #11.  Decals came from an old Herald King GTW Set, Black Cat 40' flat car set and a Microscale number set.

  I detailed the car with drums, a scratch built tool box(with pic axes, hammers, crow bars), ties, torch and a welder.  A quick Google search led to some great photos of welders from the 1960's, yielding what colours to paint it.

  The car still needs a coat of clear flat and weathering, but I am gong to wait until the other cars are done so I can make the weathering similar on all the cars using the same colour palette.

  I think the deck turned out great. I used my own spin on the Tichy Method.  Here's the steps if you want to try yourself.

  First I paint the deck with an earth coloured paint.  I used Polyscale Rail Tie Brown thinned 30% with water.  Don't worry so much about using Polycale just get something close.

  Second I thinned some Polyscale Concrete and Valleo Model Air Medium Grey about 50% with water and painted individual boards.

  Third, I thinned the Rail Tie Brown about 80% with water to make a really thin wash and painted everything again.

Fourth I lightly rubbed the whole deck with fine steel wool.

  The final step was to flood the deck with Hunterline Creasote stain.  I use a wide fan brush for this so I can apply it very quickly and evenly across the deck, as it dries quickly.

I have some other stuff on my bench that I need to finish up but then its back to these Work Train Cars.