SP Auto Car

 The Southern Pacific had Standard Steel car company build 500 single sheathed automobile cars for them in 1921. Built with 10'5" door openings, they were widened to either 12'0" or 12'6" in 1934.  Some went to the  T&NO while the rest stayed with the SP.  The model is built from the excellent Speedwitch Media resin kit.  The car is mostly stock, apart from a few brake component etchings, although I did scratch built new end ladders.  Paint is Scalecoat Boxcar Red #2. Weathering is washes, dry brushing, acrylics and Pan Pastels. This car was delight to build.

GTW Automobile Car Part 2

Continuing on from part 1, I finished the under frame by using 0.010" Tichy wire for the 3/4" diameter brake rods of the prototype.  Most 40 and 50 foot cars used either 3/4" or 7/8" diameter steel rod for the brake rods depending on tonnage rating.  The levers are from Yarmouth Model Works.  A piece of 40 links per inch chain connects the hand brake rod to the cylinder lever.

The model as provided doesn't have an attachment for the running board laterals.  They just float in mid air.  To rectify this add short pieces of 0.010" x 0.030" styrene strip, bent into an 'L' and glued to the underside of the lateral and to the edge of the roof.  I added a rivet to each which I harvested from  an Athearn boxcar.  

To detail the ends, drill and mount wire grabs and 1" nut bolt washer parts above them.  The prototype bracket grab can be simulated with a Kadee grab by cutting one end off and mounting it 90 degrees on the inboard end.  A small drop of CA will re attach the two halves of the grab together.  

The next improvement is to correct the side sill.  Remove 0.5" from the lower right hand side of the sill reinforcement.  Then cut it on a 45 degree angle.  Follow this by extending the left end of the sill reinforcement by 0.5" with a piece of 0.040" by 0.080" styrene.  Taper the end of it by 45 degrees also.

The running board end supports are fairly crude, so I created new ones from 0.010" x 0.030" styrene and a couple of harvested rivets.  Next I installed an etched brake step and supports made from 0.010" x 0.030" styrene and harvested rivets again.

I carved off the brake housing and installed an Ajax uint from Tichy along with a Kadee brake wheel.  Lastly the retainer valve pipe has been replaced with 0.008" wire to represent the 3/8" NPT pipe used on the prototype.

The prototype has bottom mount sill steps.  Installing A line sill steps is a simple upgrade that not only matches those used on the prototype, but they are much more durable.  The left end uses a straight step while the right end uses a single angle step.  The second view also shows the National B1 truck.  Note of caution, the sides are very thin so add a piece of styrene behind the sill to thicken it so you can drill without breaking through.

The last easy upgrade is to add the upper door bits.  In the middle add two pieces of styrene to make up an 'L' shape.  First glue a piece of  0.010" x 0.040" flat against the track.  Then add a pice of 0.020" x 0.020" along the bottom edge of the first piece.  Finish up by adding four small pieces of 0.010" x 0.040" to represent the the small tabs at the top of each door.

I added tack boards and route card holders from my National Scale Parts line.  The kit comes with two board versions, but these cars had three board versions.  I still need to add brake hoses and cut levers.  At this point a bit of touch up paint, either brushed or sprayed on and you would end up with a fairly creditable representation of the prototype.  Further improving the car requires fixing the steel panels on the side of the car body.

I decided that this could be easily done with 0.005" styrene and both harvested rivets and Archer rivets.  The Proto 2000 car has 4 panels to the right of the door and 7 to the right.  The prototype has three to the left of the door and six to the right.  The ones on the right use two different widths also.  To begin the conversion use a chisel blade and remove all the rivets where the new panels go.  Then sand the panel seams.  Not every last bit needs to be removed.  Then cut 0.005" thick styrene sheet into 0.600" strips and cut using a chopper to length.  Apply the panels working from the inside of the car to the ends,  maintaining the correct overlap.  I word of caution on glue.  Use very little and a really small brush.  I prefer Tamiya Extra Fine " Quick Set". It is the least hot of all the styrene glues I have tried.  It flashes off very quickly and doesn't smell as bad as MEK.  Even with caution I still had a couple of glue sink marks.  These were corrected with a bit of filler and wet sanding. The three panels to the right of the door were not replaced.  I sand blasted the car before starting so the glue would not have to work though the paint.

I added door stops from my National Scale Car parts line, to replace those carved off in the panel replacement.  Archers rivets are used on the panels edges and bottoms.  Harvested rivets are used for the loading rack rivets in the middle of the panels and to detail the under frame attachment to the side sill.  I had a spare set of ladders that I used for the sides as the originals were bent.  The last detail is to add the Kadee bracket grabs to the left ends of the sides.

I need to source some decals for this car.  A set exists for a 40' GTW Steel Car, but I may have to pull from a few sets to make up some of the data for this 50 footer.

I will show the final car in Part 3.

GTW Automobile Car Part 1

 The GTW Western rostered some of the earliest examples of 50' Automobile cars built similar to the to the 1937 40' AAR Standard boxcars.

 Cars 591000-591199 were built by Pullman Standard in 1937,  had End doors and square corner post 5-5 dreadnaught ends on the B end.  They rode on AAR cast side frame, spring plank-less trucks. The side sills were continuous and had a large reinforcement member under the doors, which were of the Youngstown type.  The roofs were Murphy raised panel and had wood running boards.

 Cars in the following series 591200-591399 built 1941 were similar except they had round corner 5-5 Dreadnaught ends on the B end. They rode on National B1 trucks.

 The Proto 2000 50' auto car with end doors are almost spot on for this second series of cars. Although a few changes will make for a more accurate car.

 If you're a modeller thinking about dipping your toe into the prototype modelling pond - building one of these kits would make for a great first project.  The body requires no major surgery and only minor changes are required to produce an accurate representation of the prototype.  Kits are available prepainted and lettered.  Only basic hobby tools are required for the work.

Here is a picture of the prototype car taken in 1969 by Steve Rush.  The original can be found on Rail Picture Archives in colour.

 By 1969 the car has undergone some changes.  The trucks have been changed out, incidentally to the type of truck the previous series rode on.  The sides have been patched to reinforce the car body around the bottom of the door openings and an ACI tracking label has been fitted.  Evidence of paint touch up can also be spotted on the reinforcement member under the doors. Since I model 1955, I will not be making any of these changes.  Other than these minor repairs this car has undergone little change since it was built in 1941.

 My car was purchased used and was already assembled.  I decided to remove most of the detail parts.   They were half  broken and not fitted correctly. I left the ladders on for now, but they are not straight and I may upgrade them if I can't straighten them up.

 I started by gluing the doors on straight and centered in the opening.  The kit comes with a plug that goes between the doors at the top, don't install this part as it is much too large and is easy to upgrade.  Next I installed couplers and Athearn National B1 trucks.  These trucks are also available from Walthers and Kadee. Save the kit trucks for another project, or if your modelling 1969 go ahead and use them!

 Next, I plugged all the holes on the sides and roof where the detail parts were removed.  To do this, drill out the holes with a 0.030" drill bit and then glue in short lengths of 0.030" styrene rod.  When dry, trim off with nippers and sand or chisel smooth with a knife blade.  Details that were removed are as follows: all grabs, sill steps, running board supports, brake wheel and the retainer valve pipe.

 On the underframe,  all pipes, rods and lever hangers were removed.  I drilled the required four holes in the AB valve, two in the reservoir and one in each end of the cylinder.  I installed 0.0125" Tichy wire to represent the 3/4" NPT piping used between these parts on the prototype.  Next I added 18" scale grab irons to represent the brake lever hangers.  I mark the locations with a set of dividers - drill the holes and use CA to mount the grabs.

I then returned to the ends and plugged all the holes as I did to the sides.

The next post will show how to complete the under frame and the small changes required to build a more prototypical car.

Missouri Pacific 1932 ARA Boxcar - Part 2

 The Atlas under frame has basic molded detail.  I upgraded it to better match the prototype with Tichy components mounted on folded brass brackets.  Phosphor bronze wire for the various pipes and rods was used.

 Another unique item to these cars, is the use of a pressure head brake cylinder.  The cylinder has a bracket on the back to hold the rear brake lever.  I modified a Tichy brake cylinder with some bits of styrene and harvested rivets to represent the lever bracket.

 I further corrected the centre sill by adding a flange on the bottom of each of the Z-26 channels and rivets on the cross bearers.  The train line was installed after everything else, because I forgot to do it at the beginning of the under frame work. I did this with short pieces of styrene rod, fitted between the cross ties and cross bearers.  I designed and 3D printed some pipe tees and used one to attach the train line to the pipe leading to the dirt collector.

 The ladders were also upgraded with attachment brackets made from 0.005" styrene and harvested rivets.  Yarmouth sill steps were modified and installed to match the prototype steps.

  These cars featured a Universal brake housing and wheel.  The housing is from a DA set and the wheel is a modified Kadee Universal.  The modifications to the wheel was to add 5 holes, in the middle solid section to represent the 10 slots on the prototype.  No manufacture offers a M1704 Universal brake wheel as of yet.  The running board support was replaced with Yarmouth offerings.  I scratch built the tack boards and route card holders. The retainer valve was located in a bit of an odd location, above the ladder and required some tight bends in the pipe to match the prototype install.

 The MP and its subsidiary lines 1932 ARA box cars used a bit of an odd arrangement for the brake step.  The lower brake step supports extend down two ribs below the platform.  To capture this detail, I removed the supports from a Yarmouth Model Works brake step and made new ones from styrene strip and harvested rivets.  The photo details the other changes to the car end.


 I bent up and soldered some brass cut lever brackets, and bent my own levers.  Air hose brackets from Yarmouth were used with Hi-Tech rubber hoses.

 The car side is complete with harvested and Archer rivets added.  Next up is cleaning, prime, paint, and decals.  The odd cross section of ladder rungs are bugging me though.  I may replace them with 0.010" styrene rod.

Missouri Pacific 1932 ARA Box Car - Part 1

The Missouri Pacific rostered the largest number of 1932 ARA designed boxcars, 2500 in fact.  These totals include the subsidiary companies I-GN (International Great Northern) and NOT&M (New Orleans, Texas & Mexico) cars. The cars ran without any major modifications throughout their lives.  The one distinctive feature of the MP cars, is the choice of fixtures used on the Youngstown doors. They either came with Creco's Ball Bearing Fixtures or Railway Metal Product's Union Duplex Fixtures.  For further information about these and all of the other 1932 ARA designed boxcars, I recommend Ted Culotta's excellent book "The American Railway Association Standard Box Car of 1932".

Walter E. Frost, City of Vancouver Archives

I decided to model one of the NOT&M cars, which had the Union Duplex Doors, 4-4 Square corner ends, wood running boards, Universal Brake housing and Murphy panel roof.  The basis for this build is an Atlas 1932 ARA undecorated kit and parts kit (MK-102.6)  from my company National Scale Car. The decals were created by Ted Culotta and include MP, MI, and NOT&M reporting marks. I-GN cars did not have doors with the Union Duplex Fixtures and are not on the kit decal sheet.  The kit includes resin doors and etched door tracks.

I started by reviewing the Atlas car body, to the prototype photo.  Numerous small changes are needed, to build a more accurate representation of the car.  A prototype photo of the NOT&M car is in Ted's Book, but the cars generally followed what is shown in the MI photo above (note - the MI car has 4-4 round corner ends).  Changes are noted on the photo below.

Here is where I am at after and evening or two of work.

I will add rivet decals to the upper door track just before painting, that way I won't knock them off while working on the car.

The ends also need a few changes, as noted on the following photos.

The kit ladders are actually not too bad so I elected to keep them.  The other features noted will be scratch built.

I'm not one for New Years Resolutions but I do like "to do lists".  One of my favourite quotes is by Lee Iacocca - "The first step in accomplishing a goal, is to write it down".  So with this in mind, here is what I want to get done in the next year.

Build the following Freight Cars.

MP 1932 ARA Car (Atlas and NSC mini Kit)
B&O M26D (Speedwitch Media Kit)
D&H Oneota built modified 1937 ARR (Yarmouth Model works)
Grand Trunk Shower Car (Scratch Build)
UP Flat Car (Proto 2000 kit with Speedwitch Media decals)
Grand Trunk Western War Emergency Gondola (Ends will be offered as a mini kit through NSC)

The following Pattern Work

B&O M55 parts for Mini Kits from NSC
3 Patterns on my bench (I will let Yarmouth Model Works make the announcement)
Single Sheathed Auto Car Pattern (TBD)
Duryea Under frames (4 different versions)

A diorama of Danville Junction.

 Foam is cut, cork and ties are down.  Need to lay track and construct a crossing diamond.  I want to include the original Danville Junction crossing tower, but have yet to locate a useable photo of it.  If you have one or know of a source I would appreciate some help.  The original was torn down in 1963 from what I have learned.

CGW Shake and Take Kit

Its been quite a while since I posted about my modelling efforts.  I've been busy working on new kits for National Scale Car. In between casting, packing, and writing instructions I've managed to build a few freight cars for my layout.

Attendees of the Chicagoland RPM in 2017 received parts to create a 1937 AAR Boxcar for Chicago Great Western.  These cars used a Pullman car builder end.  The kit included resins parts, decals, and a Red Caboose Square corner undecorated kit. In 2018 George Toman presented a clinic on building his kit using the supplied parts.  Georges Clinic Can be found here.

I followed Georges Clinic to create an accurate car as I could muster.  I decided to not cut up a perfectly good Red Caboose Square corner car and instead started with an Intermountian 10' IH car instead.  The ends are separate parts so it saves cutting them off. I will let the pictures and captions tell the rest of the story.  I will be attending this years Chicagoland RPM and I'm already looking forward to George's Clinic on building the 2018 car.

Scratch built under frame, the kit under frame has diagonal corner braces where as the prototype did not. Also, the Z bar stringers are larger between the cross bearers at 4" x 4" versus the rest of the stringers at 3" x 3".

The floor from the body was milled off.  I custom made mounting brackets for the brake appliances from brass sheet and archer rivets.  The dead lever actually can rotate in the mounting bracket.

I also bent up a plate steel brake step from brass sheet.  Ladder attachment brackets were made from styrene strip and harvested rivets.  I filed the Equipco Brake Mechanism by hand, starting with and Ajax one, with some added styrene to the bottom.  The single hand grab on the end was fashioned from a partial bracket, styrene rod and harvested rivets.

Yarmouth Model Works Sill steps installed, along with one of their Wood Running Boards and brackets.

A view of the finished end with air hose bracket and cut lever installed. I cut the ladder rungs off and replaced them with 0.010" styrene rod.

Primed and ready for inspection before final paint.  The door track was also modified to match the prototype with the visible opening between it and the lower sill.

The roofs on these were painted black, while the running boards were stained and the painted, followed up by sanding off most of the paint to give a weathered look.

I weathered to match a Prototype photo using Pan Pastels and an AK wash.  Chalk marks were also added in addition to the  kit decals.

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.

Center Cupola Cabooses

The Grand Trunk (NEL) rostered three centre cupola cabooses, all wood sheathed.

Numbers:

77964
77965
77971

Jim Parker Photo, Portland Maine1968

They were leased from the Grand Trunk Western(GTW) in 1934.  Built by GTW's Port Huron shops in 1927, as part of the 77958-77977 series.

In 1953 they were officially transferred to the Grand Trunk (NEL).  They all wore GTW white lettering on Morency Orange bodies until the late fifties, when they received Grand Trunk within a horizontal green leaf.  In the sixties they were repainted into the GT version of the CN noodle scheme.

I decided to model 77964 for my Caboose fleet.  This will be primarily used on the South Paris Switcher.  Being a centre cupola design, it lent itself for better branch line use, as it would not need to be turned.

A Walthers Grand Trunk Western wood sheathed, offset cupola caboose was used as the starting point for a kit bash.

First, I corrected the well known issue of the trucks hitting the end steps while swivelling even the slightest amount.  This was accomplished by cutting the bolsters from the under frame slightly inward of the bolster.  Then turning them 180 degrees before reattaching them.

I cut the roof in three parts and moved the cupola opening to the centre.  The pieces were glued back together in a jig to keep the new roof square.  The cupola had the windows muttons removed all around. New muttons were constructed from strip styrene for the front and rear.  The cupola side window muttons were created using Tichy muttons from one of their work car window sets.

I removed the sides using my milling machine and made new ones from V-groove styrene sheet.

Tichy work car windows were spot on replacements for the side and end windows.  Openings were cut in the ends and the new sides to accommodate them, by first drilling holes and using my nibbler tool to finish up.

The sides were attached and the roof fitted.  The roof was sheathed in 0.005" styrene to cover up the grooves of the kit roof.  The prototype was covered in some sort of roofing material.

The end ladders also looked bulky so I fashioned replacements from strip styrene and phosphor bronze wire. The wire grabs from the Walthers kit were reused and mounting holes drilled where needed.  A Stove stack from Custom Finishing was fitted.