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.

Wordless Wednesday #1

Missouri Pacific 1932 ARA Boxcar - Part 3

I decided to go ahead and upgrade the ladder rungs on this car.  The flat profile of the rungs just didn't look right.  In the first photo the two middle rungs are original, while the others are 0.015" styrene rod.

Normally I would use 0.010" rod but the nub left when cutting off the rung was bigger than 0.010",  it looked odd with the smaller rod installed.  The second photo shows one end of the completed ladder rung swap.

I then cleaned and primed the car.  Paint used is ScaleCoat Box Car Red #2.  This is a medium oxide and looked right to my eye.  I weathered with Pan Pastels to represent a car that was repainted two years prior to my 1955 timeframe.

Trucks are Tichy 50 ton ARA spring plankless, these cars were upgraded to 50ton from the as built 40 ton rating.

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.

Tool Box Tuesday #1

I spent some time a few weeks ago and modified an Engineers Square.  I milled the thickness of the head such that it sticks out only 0.045" from the beam on either side.  This makes scribing or laying out on thin material much easier, as the blade can fully rest on thin sheet stock.  I will put it to good use on single sheathed, board by board boxcar patterns.

I also machined a small photo etch bending tool.  Its about 2" long.  I also own a 5" bender made by the small shop but I wanted something smaller that is easy to hold in one hand.  It also works great for snapping brass strips.  I accomplish this by scribing the brass in the bender and then bending it back and forth a couple of times.

Clinic File from Coco Beach RPM

Last weekend was the Coco Beach Rpm.  I presented my clinic on Machinist Hand tools for modelling.

Machinist Tools for Modelling - Part 1 Hand Tools - Coco Beach

This is an updated version from when I presented it at the Chicagoland Rpm.  This is a staic pdf and doesn't include the interactive portion of the live presentation.

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.