doctorwayne's New Years Resolution Challenge...

[doctorwayne]

With all of the new ends installed, work continues on the boxcars. The first task was to drill out most of the moulded-in holes on the new ends, then plug them with styrene rod. Those at the bottom edge, meant for grab irons, are okay, but the ones near the right side of the end, also for a grab iron, are too high to line-up with the one on the car's side. The holes on the "B" end, intended for the brake platform, are also too high, as these cars will get "power" handbrakes, so those holes are also plugged and new ones drilled in more appropriate locations.
After installing the Tichy support brackets for the brake platform, the retainer valves were cemented to the car ends, then it was time to add their piping. The pipe was formed from .008" brass wire, with the upper end bent at 90° and cemented into a hole drilled into the car's end and located immediately below the retainer:



The bottom end of the pipe was also bent at 90°, then bent the same again and inserted into a hole drilled in the bottom edge of the end:



To keep this light-gauge wire from being pushed out of line, I added a couple of simple brackets. After pushing the wire slightly to one side, a couple of .0145" holes were drilled through the car's end. When the drill bit was withdrawn, the wire re-assumed its original position, more-or-less hiding the hole. Next, short lengths were cut from some .006" brass wire, which was then bent almost in half, leaving one end slightly longer than the other:



With the retainer pipe pushed slightly to one side, the long end of the bracket wire was inserted into the hole:



...then, with the wire pushed to one side in the other direction, the shorter end of the bracket wire was inserted into the same hole:



The ends of the wire were then pulled into the car until the retainer pipe was snugly against the ribbed car end:



...then bent-over and ca'd in place:



The next task was to cement the Ajax brakewheel housing in place. I used ones from Cal-Scale, but substituted Tichy brakewheels in place of the Cal-Scale ones. The Cal-Scale housing includes the chain linkage as part of the casting, so, after trimming away the bottom link, I used a #79 bit to drill through the next link up before installing these parts on the cars' ends. After the cement had set, I re-inserted the drill bit into the hole in the chain, then shoved it further and drilled through the car's end. After forming a rod from .012" brass wire, the upper end was bent 90°, then inserted through the hole in the chain, then through the hole in the car's end. It was then bent-over inside the car and ca'd in place:



The lower end of the rod was bent 90° to one side, then inserted into a hole pre-drilled in a Cal-Scale brake fulcrum, and ca'd in place:



Except for the ladders, the car ends are finished.
The cars' underframes are finished except for paint and weathering:



...while the sides still need ladders and grab irons. Before they can be installed, I need to replace the rivets lost during the re-building process, and will do that using Archer rivet decals.



This is pretty-much the state of all eight cars at this point, with roofwalks also yet to be installed:



Wayne