Coulda, shoulda, woulda...

[doctorwayne]

...entered the EOY Challenge, but I didn't take any in-progress pictures. However, I did think about entering, and it prompted me to finish some small projects that had been put aside for too long.

One was to finish some vehicles that had been sitting around. Most were picked up "used", but there were a couple of kits, too.
The one on the left, below, is a pre-owned, but un-built, Wheel Works soft metal kit - it was missing one of the side stake sections, so I fabricated a new one from styrene. I didn't enjoy building this one - the fit wasn't great, but even worse, the parts were easily deformed during assembly.
The one on the right, used and pre-assembled, is of unknown origin. It came with a crude dump body, which was discarded. I fabricated a new bed and stake body, and added a gas tank and steering wheel, along with the bench "seat".


Here's the Wheel Works Model AA, picking up some washing machines from Coffield Washer:


...and the smaller Model A, loading bagged plaster at one of Wagner Lumber's sheds:


The next two are Jordan Miniatures kits, which had been sitting on my shelf for some time. The picture below shows two identical kits which had been previously built, along with the parts from the two under construction:


The tank truck cab and chassis was used to construct this small dump truck:


...and the wagon was modified to accept the truck's tank. Shown below, in its Hoffentoth Bros. livery, it's delivering kerosene at the South Cayuga station, under contract to the railroad:


This one, not yet completely painted, started life as a Roco military vehicle. I bought it used, removing the "canvas" top and military-style box, then fabricated a new styrene bed and a moving van-style body:


I also added a frame-mounted fuel tank, mirrors (leftover parts from a Sylvan truck kit), and fabricated new headlights (one of the originals was missing, and it was easier to make two new ones than try to match the existing one):


I also had some freight cars to finish. The first, a Tichy wheel car, was divvied-up, with the wheels becoming removeable (as single units) gondola loads:








Since I already have plenty of more modern-style flatcars in revenue service, I decided to convert the Tichy flatcar into a low-sided gondola, for work train service:


The new, removeable sides were made with a single styrene 2"x12" (distressed with woodgrain and knotholes), with 4"x4" stakes. To obtain a good fit in the stake pockets, yet still leave the sides removeable, shop workers cut wedges from scale 2"x2" strip styrene, then hammered them into place, securing them with solvent-type cement. Since each piece was assembled in-place, they're not necessarily interchangeable. I used dry transfer dimensional data to label each, on its inside face, with the proper location for installation:


When I went to pick up my long-desired carbon black covered hopper (currently under construction), I was fortunate to discover the load shown below. I had seen these reviewed some years ago, but they never made it to any of the local LHSs.
It's from J.J.M. Railroad Enterprises, and the kit consists of 80 styrene automobile frames, plus some info on common loading methods. These were commonly seen during the late '40s and throughout the '50s, and, at least on my layout, in the late '30s. While they can be assembled in piles for flatcar loading, I opted for the vertical style and used the Accurail AAR 1941 gondola - its higher sides make it more suitable than the Proto or Athearn versions, although the shorter car can accommodate only 70 frames. (They also fit into the Intermountain composite drop-bottom gondola.) I built the load to be removeable as a unit, with the scratchbuilt A-frame support and the floor blocking as a separate, but also removeable, unit.

Here's the load:


...and the A-frame and styrene floor blocking (the upper part of the A-frame still needs to be airbrushed - I brush painted the lower section and the interior, as the structural shapes leave lots of areas that an airbrush might miss):


...and the loaded car:


I also built a second A-frame, to use for an empty car:


Because this is an excess height load, it's very restricted on the layout, and will move only as a through (interchange) car from the as-yet-unbuilt second level to the south end staging yard. It won't fit through the Speed River area tunnel (preventing its use at all on Erie Northshore trackage), nor under the bridge over the wye at Airline Junction.

Another project was to alter the track layout at the Erie Northshore's Lowbanks shops. The original set-up had a #2.5 wye turnout to split the tracks entering the main building. Access to this was off the turntable (out of the frame, to the bottom, in the photo below), as I originally felt it would give a better appearance to the flow of the track. However, the sharp reverse curve in the right-hand track resulted in it being un-useable for all but handcar storage, as shown below:


I removed all of the locos and removeable details, then sprayed the area with "wet" water, saturating the "cinder" ground cover. I didn't think to take in-progress photos, but a scraper easily removed the softened material. The rail joints and feeder wires were then unsoldered, and the wye turnout and adjoining track were lifted, with the aid of the scraper.
I cut some flex track to roughly fit, using Atlas rail joiners (cut in half, making two shorter ones) and track spikes to affix everything in place. The ends overhanging the turntable pit were then trimmed to length with a cut-off disc. After soldering the rail joiners and adding any needed feeder wires, I applied new groundcover (Woodland Scenics "Cinders"), using dilute white glue to hold it in place:


The new arrangement allows all of my locos, even the larger ones, to negotiate that track, although only Moguls or Ten Wheelers will fit into that stall due to a staircase at the far end of the track.

I may be adding more to this thread, at least until the Challenge deadline arrives.

Wayne