Rebuilding a Roundhouse Boxcab

[sailormatlac]

Reinhard,

Once again, you did a nice bashing. I'm curious, are the pilots the original MDC ones? They look well casted for an older kit.

Matt

[faraway]

Matt, yes the pilots are original. They and the shell are not bad for a model of that age and original price band.

I weathered the pilots, trucks and roof with a brown wash to "ruin" the beautiful black and both engine are in revenue service now.
This page http://sbiii.com/jfcageir/ageir5.html explains what engines have been built in the first series without front doors. The prototype is not a prefect match for my intended freelance layout. May be it is best I label them freelance "Terminal 1" and "Terminal 2". The Microscale Illinois Terminal set would be match.

Is your model still in the air over the big pond? Do you have a specific prototype to model?

[sailormatlac]

Matt, yes the pilots are original. They and the shell are not bad for a model of that age and original price band.

I weathered the pilots, trucks and roof with a brown wash to "ruin" the beautiful black and both engine are in revenue service now.
This page http://sbiii.com/jfcageir/ageir5.html explains what engines have been built in the first series without front doors. The prototype is not a prefect match for my intended freelance layout. May be it is best I label them freelance "Terminal 1" and "Terminal 2". The Microscale Illinois Terminal set would be match.

Is your model still in the air over the big pond? Do you have a specific prototype to model?

Reinhard, good to hear the details are good enough.

There's a lot of variation on AGEOR boxcabs. They were "experimental" models that changed quickly to adapt the technology (cooling devices in particular).

Jack's boxcabs are in the air... or maybe at the customs. I got the GE 44-tonner last Friday.

The prototype I'll model will be Erie 19 but since Jack send me a few shells, maybe I'll try to do #20 too and use the same motorized chassis. I'll see. Both have different cooling devices. #19 is more complex, #20 is similar to MDC stock details.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTFKT_z7K6Q/T3..._Small.png
http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/errhs193.jpg
http://sbiii.com/b-uattwn/iiitoo/boxpix/erie20dr.jpg

I particularly like the safety strips paint scheme. Really attractive and it seems it made it until the early 1950s.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

I always thought ERIE's black and yellow paint scheme to be very classy-looking.

If you want to do safety stripes in paint rather than decals, place a piece of masking tape of suitable width sticky-side-down on a clean sheet of glass. Use a sharp blade to trim off both factory edges, cutting the remaining portion to the required height - the width will be taken care of once the tape is on the model. Use a square and straightedge. (The factory edges often have minor dings, and it doesn't take long for those edges to also accumulate dust and fuzz. Additionally, as the tape sits on the roll, the adhesive near the edges becomes slightly less tacky - no so good at preventing bleed-under.)

If you're doing light coloured stripes on a dark background, paint the model using the stripe colour, as it's much easier, after masking, to overcoat with the darker colour.

Lay out the stripe pattern on the tape, and then mark all of the portions which represent spaces (which will be the dark colour) with an "X" or other distinguishing symbol, then use your sharp blade and straightedge to make all cuts.
Next, choose a stripe which will be wholly on the front face of the locomotive or footboard, and determine the angle at which you want it to sit - use moulded-on details or window openings to situate it appropriately, and the straightedge to ensure that it's truly straight. Once that strip of tape is in place and properly burnished to seal its edges, apply the next piece of tape from the glass - this piece is used as a spacer, to keep the stripes parallel - butt it tight against the first piece, then continue taking consecutive pieces of tape from the glass and adding them in the same manner. As the striping reaches the front corners of the cab, simply wrap them around without causing a bulge at either edge of the tape, and the stripes will continue at both the proper angle and proper width.
When all of the tape is in place, use your square and a very sharp blade to trim the excess material - on the boxcab in the prototype photo, those cuts would be at the vertical front edge of the side window and horizontally below the widow sill, then vertically below the window at its mid-point.
Next, using tweezers or other appropriate tool, remove all of the tape strips which are marked with an "X", and, if necessary, re-burnish any edges of the remaining tape which may have lifted while removing the spacer strips.
Apply the darker colour and, as soon as it's dry to the touch, remove the remaining tape.

These locomotives were painted using the method outlined:











Wayne

[sailormatlac]

Thanks for the trick Wayne!

Really useful!

Matt

[faraway]

Matt, the Erie #19 and #20 are a nice couple. The changed cooler of #19 should be no problem. It is essential a half pipe replacing the 90° curve at the ends.

The stripes are great indeed and you are lucky if the match your time frame. The Erie units have the head light mounted on the roof. My roundhouse shells have the front lights in the front walls. You may need to get extra lights.

Did you run your new GE 44ton with a new decoder? How many openings have the bottom truck covers? They should have three for the modern drive.

I added the long grab irons located over the pilots. I hesitate add the six grab irons forming a ladder at each side. They would look awfully if they are not perfect aligned.
You should add two short grab irons over each pilot leaving a gap for the doors. Do you know a source to get better truck side frames?

[sailormatlac]

Matt, the Erie #19 and #20 are a nice couple. The changed cooler of #19 should be no problem. It is essential a half pipe replacing the 90° curve at the ends.

The stripes are great indeed and you are lucky if the match your time frame. The Erie units have the head light mounted on the roof. My roundhouse shells have the front lights in the front walls. You may need to get extra lights.

Did you run your new GE 44ton with a new decoder? How many openings have the bottom truck covers? They should have three for the modern drive.

Reinhard, yep, they are quite nice little engine. I guess if I model both, I'll make them in both paint scheme (with and without stripping). I'm also thinking about building my Lindberg tugboat kit as a steamer. That way, I'll be able to cover the 30s-40s-50s. I say that because I've quite a lot of american cars that need to be built and they cover that era. Nothing set in stone, just like your own layout.

Jack sent me shells with correct doors and headlight.

I didn't ran the GE unit yet for I can't run DCC home right now. Fellow club members are all out for vacation! But it does have the 3 openings. I feel a little bit bad wrecking the poor thing! I'm ready for serious butchery.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

....I hesitate add the six grab irons forming a ladder at each side. They would look awfully if they are not perfect aligned.....

Use a small machinist's square to lay out the vertical lines indicating the location of the ladder grabs - I prefer a very lightly-scribed line made with a sharp blade, but a sharp pencil will do, too. Commonly available grabirons are 18" wide - if your prototype uses a different width, you may have to bend them yourself - use .012" brass wire from Detail Associates or .0125" phosphor bronze wire from Tichy.
Next, use a divider (one from a simple geometry instrument set will do or one from a draughting set) setting it to the proper dimension up from the sill for the bottom rung. Working on the scribed vertical lines, place one point just below and against the sill, and use the other point to make a small impression on the line. Repeat this on the other vertical line, then reset the dividers to the vertical spacing required for the remainder of the grabirons - this may be the same as the first measurement or different, but all remaining grabs will have the same vertical spacing.
For HO scale, use a #79 bit in a pin vise to drill a hole at each of the pinpricks. Insert all of the grabs, then, using a strip of .030"x.100" styrene as a spacer, press the grabs tightly against the spacer and use a small screwdriver or your X-Acto to bend-over the portion of the grabirons which protrude into the body shell. Remove the spacer, then place some ca on a non-porous surface and use the tip of a #11 blade to apply the ca to each grabiron inside the carbody.
Even with the holes accurately placed, the grabirons may not appear to be parallel - if so, this is caused by the holes being drilled through the plastic body at a slight angle, either up or down. Don't despair! Use a pair of smooth-jawed pliers, held parallel to the car's side, to grasp each misaligned grabiron and twist it slightly in the appropriate direction - repeat as necessary, until all grabs appear horizontally parallel.

Wayne

[sailormatlac]

Reinhard,

For truck frames, these ones are made to fit Bachmann trucks:
http://www.laserkit.com/ldgecab1.html

For the grab, just as Wayne said, there's always room for adjustment in the end.

Matt

[faraway]

Matt, thanks a lot. The side fames are on order. It will take weeks to cross the big pond again.
Did you see the covered barges they offer? They look so good.....

I did the grab irons sometime ago on a Trainman engine. One of the simples thing to do..... I did not like the outcome. The process is straight forward but my holes never appeared in a line May be I try it sometime later again....

[sailormatlac]

Matt, thanks a lot. The side fames are on order. It will take weeks to cross the big pond again.
Did you see the covered barges they offer? They look so good.....

I did the grab irons sometime ago on a Trainman engine. One of the simples thing to do..... I did not like the outcome. The process is straight forward but my holes never appeared in a line May be I try it sometime later again....

Reinhard, I had the same problem with grabiron until I used the trick to gently bend them into shape once glued. I really improve the overall appearance.

Matt

[faraway]

I wrote some days ago "a strip of lead is under the roof, that increases the weight to 180g/6.3oz".
I am currently heavy switching and the tiny boxcab has no problem to push and pull 10 40' cars around curves. I think that is sufficient for that kind of operation.

[sailormatlac]

Thanks Reinhard, I was curious what would be the pulling performance. Good to see filling up the shell is not needed.

Matt

[shortliner]

Reinhard - I'm really so pleased that the boxcabs are doing what you wanted, and providing useful service with you rather than just sitting in a box here.

[faraway]

Reinhard - I'm really so pleased that the boxcabs are doing what you wanted, and providing useful service with you rather than just sitting in a box here.

Absolutely, the two boxcabs are most of the time the only engines on the layout. I do all operating exclusive with the two boxcabs. It is questionable if I would have proceeded with the current layout theme without the boxcabs.
One of the best things I ever got