Kitbashing Model Power Gondolas

[sailormatlac]

I recently got old dry transfer to letter 46ft PRR and NYC gondolas. However, I don't have such cars on hand and don't plan to buy some. On my shelves, I have five cheap Model Power 40ft high side gondolas bought years ago at 5$/each. I lettered them CN, applied some weathering back in my experimenting days and operated them on the previous Hedley Junction layout. Unfortunately, I no longer have use for them since I have acquired better CN gondolas.

Let's face it, the prototype should be 13-panel 46ft low side gondolas which is far to be slightly similar to the MP model. But while looking at the Model Power gondola, it's clear I can extend it by adding few panels cut from another shell. Adding two panels makes it a 48ft long 12-panel gondola. Not exactly a perfect match, but far better than the original model. Let's call it close enoug. With minor modifications by following a PRR G22-class car, we should be able to build good foobies.



Out of 5 gondolas, one was sacrificed and sliced in 4 parts (2 panels long). The other gondolas were cut in the middle and spliced back together with the addition. When the joints were well dried and cured, I lowered the high sides using my trusty table saw. It can sound a little bit overpowered, but trust me, it makes it a quick and dirty operation. Once again, always work with extreme prudence when cutting styrene with a table saw. Plastic is treacherous. And yes, I could have lowered them 1 mm more but I had concerns with the saw.





Once done, I glued styrene stripes on top of the car, added characteristic steel sill on end and relocated the weight. The underframe was extended with styrene bits while an Accurail handbrake was installed on a brass rod.

Pseudo-PRR Style:



Pseudo-NYC style:



On the future NYC gondolas, I removed the upper rib on the car ends to leave more space for the decals. The NYC cars are equipped with lower brake staff than the PRR to follow some prototype pictures I saw.

New Kadee coupler pockets embedded in the end sills were added while metal replacement wheelsets were installed. Model Power trucks aren't very well defined, but they are not that ugly either and they operate quite decently. I see absolutely no reason to replace them.



To be noted, new wooden floors will be added inside the gondolas to hide the savage surgery that occured!

And now, here's the final product when painted and awaiting decals. I must say there is very little evidence that can tell the origin of the car.









To be noted, if it was cars that I would use on my personal layout, I would install metal grabirons and stirrups. Reworking the underframe brake detail would also be done (maybe installing a fishbelly underframe). Finally, improving the car ends to have the correct rib pattern would also be easily feasible. I choose not to do so, but it wouldn't require a lot of skill and could turn these models into something quite respectable. It's just a demonstration that you can get decent models while bashing stuff that doesn't look promising at first.

BTW, I'm starting to get addicted to dry transfers! Easy, fast, no drying time, no silvering, no film!

Matt

[cnrglen]

Good work, Matt. I like the challenge of re-building a cheap car into something better. I too like dry transfers and have a growing stash of CDS transfers for my future projects but I've used Clover House in the past with good success.

[nachoman]

That's real nice work

[MasonJar]

Great work. It's amazing what can come from "ordinary" rolling stock. Well done!

Andrew

[Catt]

Matt,
what sort of blade do you have in your tablesaw. I have a couple old Athearn blue box shells I would like to split down the middle.

[sailormatlac]

Matt,
what sort of blade do you have in your tablesaw. I have a couple old Athearn blue box shells I would like to split down the middle.

Honestly, I used a regular wood blade, but I suspect using a blade with more teeth would yield better results. I split a few other cars in the past (ACF hoppers) and it yielded fast and good results. However, I would advise you to keep some excess material to make sure you can later file everything down to the correct size. For this project, I filed the gondolas with a large flat file just to make sure everything was level. Next time I will probably glue the gondola top against a relatively long wood plank to make the process more safer.

Matt

[Catt]

My plan is to separate the long and short hoods plus the cab from the walkway then cut some long pieces of 1" by lumber the same width of the cab and as long as the hoods.I plan to glue the wood pieces to the shell with Elmers glue,that way warm water will release the wood after the cutting is all done.No need to narrow the walkway as it is the correct width.

[sailormatlac]

My plan is to separate the long and short hoods plus the cab from the walkway then cut some long pieces of 1" by lumber the same width of the cab and as long as the hoods.I plan to glue the wood pieces to the shell with Elmers glue,that way warm water will release the wood after the cutting is all done.No need to narrow the walkway as it is the correct width.

It should work just fine as you described. Using the wood blocks is safer and more precise.

Matt