This may be what I need to get out of the modelling doldrums. I'll start simple, with a couple of LifeLike refrigerator cars. These were picked up off the junk table at the LHS several years ago. I added a few details, then lettered them for my freelance road, and put them in service hauling ice from the main ice house in Lowbanks to the various smaller ice houses around the layout. While this was a common practice, most roads removed the ice bunkers from the ends of the car's interiors, and sealed or removed the ice hatches. Mine supposedly had the bunkers removed, but the ice hatches, their platforms and the moulded-on roofwalk remained. This challenge will address that situation.

Here are the cars heading for the shop:





With the old roofs removed, I added some bracing to support the new roofs and to straighten the car's sides. The braces are .060" sheet styrene, cut to match the profile of the car's end:



Next, new roofs were fabricated from .020" sheet styrene. The ribs are .020"x.030" styrene strip, while the roofwalk supports are .030"x.040" strip:



After the cement had fully hardened, I cut the two roofs apart, then scored down the centre line of each, cutting through both the roofwalk supports and the roof ribs. Each roof was then flexed along the score mark, bending slightly farther than necessary, then relaxed to match the slope in the roof. They were then cemented in place and set aside to dry.
Meanwhile, I took several strips of HO scale 2"x6" strips and dragged a razor saw over both sides of each, imparting a faux woodgrain effect.
When the roofs had fully dried, I flipped the cars upside down, then rubbed them over some 150 grit sandpaper until the roofwalk supports were level across their width. In the photo below, the car on the right has had the roofwalk supports sanded level, while the car on the left has yet to be done:




The 2"x6" strips were then cut to appropriate lengths and cemented in place, along with the roofwalk laterals:



The next step was to add the end supports, built-up from .010"x.030" brass and styrene strip, and the roofwalk corner grabs. These were fabricated from .012" brass wire:



These cars still need their roofs painted and weathered, plus some minor alterations to the lettering, but painting will have to wait until I have enough cars ready to make it worthwhile to heat the paint shop, which is in my detached garage. In the meantime, I'll be starting on part 2 of my Challenge.

Wayne

Thanks, Wayne!
Very good help for my own challenge.

What you need to do is some 40 foot steel Southern Railroad boxcars in N scale. What? You don't need any Southern boxcars in N scale? You are in luck, I know just the layout you can donate them to!

doctorwayne Wrote:This may be what I need to get out of the modelling doldrums.

Well, we all get the doldrums -- I've had a mild case lately myself, probably part of post-holiday blues -- but I really miss your posts here, Wayne! Hope this thread helps!

Thanks for your kind words, guys.

Bernhard, I can't imagine that you'd need any help with your Challenge, but I look forward to seeing whatever it was of mine that caught your eye - seeing it done properly and with your attention to craftsmanship will be a real benefit to everyone, me included. Then it'll be my turn to thank you.

Mike, I don't know what's available in the way of parts for N scale carbuilders, but in HO, car ends are a real necessity, at least for my skills. Some early steel roofs, as well as some modern ones, can be scratchbuilt, but the diagonal panel-type (Stanray, etc.) common in the '50s would be a fair amount of work, as would doors. If you know of any sources for those items, it probably wouldn't be all that difficult to scratch/parts-build a steel boxcar in N. I'm not very conversant in what's available commercially in N scale, but surely someone must offer a 40' steel boxcar that's reasonably accurate.

It's certainly not that I lack work to do, jwb, but sometimes it can be difficult to get going on it. I'm starting my second Challenge project soon, although I don't usually post anything until it's either finished or close to being finished, and I have a few more in mind. We'll see how far I get, but, as with the previous challenge, once I get going on a project, I generally try to finish it. This one and Part 2 are simply upgrades to previously done stuff, but if I make it to Part 3, it will be the continuation of a project started several years ago.

Wayne

doctorwayne Wrote:...
Bernhard, I can't imagine that you'd need any help with your Challenge, but I look forward to seeing whatever it was of mine that caught your eye - seeing it done properly and with your attention to craftsmanship will be a real benefit to everyone, me included. Then it'll be my turn to thank you.

Hallo Wayne, sorry, but here I must contradict.
Each of us has his own experiences and abilities. And with it we work everything in our own surroundings and borders. But we see everything here in the forum and read about the methods and technologies of others, materials which one has not used up to now - and with it we extend our horizon, our knowledge with every day. And I must say that belongs to it also. The easiest example is that I love wood and models built from wood - but I change more and more to plastic, also by your models und your craftsmanship.

Here in your Duff Challenge you give such an example again that inspires me to build things better, faster, more precisely than I have done it up to now - the roofs for yours boxcars. To build with your technology, two complete roofs modeled as one unity, is for me a great idea which I have never applied up to now thus, although the thought is quite easy. And this is exactly this,that I will apply for the roofs of my models, fast, precisely and very much good looking! And for it my thanks for sharing of such ideas and technologies - also from me!

I've got a couple of those life-like cars. I replaced the grab irons, stirrups, trucks, and couplers with items I had on hand and it looks pretty good. It was one of those zero-budget projects because I was unemployed at the time, so I didn't fool with the undercarriage. I've got a bunch old trainset cars from my youth that will someday get the same treatment. Even though it may be cheaper to just buy new better quality cars, there is something enjoyable about upgrading these old cheapies.

nachoman Wrote:.....Even though it may be cheaper to just buy new better quality cars, there is something enjoyable about upgrading these old cheapies.

I agree: you can get a lot of modelling value for a very low cost, and on cars like these, even the added details aren't budget-breakers. When I was putting the old roofs into the box where I keep such stuff (I know, the old roofs bugged me enough to change them, so why keep the old ones? ), I found another of these cars. I had previously attempted to remove the roof and, because the glue bond was better than on the cars seen here, part of the car's side broke off. I'm not sure why I saved it, but it's starting to bug me that it's in this "parts" box when it could be on the layout. This could end-up delaying Part 2 of my challenge.
Oh yeah, those saved roofs? Who knows when someone here might need them - they do have free-standing wire roof grabs, even though the hatches and roof walks are moulded on.

Bernhard, your point is well-taken. Forums like this are a great way of exchanging ideas, and as long as we're open to continually learning, there's a wealth of knowledge available.

Wayne

Wayne, I concur that those display some very fine craftsmanship.

I've been messing around in HO recently...working on a model railroad for my kids...so I've been missing out on that sort of detail work.

Kevin, Wayne, Bernd!
I agree too. May it either be plastic, wood, brass, zamac or anylike stuff, the real value of a model is the craftmanship which is invested into it.

My two cents.

Lutz

This conversation, is what makes this place the "good place to be"!!
The sharing of ideas, techniques, constructive comments, and the occasional bit of good humor ( no, not the ice cream ) all contribute to a better enjoyment of this amazing hobby.

To get back to Dr Wayne's specific project, or something like it, it's possible to do similar things with other plastic reefers. I've sanded the Hutchins roof down on various Accurail cars and added Evergreen scribed siding. The B&M converted some MDT cars to milk cars as well as ice cars, doing exactly what Dr Wayne is doing with the Life Like reefer. Here's an Accurail car with new ice car roof and Bollinger Edgerley decals for cars that were used in ice storage at North Station Boston:
[attachment=13316]
Here is an equivalent B&M milk car, project not done yet, but you get the idea, also Bollinger Edgerley decals:
[attachment=13314]
Here's an Accurail Milwaukee Road ice service car that I need to fix the roof on (although these kept their hatches -- for the Accurail car, the ones mounted on the kit roof are removable, so I can replace the roof and reattach the hatches).
[attachment=13312]
In all these Accurail cases, I simply sand the stock roof flat and add the scribed styrene on top.

God-like skill and speed Wayne! I love the straghforward way to build the roof THEN splice it in two. The grain wood is terrific too.

Matt

Great work there Doc. Can't wait to see more.

Well, that car from the "parts" box is well on it's way to entering revenue service, needing only to be painted and lettered:




Like the others, it'll be painted when I have enough ready to justify heating the paint shop.

Now to get started on Part 2 of my Challenge.

Wayne