I've had an old HOn3 reefer sitting in my parts bin and I thought it would be a good candidate for a rebuild. I'm not sure of it's lineage it came with printed basswood sides and cast metal details.



I peeled off all the metal castings. It was missing enough of them to make them unusable except for spare parts on other projects.


I ordered a set of decals off ebay for White pass and Yukon. The original set was for a boxcar and in yellow but the seller was able to print me a set in black, for a reefer.

From Grandt Line I got:
D&RGW HOn3 reefer hardware set
D&RGW Bolster and end beam set
and a set of 6" queen posts

Now this isn't going to be an entirely prototypical WP&Y reefer. Their's has a metal frame where I plan to build a truss-rod frame for mine. It's more of a freelance deal.

So I started by peeling off the original sides to the car, removing the original wood bolsters and sanding things as smooth as I could get it. I plan to replace the original sides and ends with basswood car siding, add a trussrod frame and the grandt line details.

I added the grandt line bolsters and the stringers to the bottom as well as the queenpost beams.

Then I test fitted a pair of grandt line trucks to it. I also found that I had to use 0-80 screws for the trucks as everything is smaller.

The small size of the grandt line trucks takes a bit of getting used to the larger trucks are from MDC. I might add some spacers under the trucks as they seem to ride a bit low to my eyes. I also need to see the track clearance for the 6" queenposts. More later.

I added the queen posts tonight:

I've been trying to figure out what the underside of these things plausibly looked like and through a bit of research and looking at a standard gauge boxcar figured out this is where they go.

I'm not sure how detailed I'm going to do the underside, probably just install the K-brake cylinder. Mostly the topside will be visible anyway.

CNRglen, good work! Wish you succes and a nice looking new model!
I love such not often seen wood models!

Looking good

I'm bashing my own HOn3 reefer from a cut-down MDC standard gauge one that I bought for about 50 cents at a train show.

Refurbishing junked old cars and locomotives is the most rewarding part of this hobby.

Matt

sailormatlac Wrote:Refurbishing junked old cars and locomotives is the most rewarding part of this hobby.

Yup! I've got a layout populated to a great degree by the same kind of stuff.

Wayne

Thanks for the support everyone. The project is on hold for just a bit after I realized that I had ordered all the parts I needed I was missing the turnbuckles for the truss rods. I should be getting them shortly.
Kevin, I'm converting parts of an MDC reefer into a storage shed to go beside my stamp mill project.

Just to prove I haven't dropped this project I was over at another modeller's house the other day and he gave me a few packs of these:

I don't really need anything out of them except for the turnbuckles, which are old-school stamped brass but they will do the job.
On another note I have three more HOn3 cars n the way from Ebay, a Rail Line boxcar and two Labelle passenger cars. I guess I should start looking for a decent engine, seeing as my two Logging tank engines are both unpowered and won't look right pulling passenger cars.

I have been mulling over this project and decided that I need some HOn3 tools essentials to make this work properly. Most importantly I need to be able to set coupler heights right so I have a Kadee coupler gauge on order. In the meantime over the past week I've been working on my Railline HOn3 boxcar:

For a plastic kit it's quite the challenge, particularly deciphering the instructions. I would say the kit itself is about as complicated as a Tichy kit but the instructions:

This is a photocopy of the original but I found they were somewhat overly complicated and difficult to follow. It did get easier as I continued, probably because there were less parts on the sprues


I had to repair the roofwalk on one end. The previous owner cut the boards flush with the end of the car so I used a bit of strip styrene to re-lengthen them.

The kit also came with full under body detail but I had to search out a picture of a Blackstone car to completely figure out how everything went. I'll be doing a similar setup o the reefer.

this is about how far I've gotten. I have to spray primer before adding the couplers and trucks. But I can get back to the reefer soon now that I have the rigging figured out.
I have one or two other HOn3 cars to build so instead of opening more threads, I'll just build them here.

Getting back to the Reefer project, I tackled the underbody details this afternoon.


I got some turnbuckles from Grandt line and a Denver and Rio Grande Western brake set. It's similar to the brake set in the Rail line boxcar.

I added the main brake components before the truss rods.

Then I added the truss rods. I used some black beading line from Micheals for the truss rods. It threaded perfectly through the cored holes in the turnbuckles. I still have to add the wire hangers and brake rods but it's almost done underneath.


The last thing I did was to add the weight. I got the car to just under 3 oz. in weight so I figure that will be enough. After I finish of the under frame details I can start sheathing the car back up.

I added the sheathing to the car side and ends today.


The sheet of basswood cars side material was a bit thick, but it was about the same as the original. I added the ends first, cut a bit over size, then added the sides. after the glue dried I sanded the ends flush with the roof and sides. It's ready for the hardware to be added.

Not much of the old car left, but it looks great.

Well the bones are still there, hidden under all the new. I probably could scratchbuild the whole thing except for the roof.

I don't know if you are aware but Micro-Mark sells wooden roofs ready to go except for a little sanding. Just thought I would throw that out there for maybe later projects.