Upgrading MDC/Roundhouse boxcars

[sailormatlac]

Sumpter, we all have the same problem! It's why I repainted Bachmann, Model Power and other die hard models for the club layout! ;-)

Started to bash seriously my first MDC outside braced car. After taking some measure, it appears the wood panels have exactly the same height as the ATSF BX-12 cars. I wouldn't be surprised MDC used them as prototype.

To make thing easier and get the feeling of working with this model, I decided to build a ATSF BX-12 without raised roof. They had radial Murphy roof and dreadnaught ends. MDC dreadnaught are a little bit crude, but the number of raised panels (when cut to height) is reasonnably similar.

Cutting the car in flats was easier than I expected. I scribed the back and break it in part in less than 5 minutes. Being careful, I was able to salvage the ends and roof.



Here are the car sides when the excess boards are cut off. As Wayne stated, MDC reused the ends and roof tooling of their regular boxcar and added two boards to compensate the wrong proportions. The good point is that the braces are scaled correctly. I also trimmed the lower door railing that was a too thick. I also added 2 styrene strips to represent the kind of metal gutter seen near the roof on the prototype.






Ends: I carefully removed the lower tabs with the circle (don't remember the exact name of this part) and salvaged them for reinstallation. 1.5mm was cut off at the bottom of the ends. The raised panel is now flush with the coupler pocket, which is a feature of the ATSF car (mine isn't exactly correct, but don't bother about small things like that). The upper part was cut down and rounded to accept the new Murphy radial roof. A DVD storage bin was used to give a "correct" diameter. I also cut 6 rounded trusses to support the future roof (0.5mm styrene).





Finally, I reassembled the car with the new trusses. They also add some weight and a lot of strength to the rebuilt car. You will see that the brake housing is now flish with the future roof. According to Westerfield pictures, the prototype was the same too.





Since I removed the lower sill board, the car rides a little high on its truck. I'll sand it a little bit to lower it down by 1.5mm.



Next step: Roof, undeframe details and grabs/ladders. Don't have any decals yet for this car. Don't have suitable doors. Except if I use Intermountain PS-1 boxcar doors and trim them... Probably, I'll get some stuff from Tichy, anyway, I need wood doors and grabs...