Part1.
Now I should warn you right from the start that you will learn no new scratch building or kit bashing techniques from this thread, it’s just me waffling on about the whys and wherefores of what I’ve done. If anything was to come of this post I’d hope it may encourage a fence sitter to have a go at kit bashing/ scratch building even if it’s on the basis of “ if he can do it, so can I, (and better too!!)”.
It’s all very well, and quite enjoyable, “oohhhing and aaaahhing” at the work of those who I suspect would be slightly embarrassed to be called “Masters” but the trouble was that I wasn’t actually achieving anything. I had some projects in mind using styrene but as I hadn’t used it before, needed to actually work with it to see if I was at least capable.
Now this first car was bought for me by my two, then young, children from some of their paper run earnings so even if it was a Frateschi kit of a Brazilian prototype hopper it was still special to me. To make it “serviceable” I using my battery drill and a file I turned down the pizza cutter flanges and replacer the European style coupler with a Kadee, with the vague idea that with a paint it would end up as a freelanced MOW ballast hopper.
Fast forward some years and a chap on another forum was pondering on how to make roofs for a hopper to covered hopper kit bash he was undertaking. doctorwayne offered some of his tips, techniques, and examples and for me it was then the time had come to act!
Brake end and side view of the Frateschi car.
The roof and roof walk is made from .020” styrene sheet that I scribed as I’d seen plans of a wooden roof hopper, the hatches were scratched using the hatch dimensions from a Tichy cement car I’d recently completed and the green bracing was my rough interpretation from the plans of a PRR H30 I’d seen. (This was before Bowser had produced their RTR version).
Nothing like a coat of paint and a close up photo to show the flaws. :cry:
Cheers, the Bear.
Now I should warn you right from the start that you will learn no new scratch building or kit bashing techniques from this thread, it’s just me waffling on about the whys and wherefores of what I’ve done. If anything was to come of this post I’d hope it may encourage a fence sitter to have a go at kit bashing/ scratch building even if it’s on the basis of “ if he can do it, so can I, (and better too!!)”.
It’s all very well, and quite enjoyable, “oohhhing and aaaahhing” at the work of those who I suspect would be slightly embarrassed to be called “Masters” but the trouble was that I wasn’t actually achieving anything. I had some projects in mind using styrene but as I hadn’t used it before, needed to actually work with it to see if I was at least capable.
Now this first car was bought for me by my two, then young, children from some of their paper run earnings so even if it was a Frateschi kit of a Brazilian prototype hopper it was still special to me. To make it “serviceable” I using my battery drill and a file I turned down the pizza cutter flanges and replacer the European style coupler with a Kadee, with the vague idea that with a paint it would end up as a freelanced MOW ballast hopper.
Fast forward some years and a chap on another forum was pondering on how to make roofs for a hopper to covered hopper kit bash he was undertaking. doctorwayne offered some of his tips, techniques, and examples and for me it was then the time had come to act!
Brake end and side view of the Frateschi car.
The roof and roof walk is made from .020” styrene sheet that I scribed as I’d seen plans of a wooden roof hopper, the hatches were scratched using the hatch dimensions from a Tichy cement car I’d recently completed and the green bracing was my rough interpretation from the plans of a PRR H30 I’d seen. (This was before Bowser had produced their RTR version).
Nothing like a coat of paint and a close up photo to show the flaws. :cry:
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."