SOME FREIGHT CAR MODIFICATIONS...
#16
The doors on the sides of the cinder car are flat plate steel, with angle iron rivetted to the exterior edges.  Similar angle irons are rivetted to the car's exterior above and inboard of those on the doors, and there's a bolt or hinge-pin through each. 
When the latch on the bottom of the door is lifted, and thereby disengaged from the keeper beneath the door, the door can be swung open. 

While the doors on the model will not be operable, I thought that the hinge-pins should be included.  However, on the model, they'll be only .025"-.030" long, and therefore very difficult to handle.

With no particular plan in place, I cut the doors from some .005" thick sheet styrene, then used .010"x.040" strip styrene and some .010"x.060" strip to create the angle irons.  The door plates were installed first, then I added the angle irons to them, and then installed the short angles on the car's sides.  That's when my plan for drilling the holes in the angle irons came to me....after they had all been cemented to the car. 35 

Undeterred, I used my dividers to punch starter holes in the angle irons, then used a #79 bit in my pin vise to drill holes (naturally at an angle due to them being only semi-accessible) through each pair.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I usually cut wire (brass or phosphor-bronze) using the heel of an well-worn X-Acto #11 blade.  As long as you take care to restrain both the main piece of wire and the piece being cut off, this yields a nice clean cut, which can be very precisely executed,  Unfortunately, in this case the cut-off pieces are pretty short for holding-on-to or for picking up, even with tweezers.

Since my work surface is glass, and too slippery for the next operation, I applied a small piece of masking tape to the glass.  After laying a length of .125" phosphor-bronze wire on the tape, I applied the heel of the knife about .025"-.030" from the end of the wire, and gently rolled the wire back-and-forth several times, using light pressure on the knife...

[Image: 100_7666.jpg]

The back-and-forth rolling scored the wire's circumference, thereby weakening it (the little bits in the photo above are the result of either too much pressure on the knife, or too many rolls of the wire).
Next, the end of the wire is inserted into one of the pre-drilled holes....

[Image: 100_7667.jpg]

...and is then grasped with small, smooth-jawed pliers,  and flexed up-and-down a couple of times, thereby breaking off the short piece, leaving it where it can be cemented in place....

[Image: 100_7668.jpg]

Even with a close-up view, the hinge-pins aren't all that noticeable, but I think that their absence would be noticeable...

[Image: 100_7672.jpg]

...as you can see, I also added nut/bolt/washer detail to the grabirons, something I had overlooked previously, so the other four cars will get a similar treatment...if I don't run out of the necessary detail castings.

Holding a loupe to the camera's lense does show more detail, though...

[Image: 100_7673.jpg]

The door latch is a 12" (HO) strip of .010"x.030" brass, with the top 3" bent-over, and a slot (two drilled holes, connected) cut into it.  A nut/bolt/washer casting is inserted into a hole drilled through the door, with only the exterior portion visible.  If you scroll up to the photo of the real car, you can see how the latch would be lifted to free its bottom end, allowing the door to open. 
The short bit of angle-iron was made up of a strip of .005" sheet material cemented beneath the door (the same thickness of the doors) in order to keep the latch vertical.  A piece of .010"x.060" was then cut from strip material, then held in those smooth-jawed pliers and a very small file used to create a cut-out in the edge which mates with the strip already cemented beneath the door.  This provides the slot into which the latch drops.

I hope to get the nbw detail added to the other four cars tomorrow (today, I guess, as it's currently 04:15AM), then get them washed so that I can apply primer later this evening.

More to come.
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#17
Fantastic detailing!!!
~~ Mikey KB3VBR (Admin)
~~ NARA Member # 75    
~~ Baldwin Eddystone Unofficial Website

~~ I wonder what that would look like in 1:20.3???
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#18
Thanks, Mikey.  We'll see how it really looks when get some paint on them.  Black should make them pretty bland looking, I think.

Wayne
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#19
I had the opportunity this evening to apply primer to these cars, and since I'm running low on Floquil Grey Primer, I decide to try Tamiya Surface Primer, in a spray can.

While it went on fairly well and covered well, too, I found it comparable to swatting flies with with a sledgehammer, whereas using an airbrush is much easier, like using a flyswatter in the above example. 

Despite the comparatively heavy applications, the primer levels well and dries to the touch fairly quickly.  There seems to be still a fair amount left in the can, but there's no way it can compare to Floquil primer in coverage-for-your-modelling-dollar.  I did five cars, inside, outside, and underbody, and I'd guess what's left should do another three or four. 
The 100ml can cost approximately $8.50, while a 29.6ml bottle of Floquil grey primer would have been around $3.50 (I know, it's an older product purchased at an earlier time, so price comparisons won't really mean too much).

The price, per ml for the Tamiya is 8.3 cents, and for the Floquil, one ml cost 11.8 cents.  If the Tamiya covers 8 or 9 cars...let's give it the benefit of doubt, and call it 10, that's $.85/car.  A bottle of Floquil will easily do 20 cars or more, but even at 20, that's only $.18/car.

Clearly, the Floquil would be a better choice, dollar-wise, were it still available.  If you ignore the cost difference, though, and if I could still get Floquil Grey Primer (forget the other colours, in my opinion Pollyscale was an all-around better paint) I would choose it over any other, as applying it with an airbrush, as opposed to Tamiya's spray can, is much easier, and offers better control.  As for coverage and finish, I'd rate both Tamiya and Floquil equally good.

....and, after a little on-line searching, I found Tamiya grey primer in a bottle, thinnable with lacquer thinner.  I'll probably give it a try, as ease of application (airbrush) outweighs price as far as I'm concerned. 

Anyway, here are some photos of the gondolas in primer...

This is one of the four which will become TH&B cars...

[Image: THB%20gondola....jpg]

...and this one, based on a TH&B cinder car, will become an EG&E cinder car....

[Image: EGE%20cinder%20car....jpg]

...and a couple of end-views...

[Image: Cinder%20cargondola....jpg]

[Image: Cinder%20cargondola%20-%202....jpg]


I'm not sure how long the Tamiya needs to cure before it can painted-over, so I'll wait until the smell is gone.  And before painting in the final colours, there are more details to add.

Wayne
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#20
I've been working on these cars fairly diligently, and they're pretty-much ready for paint.

This is one of the four TH&B gondolas....

[Image: THB%20GONDOLA%20-%202.jpg]

The rivet detail was done with decals from MicroMark.  These seem more difficult to set than the ones from Archer, and even repeated applications of Solvaset had little effect.  Since these cars will sometimes be carrying "live" loads, it's important that the rivets will stand-up to the abuse which some materials create. 

To fully set the decals, I used a small brush, dipped in MEK, simply passing over each individual strip with a light touch and a fast pass.  Within seconds, the decals settled, and there were only a few small areas where a second application was needed.  If the brush lingers too long, though, the rivets will be removed.

Here's the B-end of the same car...

[Image: THB%20GONDOLA%20-%201.jpg]

The cinder car for the EG&E required a bit more work, what with the side doors.  I also used aluminum tape to cover the car's "wooden" floor with "steel plates".  Here are a few views of it...

[Image: EGE%20CINDER%20CAR%20-%207.jpg]

[Image: EGE%20CINDER%20CAR%20-%202.jpg]

[Image: EGE%20CINDER%20CAR%20-1.jpg]

[Image: EGE%20CINDER%20CAR%20-%208.jpg]


I hope to get these cars painted later today, unless something else comes up.

Wayne
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#21
And, finally, the cars with paint.  Here's one of the TH&B cars...

[Image: THB%20GONDOLA%20-%20SIDE%20VIEW.jpg]

[Image: THB%20GONDOLA%20-%20B-END%20G.jpg]

...and the EG&E cinder car...

[Image: EGE%20CINDER%20CAR%20-%20SIDE%20VIEW.jpg]

It'll be a few days until the Pollyscale paint cures and the cars can be Glosscoted in preparation for lettering.

Wayne
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#22
They look great!!
~~ Mikey KB3VBR (Admin)
~~ NARA Member # 75    
~~ Baldwin Eddystone Unofficial Website

~~ I wonder what that would look like in 1:20.3???
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#23
Modeling at its best.
Guy from Southern Quebec.
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#24
Thanks for your kind remarks, guys! 

I'm not sure why I find freight cars so interesting, but I have to admit that these are pretty mundane, especially for the amount of work put into them.

The history of the TH&B as a railroad is fairly well-documented, but coverage of their early rolling stock is sketchy at best.  I have photos of some, but pre-WWII freight cars must have been not very interesting, as I've found few photos.  Except for some 40' boxcars, almost everything else seems to have been 35' or 36', and the 40' gondolas shown here are actually modelled after cars built in 1918, but acquired by the road only in 1952. 

The 40' flats which I showed in an earlier post represent (and not all that well) a series of cars built in 1913, but the real ones were 36'10" in length - I had started on them before I had decent photos with legible lettering, so, at best, they're stand-ins.

I have some TH&B equipment from the post-war era, and while it's too modern for my layout's era, I'm not overly embarrassed enough to not run it occasionally.  I also have a couple of U-channel TH&B hoppers in-service, with another six on-hand, ready to be re-built.  Based on the Stewart (now Bowser) model, they can be made into a very accurate representation of a 150 car lot of such cars which the road bought from local carbuilder National Steel Car, in 1914.  Those cars lasted into the '60s.

[Image: Freightcarphotosandlayoutviews0101.jpg]


[Image: Freightcarphotosandlayoutviews09-1.jpg]

The TH&B is fairly widely modelled, especially for such a small railroad, but almost all of the layouts of which I'm aware model the post-war era.  That was a time when they were ordering a lot of new equipment, most of which lasted until the CPR took full control of the road 1980.  By 1985, even the name was gone.

Wayne
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#25
As I recently mentioned elsewhere, I got sidetracked from working on those gondolas (they need lettering, Dullcote, and some weathering) and while searching for parts to repair a Jordan truck, came across a bunch of ballpoint pen parts, which I had saved from when I was still working. 

They're the main body from Bic "Round Stic" pens, and I had saved them for making pipe loads...perfect, since I happened to have some empty flatcars layin' around. 

I got into this project pretty quickly, and neglected to take photos of the first part of the build, but later did a few make-up shots to show the start of things.  The intent was to build removeable loads for the Tichy TH&B flatcars which I recently built - two are identical kits with 12 stake pockets per side, while the third one has only 10 per side, so two of the loads will be identical, the third built to suit the other car.


The beginning of the build is blocking to support the load, as it will likely be loaded and unloaded using a crane with cable slings (cable of suitable length and strength for a particular weight, with permanent loops formed on both ends - the loops fit over the hook on the crane's bale - or, for long materials such as pipe, over a spreader beam).
The blocking provides clearance under the load for placing the slings.

Since the pipe is round in cross-section, the load will also need to be staked.  The idea is to create the load by cementing four pen-bodies together, side-by-side (three layers for each car), and use the four-pen units as forms around which the blocking and stakes can be built.  I'm using 4"x4" (HO) strip styrene to represent both the hardwood blocking and the stakes.

Here's a make-up photo showing two stakes, with a length of blocking to be cemented to the stakes - care needs to be taken that neither the stakes nor the blocking is cemented to the car...

[Image: 100_7710.jpg]

For the actual build, when I neglected to take photos, all of the stakes and first level of blocking was installed on each car.  I then added one of the four-pipe units, and installed blocking atop it, again cementing the blocking to the stakes...

[Image: 100_7711.jpg]

[Image: 100_7712.jpg]

Actually, for the two bottom layers of pipe on each car, I used a little chicanery, as I didn't have enough pens to make three loads with full-length pipes...

[Image: 100_7713.jpg]

All three cars were done in this manner, with three four-pipe units stacked atop one another.  The pipe units were then carefully slid out to allow the stakes and blocking to be painted.  I had some "wood" colour, mixed from a combination of Floquil and Scalecoat paints, and applied it using a brush.  Here's what things look liked after the paint dried and the stakes and blocking were re-installed on the cars...

[Image: 100_7714.jpg]

[Image: 100_7715.jpg]

I had already airbrushed the pipe units, so began to carefully slide each, in-turn, into its proper location on each car...

[Image: 100_7716.jpg]

[Image: 100_7717.jpg]

As each unit of pipe was added, I used the tip of an old X-Acto #11 blade to carefully apply a small amount of ca to each pipe where it touched the blocking of the level above.  The idea is to make the load into a inflexible unit that can be repeatedly lift-off or added-to the car.

Here's the second level of pipe being added...

[Image: 100_7718.jpg]

[Image: 100_7719.jpg]

...and with twisted cables tying the tops of the stakes together, the load is ready for shipping...

[Image: 100_7720.jpg]

[Image: 100_7721.jpg]

The load is, of course, fully removeable...

[Image: 100_7722.jpg]

...and is also identified as to the car(s) it fits, and its orientation on that car...

[Image: 100_7723.jpg]

Now to get back to work on those gondolas.

Wayne
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#26
Great Work!!


I enjoyed following this!! Applause Applause Applause
~~ Mikey KB3VBR (Admin)
~~ NARA Member # 75    
~~ Baldwin Eddystone Unofficial Website

~~ I wonder what that would look like in 1:20.3???
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#27
Certainly another great lesson in modeling. Worship
Guy from Southern Quebec.
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#28
Thanks, guys! Goldth

Wayne
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#29
Worship Worship Worship That’s all I can say. Awesome work Doc.

Mark
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#30
I spend most of my time on line at the Model Railroad Hobbyist forums, but get back here from time to time. This entire thread is awesome as usual from Dr. Wayne.
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