Finally! A waycar update

[nkp_174]

I finally got around to dropping some paint and dry transfers onto my waycar. It was a thread back on the old forum a couple years ago. I'll post a few of the construction shots as a refresher:

The pedestals under construction:


Pedestals in place, but out of focus:


Railings in place...they are straighter than they appear. I flattened the tops with a hammer and anvil, and then drilled out the holes for the vertical posts:


With more of the hardware in place:


Lettered:


Sloppy underframe paint:


You can sort of see the canvas roof:


I haven't really touched this car for a while as I made a few mistakes along the way...it was a learning experience. It isn't up to the level of my current work...with its crooked trussrods, bowed sides, and ugly doors/end beams. Still, it is good enough to be do well as filler on my future layout. I still have to touch up the paint, add the brake gear, add the vent, and create an interior.

As a side note, here's a photo of a car that I've recently been working on:


And several of my roof castings. The production castings are better than the styrene master due to being both stiffer and heavier. I only had one real waste casting...which I pulled from the mold too quickly. This roof design was common to 3 cars on the South Park, with an additional two having a stretched version and a 6th that was like a half sibling.

[X 3829]

Michael good work!
Looks very time consuming for me... :mrgreen:

[nachoman]

Isn't it great to get a long-time workbench resident finished?

BTW, the castings look great. Perhaps a thread explaining the process?

[tetters]

Neato! I'd really like to try scratch building some rolling stock like this. Great work.

[nkp_174]

Neato! I'd really like to try scratch building some rolling stock like this. Great work.

Thanks. Perhaps your road needs some MoW equipment? That is a good way to add older, wooden cars. Based on your track work, they'd look great!

It is good to finally see lettering on the waycar. I wasn't happy enough with her to want to work on her...but she wasn't near bad enough to junk.

As for casting, details matter. A flat, level surface is worth its weight in gold. Mine are glass/faux glass sheets that I robbed from dollar store picture frames. I'm really not a fan of Alumilite resin...it is too viscous for me to get good results without a pressure pot/de-gassing. Otherwise, I follow the standard procedures.

I'm currently working on several sets of masters for an On3 resin passenger car business. I've made it a rule not to photograph the molds and masters...only the resin castings. I'm saving that for an article or such. I don't exactly see any competition for the cars I'm working on...there isn't enough demand for them to attract commercial products. I started down this path a year ago. I was planning to do a series of 4 identical South Park coaches. It makes more sense to cast them as opposed to fabricating each of them...and since the molds are good for around 50 cars, I might as well offer them for sale to help cover my costs/increase the variety of passenger cars on the market. Now, I have a laundry list of cars to do...none have ever been commercially offered.

[ocalicreek]

Excellent work, looking forward to more!

Galen

[Russ Bellinis]

I'm currently working on several sets of masters for an On3 resin passenger car business. I've made it a rule not to photograph the molds and masters...only the resin castings. I'm saving that for an article or such. I don't exactly see any competition for the cars I'm working on...there isn't enough demand for them to attract commercial products. I started down this path a year ago. I was planning to do a series of 4 identical South Park coaches. It makes more sense to cast them as opposed to fabricating each of them...and since the molds are good for around 50 cars, I might as well offer them for sale to help cover my costs/increase the variety of passenger cars on the market. Now, I have a laundry list of cars to do...none have ever been commercially offered.

Great idea to make a few kits to sell. I doubt you will get rich selling a few models, but a small run of 45 cars probably will sell and let you recoup your costs as well as pick up a little extra to buy more models or modeling supplies. Modern stuff that is common to many railroads and many regions of the country will probably be mass produced eventually by large manufacturers, but narrow gauge stuff that tends to be home built by the railroad locally and not used by anyone else probably has a limited appeal to the large manufacturers, unless somebody like Bachmann happens to pick it out to offer in their On30 line because it is "cute" or whatever reason they use to select what they offer.

[nkp_174]

Modern stuff that is common to many railroads and many regions of the country will probably be mass produced eventually by large manufacturers

Yep! The post-WWII D&RGW stuff has been done so many times, I really couldn't care less about any of it. Dozens of 3000 series boxcars, plenty of Chili Line and San Juan coaches, and a gajillion C-16s. To my knowledge, only twice have the C-16s been offered in their prettier 19th century form (Class 60 2-8-0s). Many standard design narrow gauge pieces have never been offered: Brooks 2-6-0s, Porter-Bell 0-6-0s, Barney & Smith coaches, or have only been offered once: 24' D&RG boxcars, Baldwin 8-18Cs/Ds.

I don't care much for dilapidated, backwoods NG operations. I like well-maintained, mainline NG operations...especially in the 1870s and 1880s. I enjoy the work of prolific builders such as Barney & Smith, Billmeyer & Smalls, Carter Brothers, and Pullman. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a chicken or the egg situation with modeling these roads/eras. Few manufacturers have ever offered much for these roads/eras because there are few modelers...and there are few modelers, because there is so little commercial support.

Great idea to make a few kits to sell. I doubt you will get rich selling a few models, but a small run of 45 cars probably will sell and let you recoup your costs as well as pick up a little extra to buy more models or modeling supplies.

I've noticed that many NG modelers run D&RGW equipment, not because they want to, but because that is all that is out there. Now, we see the same thing with the B-man On30 rolling stock. Knowing a number of modelers whom would prefer non-D&RGW equipment, it just makes sense to take that extra step and create molds from my styrene masters. The fact that I cannot come close to purchasing enough supplies to feed my hobby engine, especially when resin casting, makes the small profit angle highly desirable. After all, how else will I be able to afford that Tsunami equipped Tweetsie 4-6-0 to pull my planned Stemwinder varnish!

[Gary S]

I greatly admire your dedication and attention to detail. Terrific work!

What a great hobby this is, so many different aspects that a person can choose to spend their time on.