HOn3 cars for TrainNut

[nachoman]

Yesterday, TrainNut brought over four HOn3 cars for me to assemble. They include a Precision Scale D&RGW short caboose, and three Rail Line D&RGW 3000 series boxcars. Since this forum can never have enough build threads, I thought it may be helpful to document my progress here.

I started with the caboose. The D&RGW rostered two basic types of narrow gauge caboose in the mid-20th century - "long" and "short". The short cabooses were retired in the early 1950s as the Rio Grande abandoned many of it's narrow gauge branches. The short caboose was less comfortable with crews, especially because it lacked a bathroom . I decided to model this caboose after # 0500, pictured here in Durango:



This caboose was saved by Bob Richardson and survives today on the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad.

[nachoman]

Like most kits, the instructions seem to be lacking needed info. This requires some test fitting and tinkering to figure out how it goes together. The parts are cast out of both plastic and brass and are fairly clean and free of flash. They fit together better than average, but I did run into a few problems with the needle beams on the floor. One of the "notches" seemed to be in the wrong place, and I had to trim the notch wider to clear the brake rods. My guess is either the brake parts or needle beams were re-designed at some point, or perhaps they used the needle beams that were designed for another of their kits. Either way, the first step was to assemble the brake rigging on the floor, and install grab irons on the sides and ends.

   

next, I glued the ends and sides to the floor. These parts fit together quite well and I am so far happy with the results.
   

[nachoman]

next, I poured a lead weight from old auto tire balancing weights I found in the road. I used a piece of aluminum flashing to make a mold for the molten lead. For further details, see threads by Dr. Wayne . This weight should bring the total caboose weight to approximately the NMRA standard for HOn3. I don't have a scale, so I usually just guestemate on car weight . But if I was to calculate from the rough dimensions of this lead weight, it would be about 1oz. NMRA says for HOn3 3/4oz plus 3/8 ounce for every inch of car length. The caboose is about 3 inches long, so the total weight should be 1 7/8 ounces. The car has brass trucks, so I figure the weight when finished will be about perfect. :ugeek:

   

I also built the cupola. I always run into issues with passenger cars and cabooses because I want to leave the roof off until the car is painted and the window glass is installed. This usually requires not following the directions! So, what I plan to do is assemble as much of the body as I can, then paint the body, at least around where the windows are, then install glass, and then seal the roof up. I will then mask off the windows while I paint the rest of the car. The design of this caboose makes leaving either the roof or floor detachable impossible.

[OBJack]

Thanks for this thread Kevin, I have never tried one of these builds and so am interested in the Masters' thoughts as you proceed.
A couple of questions if I may,...is it true that most of these types of kits don't supply trucks?
And the kits are styrene?
I see you are going to paint/weather the model after construction, is that right??
With grab irons, steps, windows and such I thought it would be easier to paint before-hand.


Jack

[nachoman]

Thanks for this thread Kevin, I have never tried one of these builds and so am interested in the Masters' thoughts as you proceed.
A couple of questions if I may,...is it true that most of these types of kits don't supply trucks?
And the kits are styrene?
I see you are going to paint/weather the model after construction, is that right??
With grab irons, steps, windows and such I thought it would be easier to paint before-hand.


Jack

And my replies:

1) Most HOn3 kits do not supply trucks, but this one does. Actually, many of Precision Scale kits come with trucks.
2) This kit is mostly styrene, with a few brass details
3) I am going to get it mostly assembled, and then paint it, then do the final assembly. Some of the grab irons have to be installed before the sides are assembled, and painting before the sides are assembled would be pointless because the paint would prevent the ability to make a nice, tight joint without messing up the paint. I think I will assemble as much of the body as I can, then paint red, and then paint the roofs black before gluing them on. I will also paint the end rails white before gluing them on.

[TrainNut]

Very cool! I was kinda hopin' you'd document the builds with a thread. From the sounds of it, you've already come across several speed bumps that would have frusturated me and probably hindered the completion of the kit. It's neat to see the caboose finally take shape!
When you get to the boxcars, I just remembered that I bought a bottle of Floquil Boxcar Red (looks brown to me) about a year ago. If that's the correct color and you need it, let me know and I'll drop it by. The contents are still soluble and just need a good shaking. I've also got a bottle of Signal Red (bright red) and Weathered Black. I don't think you do, but If you need either of those, let me know as well.
Thanks Kevin!

[doctorwayne]

Nice looking kit and some nice workmanship, too, Kevin.

It looks like you've already cemented the floor in place, but I think that it could have been made removeable by sectioning it as I did with my bay window caboose re-build. I would have cut it just outboard of the truck-mounting bolsters, then cemented a full-length strip of .0125" styrene strip near the lower interior edge of each carside. The part of the platform/floor that extends under the body could be cemented or screwed in place, while screws could be used to hold the centre section of the floor. Given the short length of the car, truck removal may have been necessary to get at the screws, but at least it would be possible. I doubt, too, that you'd need access very often after the car is in service, but it would have made painting and window installation simpler. It probably would have been necessary to shorten the brake rods, too, but this wouldn't likely have been visible from trackside.

Wayne

[nachoman]

Nice looking kit and some nice workmanship, too, Kevin.

It looks like you've already cemented the floor in place, but I think that it could have been made removeable by sectioning it as I did with my bay window caboose re-build.
Wayne

The truss rods would have made it very difficult. Plus, the instructions gave me a very good tip on the truss rods - glue the car sides to the floor before pulling the truss rods over the needle beams. This will stretch the "fishing line" truss rods so they don't look slack, without warping the floor! The instructions suggest leaving the cupola roof loose to allow for interior lighting using a battery. I don't know why someone would want to put interior lighting in this thing, the prototype did not even have a restroom!

[doctorwayne]

The truss rods would have made it very difficult. Plus, the instructions gave me a very good tip on the truss rods - glue the car sides to the floor before pulling the truss rods over the needle beams. This will stretch the "fishing line" truss rods so they don't look slack, without warping the floor! The instructions suggest leaving the cupola roof loose to allow for interior lighting using a battery. I don't know why someone would want to put interior lighting in this thing, the prototype did not even have a restroom!

You're right, Kevin: I didn't consider the truss rods. :oops: However, with the high position of the car's windows, you could have cemented .060" sheet styrene stiffeners to the top of the car's floor, their tops just below the sills of the windows. Placed on the outside edges of the floor, an interference fit would probably have obviated the need for screws.

Another idea for truss rods is to use clear monofilament fishing line of suitable size. If you mask the turnbuckles during airbrushing, then carefully brush-paint them afterwards, their centres will appear open. I like to tie-off the truss rod lines and cement the knot, but not cement them to the floor or the queenposts. By using a continuous line for all, it's a simple matter to add spacers under the line wherever it crosses the floor to form the next line, in the event that the lines need tightening (as did the prototype) over time.

Wayne

[P5se Camelback]

Thanks for the thread, Nacho Guy! It's always interesting to see something like this go together. So it's styrene? I was looking at the grey parts and thinking cast urethane!

Really nice job so far ... keep it up! It's inspiring and I need some inspiration ... what seemed like a good idea at the time, production-line upgrading of toys to scale status has become a bit tedious and this thread has the potential to get me motivated to get beyond the modification that, having to do it fourteen times, has slowed me waaaay down.

Let's see some more ...

biL

[nachoman]

Today, the caboose body was sprayed with Floquil "Caboose Red". All the details have been added to the body. Next comes assembly of the roof

[TrainNut]

Lookin' good!

[TrainNut]

Hey Kevin! I was looking through some of my older pictures for something else and look what I came across... a newer pic of the same caboose!

[nachoman]

hey! check out the cupola windows. It looks like they slide in an outside frame! That is most useful for my build, as I was trying o find a photo with the window open (It looked like the glass was on the outside of these windows, and I wanted to make sure I did it right).

[nachoman]

I havent made as much progress on this as I had hoped over last weekend. My neighbor needed a hand with hanging some light fixtures, and my dad needed help fixing his truck. But the past two days I have been free, and have assembled and painted the trucks and assembled the roof pieces. I have also been painting the grab irons white. I don't have the steadiest hand in the world (too much coffee ), so grab iron painting usually requires a small brush, magnification, patience, and touching up mistakes . So far, so good, though.