Scratchbuilding How To Books?

[Omaha Road Man]

Are there any good tutorials/books on scratchbuilding, specifically freight cars? I'd really like to give it a shot but have no idea where to start.

[Gary S]

ORM, I don't know of any books on that specific subject, but there are more general books on scratchbuilding and using styrene. A google search such turn something up. My first suggestion would be to play around with detailing RTR or kit rollingstock for awhile, then maybe kitbash or modify some, then go on to the scratchbuilding. By breaking up the learning curve into stages, you should come along nicely. I haven't scratchbuilt any, but I have modified a bunch of stuff. For example, I had some Track cleaning cars that were 50s era boxcars that didn't fit my layout. At the same time, I had become enamored of outside ribbed boxcars. So I cut off the roof and ends, built all new sides, and put them back together. It was fun.

[Russ Bellinis]

Another thing is to look for books on prototype car types. David Casdorph has written a bunch of books on modern freight cars. Each book covers one type of car whether it is box cars, tank cars, covered hoppers, etc. There may be other authors as well who have done similar books either for modern or older equipment. If you gradually build a library of those types of books, you should have reference material to help you scratch build cars. If you are modeling the modern scene, and live near a railroad track, go out and take photos of freight cars.

[nachoman]

Do you know anyone that has old (very old) issues of model railroader magazine? before about 1970, there was a scratchbuilding article almost every month. Is there any particular type of car you want to scratchbuild? I have done many in HOn3, and it really isn't that hard. Something simple like a wooden flatcar would be a good start. But in all honesty, the absolute best way to learn is to buy a craftsman kit from somebody like labelle. Those kits are basically a pile of raw materials and instructions. The kit will teach you ways to construct cars, and from there you can make your own out of raw materials and a set of plans.

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[ocalicreek]

I was going to reply with the suggestion to look for old Model Railroader magazines. That's a great starting place.

Look through the Model Train Magazine Index, and try searching there for the car type you'd like to build.

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Then you can hunt down the issues (ebay?) or order them online.

OR, find a fellow modeler near you who was around when those issues were new and likes to scratchbuild.

Galen

[AF350]

If you have the hard drive space or a flash drive handy, check out the free down loadable back issues of O scale magazine they are a 2 rail O gauge publication but are a wealth of info on scratch building rolling stock and they are free

http://www.oscalemag.com/

Look at sources other than your own scale as plans can be easy to convert to your scale.

Check out the scratching and kitbashing area on this forum as there are a lot of people who can help. Ccheck out the GFC(generic flat car) I made from of all things Corndog sticks and popsical sticks. It was my first scratch build and it was fun.

[BR60103]

As well as old magazines, MR collected articles in small softcover books. These, of course, will describe techniques and materials that are probably 40 years old (or 50) and require materials that are known to cause cancer in residents of California.
You'll likely find these books in the used section of the hobby shop or a show.
Look for titles like "Dollar Car Models" or "articles from old Model Railroaders".

[jim currie]

both Grandt line and Evergreen have books on scratch building in styreen but the methods apply to wood and poster board too, and if memory serves me i dobelive that Al Armitage did a book or two on scratch building and there are many step by step articals in the Mainliner Modelers.
jim

[Omaha Road Man]

I considered getting a craftsman kit, even checked out Labelle's website-problem is they all seem to be early 1900's models and I'm modeling the early 50's. I could get one and make it up to be some ancient MOW car or something but I feel the skills needed to scratchbuild a wood boxcar, while similar, are different enough from those needed for a steel one that I'd still need some help.

I'll check out the other ideas suggested though, thanks.

[Sumpter250]

At the risk of sounding like an unabashed self promotion........you just wrote on a page of a great "How To Book", The-Gauge !
Just about every technique, or material, over a wide range of eras, and building styles are here somewhere, and in just about every scale. This forum would be a good start: http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=53
Some of the "challenges" , and many of the posts by other members contain lots of information about scratchbuilding, including.....adhesives, materials, cutting, painting, weathering, soldering, jig making, and many many more.
There are a number of members here modeling the same era ( 50's ), and there are lots of photos. Best of all, you can ask "the authors" questions about "How To", and get answers !
Oh !! One more thing...... to The-Gauge / Big Blue !!!

[nachoman]

Early 1950s... that's a little bit different. I am not aware of anyone that currently sells craftsman kits for steel cars. There are kits that are much more "raw" than the standard athearn or accurail kit, but those still are plastic or resin casting that need to be glued together. Those kits could help teach you the way model freight cars are constructed so that you can learn to make some of your own, but one way or another you will need to learn making rivet detail. I would experiment with these
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.archertransfers.com/">http://www.archertransfers.com/</a><!-- m -->, but you could certainly try the old thin brass overlay and rivet punch method. I would also suggest using styrene for constructing car bodies, and using DrWayne's lacquer thinner method of gluing. Hold the pieces that need to be glued together, then touch a small paintbrush dipped in lacquer thinner to the joint. It is the neatest, strongest, and cheapest gluing method I have used on plastic. Before styrene plastic was commonplace, people modeled steel cars using cardstock and wood - with good results - but there is a reason most people use styrene these days .

If there is something particular you want to make, start a thread on this site and ask - as there are plenty of people to give specific pointers. Or, do a google search for things like "scratchbuilt steel boxcar", and sometimes you get lucky and find someone else's project that can be great help.

[leon]

I looked up the 'O' guage magazine on line and was realy surprised at all the info for scratchbuilding. There would be no problem converting to 'HO' or 'N' scale by using your own scale rule. I am not into scratch at this time but this web site realy can be helpful in other areas also.

[P5se Camelback]

I considered getting a craftsman kit, even checked out Labelle's website-problem is they all seem to be early 1900's models and I'm modeling the early 50's. I could get one and make it up to be some ancient MOW car or something but I feel the skills needed to scratchbuild a wood boxcar, while similar, are different enough from those needed for a steel one that I'd still need some help. I'll check out the other ideas suggested though, thanks.

As someone with my first name once said ... "I feel your pain." I don't know what your skill level is or what your budget is. However, there is a manufacturer of "craftsman kits" that span a number of years, from the thirties to the fifties somewhere, that would give you experience building "not-shake-the-box-kits" that might interest you. I have thoroughly enjoyed their kits - I was challenged when I first took one on a number of years back.

The company is Westerfield. Every one that I've built has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Their kits are not cheap, but if care is taken in their construction, a very nice piece of rolling stock is the result. (BTW ... the MOW outside-braced box car I posted with the rusty outside bracing in the Weekly Photo Fun a few weeks back was my first Westerfield kit, built back in 1988.)

There have been magazine format "books" on scrath-building in the past, back when modelers built things from scratch as a matter of course, but in this day of instant "I wanna run trains ... right now," when "shake the box" kits are too much trouble and the extra cost of moderately-well-detailed RTR models is acceptable to so many, scratch-building is falling out of style and such books are now oddities picked up at flea market tables if they can be found.

Best of luck to you, but Sumpter250 had it right ... your best source of help is RIGHT HERE!!!

[ocalicreek]

Just found this the other day:

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I don't know if it includes rolling stock, but perhaps you could find a copy in a LHS and flip through?

Galen

[MattL]

Hi,

I am new to this forum (as of a few minutes ago) and caught this thread.

I really enjoy scratchbuilding freight cars (O Scale 2 rail) and have found some of the articles in O Scale Trains very inspirational (I have built a couple of cars based on Tom Houle articles that were really easy to follow and turned out very well). The old Dollar Car series in Model Railroader are an OK base for wood car techniques, but I would use them more as a general guide, as the detailing generally does not hold up, and most are pre styrene.

The Walker book just issued by RMC is mostly about structures, but many of the techniques and philosophy translate and I think the book is terrific: diving deep into tools, workshop, materials and techniques. It is easy to follow but dense with information.

I also tracked down a Wayne Wesolowski book on railroad car building from some years ago that I think Tab books put out. It covers a lot of different materials and techniques as well. I think I found my copy through Abe Books.

Finally, I find myself going back to the Evergreen book a lot to remind myself of procedures, usually after I have strated to do something dumb and get that nagging feeling that I read something about what I just did....

Just a semi beginner's personal opinion.

Matt