doctorwayne's New Years Resolution Challenge...

[doctorwayne]

While I started on some of my entry a week-or-so ago, I wasn't aware of the Challenge until yesterday. I'm afraid that my offering is yet more boring freight cars, but I'm hoping that this will compel me to finally finish-off all of the projects left in this area. As always, this is HO scale and involves mostly detailing of older rolling stock.
First up are some recently painted (last year, I think) Train Miniature boxcars. I had done them as ARA 1932 steel boxcars, since the CPR bought 700 of this type of car in 1936. I discovered, belatedly, that the prototypes had a 9'4" inside height, making them too tall to use the TM model. I then discovered that the TM car is a model of a widely-used steel car from the 1920s, and represents a car with an inside height of 8'7", the exact same height as CPR's so-called "minibox". A simple number change from the 220,000 series to the 240,000 series would likely do the trick. Here's one of the three cars as they were originally done:


The "minibox" was CPR's own design, and was actually a vast improvement over both the USRA-designed steel car used extensively by the New York Central and many other roads and the Pennsylvania's similar X-29 (both among my favourites). The CPR car's design changed the method of fastening the side sheets to the car's sills (this was the major weakness of the USRA and X-29 designs, as it resulted in premature rusting-out of the side panels due to trapped moisture). CP's version used tabbed side sills, which are one of the very distinct characteristics of these cars, and probably the most noticeable. In addition, they featured reverse Dreadnaught ends, radial (arched) roofs, and doors only 5' wide.
The height of the TM car is right, but it uses a 6' door, has a peaked flat panel roof, and no tabs on its sills. It does have a similar style of Dreadnaught end, but with the corrugations sticking out rather than in, as on the CPR cars.
I hadn't really noticed the radial roof (these cars were first built in 1929, and they had an exceptionally long service life - of 7500 cars built, over 6800 of them were still in revenue service in 1965) so didn't plan to alter it at all. The cars were originally equipped with "K" brakes and vertical brake wheels - mine had AB brake gear and "power" brake-wheel equipment. Well, that wasn't of great concern, as the real cars began to receive AB brakes in the mid-to-late '30s, my modelling era. I could also live with the slightly incorrect ends, so all the cars really needed was tabs applied to the sills. I also opted to overlook the door width - changing to a 5' door would necessitate filler pieces on both sides of the new doors, something that would throw-off the panel spacing, and likely make the car look as bad or worse than one with overly wide doors.
After adding the tabs and changing those second "2"s to "4"s, I brush painted the new tabs with a boxcar colour and dirtied the new digits slightly. Some touch-up with the airbrush would blend everything together. Unfortunately, I started working on some of the other cars, leaving my not-quite-done miniboxes on the test track. Every time I looked at them, I had the feeling that they still weren't quite right. I finally decided that the existing doors were too short, making them look even more too-wide than they actually were. After making some new doors by splicing together some Athearn doors, I added new lower door tracks (strip styrene) and decided that they should be "good enough". Here's the state which they're in at the moment:


Another related project was to add underbody detail to about 20 boxcars and reefers that still lacked suitable brake gear. I usually add only what can be seen under a passing train, so gondolas and flatcars with fishbelly sidesills, along with hoppers and covered hoppers, don't have this. Among those 20 cars were these three Pennsy X-29s, all Train Miniature cars. The centre sills have already been cut down, and I will also alter the cars' lettering somewhat to reflect re-weighing, etc. I also hope to tone-down the weathering a little bit.


Other cars to be addressed include an old, but newly acquired X-29, shown below awaiting brake gear:


These cars, also recently acquired, are more TM cars and represent the ARA 1923 single sheathed design. I stripped the factory paint and have begun to modify them. The two in the rear still need brake gear, while the one in the foreground will be modified in a manner similar to the others, but will also get new Murphy ends (from Tichy):


More TM cars: the one in the back is a USRA steel car, while the two in the foreground are based on the 1923 ARA design for double sheathed cars. All of these cars were bought to match specific prototypes for which I already have lettering.


These two are MDC 36' truss rod cars and were recently bought new for a couple of bucks. The reefer, top, will likely become an EG&E car (if I can find a few more to make it appear as if there's a class of such cars in operation), while the lower car will be modified to represent a Southern class SU double sheathed truss-rod boxcar. Southern had almost 15,000 of these cars in service and mine will have, I hope, the correct Hutchins-type steel ends.


To wrap things up for this challenge, I'm hoping to modify eight Athearn Blue Box boxcars (all bought used for next to nothing) into representatives of the EG&E's first order of steel boxcars (these are theoretically the ones which would have predated the ones which several of you bought from me some time ago). The cars will get new underframes and floors (modified Central Valley parts), new ends and doors (modified Tichy parts), and new trucks (Proto). They'll also get new Viking roofs (from Des Plaines Hobbies), but I'll first lower the eaves on the original cars. This will involve sawing off the moulded-on roofs and their attached rivet strips immediately below the eaves, then lowering the car sides to represent an earlier car. The original roof and rivet strip assembly will then be cemented back in place, and, once the cement has fully set, the roof will be cut-away, leaving (I hope) the rivet strip atop the lowered sides. The new roof can then be cemented in place. All cars will also get built-up running boards and metal sill steps and grab irons.
Here's one with the major parts included.


While I could probably buy eight suitable cars, why would I?

Wayne

[Tyson Rayles]

Wow, that's a lot of detailing!

[mountaingoatgreg]

I always enjoy seeing freight cars especially when they are getting a complete overhaul...

Good luck with your project!!

[Sumpter250]

Good Project!
Looking at the pictures, reminds me that I have a wall full of Athearn Blue Box, and Roundhouse freight car kits, that need to be built, or bashed into something else.
For now, though, I want to make some significant progress on "Phantom", before going back to "trains". Maybe, if we do this again "next" year...........

[sailormatlac]

Wayne, if it wasn't you, I would think you're overdoing it a little bit! ;-) It's great to see how you use commonly available cars and bash them into nice prototypes.

I'm curious to see how the old 36' truss rod MDC cars will look like. I've got over 3 dozen of them at home for future bashing. 30's are a great era to where you can model a lot of different freight cars, styles, materials, heights, lengths...

Matt

[doctorwayne]

Surprisingly, I've made some progress, completing the brake gear for both the three existing X-29s and the newer one, too. The new car needs only roofwalk grabirons before it's ready to paint:




Two of the single sheathed cars also need only roofwalk grabs before painting:




These two have had their ends removed, and are soon to receive new ones. The ends, from Tichy, have been shortened by removing the top rib from the bottom panel, making them 5-5-4 ends instead of the original 5-5-5 style. In either case, the prototype for at least one of these cars used 7-8 ends. I'm not modelling the L&N, so it doesn't concern me terribly -if it did, or if I were modelling the L&N, I would've scratchbuilt the car, as this one also has the exterior bracing arranged as a Howe truss, whereas the real L&N cars used a Pratt truss. The original 1923 ARA single sheathed boxcars used a Pratt truss (diagonals pointing outward at their tops), but there was also a 1923 ARA single sheathed alternate design, employing Howe trusses (diagonals pointing inward at their tops). The Train Miniature car represents the "alternate" design.


This double sheathed car has had all of its steps and grabirons removed (they'll be replaced with metal parts) and the mould-on sidesills (a simple flat area at the lower edge of the sides, its face raised slightly above that of the scribed sheathing) have been filed flush with the car's sides, then scribed to match the siding pattern. There are a few other details to be added to the car, but its underbody has been completed.


The other one of the double sheathed cars is probably going to be the most altered, as I'm attempting to convert it into a NYC 1916 automobile car. The NYC built 9500 double sheathed cars between 1916 and 1918, in both boxcar and automobile (door-and-a-half) styles. I've been unable to determine the exact height of these cars, but they appear to be higher than the 8'7" inside height of the TM cars. I let the height of the Tichy doors which I'm using determine my model's height, and sanded-down the sidesill, as on the previous car, then added additional material below that, making it flush with the face of the car's sides (this will be scribed to match the sides). These cars also were equipped with fishbelly centre sills. I could have altered the TM frame, but had a spare Accurail floor and frame on-hand, so used it instead. Since it's narrower than the TM car's interior, I had room to use strips of .060" styrene to back-up the material previously added to the car's sills, making the new sides stronger and the floor a better fit within the body shell.
Here's the car last night, after I'd added the full-height 5-5-5 Tichy ends:


...and the sides and underframe today:




The ends still need to be reinforced, and need a little touch-up, but seem to fit fairly well:


Wayne

[jwb]

For what it's worth -- and I don't mean to minimize one bit the outstanding quality and astonishing quantity of your work -- many X29s, including the PRR, had bolsters spaced five feet from the ends, while the TM underframe has them five feet six inches. This is a "feature" that carried over to the Walthers version. On painted Walthers PRR cars, I've left this alone, but on some cars I extensively rebuilt from early TM cars, I did change the bolster spacing. I've heard that some guys simply drill a new hole in the Walthers or TM bolster six scale inches closer to the end of the car and leave it at that. Not a biggie and probably not noticeable.

[doctorwayne]

You're right on that discrepancy of the TM cars (Walthers simply continued with the same moulds, I believe). I wasn't originally aware of it (I was so glad to see the original TM cars, even though I don't model Pennsy, that I never noticed) but I later learned of the error. The Red Caboose cars are a more accurate version in many respects, and I have several of them, too. In a train, though, it's probably difficult for the untrained eye of non-Pennsy modellers to spot the differences between the two models, even though they're from different eras, with different expectations of accuracy.
You'll notice on mine that only the original TM brake gear which was obvious in a side view was removed - most of the stuff cast as part of the floor's underside is still there. :oops: The brake rigging, too, is merely representational - there's no way a real car equipped like that would ever stop. My goal is to create cars which look plausible, in use, to an interested observer - almost none of them would withstand close scrutiny and all bets are off if you happen to be a fan of the road owning any particular car.
I do appreciate your comments, though, as there may be others viewing this thread who want to do similar modifications, so any additional info which can lead to more accurate models is always welcomed.

Wayne

[sailormatlac]

Very interesting work Wayne!!!! And inspiring. I'm actually in the process of rebuilding my rolling stock fleet because of you. I like how you manage to get a plausible result by using a lot of creativity and pieces from various lineage... And one thing is sure, you're a boxcar lover! ;-)

You're using a good ol 36" MDC boxacar. I must admit I have a special interest in these cars because I own about a dozen of shelves. I recently found ORER infos about my local prototype, QRL&P, and they used 36' double-sheated boxcar with 8' IH as late as 1957 in regular service (fits my era perfectly). The funny thing is that they built them NEW circa 1928!!! I guess it was partly because their car shop was mostly equipped to handle wood cars and is was the economic way to go for them. Anyway, here's my question, these cars had steel undeframe, but my MDC kits doesn't have undeframe. I was curious to know if you knew if a particular undeframe from a manufacturer could fit the bill (I don't fear bashing them). I once thought about using Accurail 40' undeframes, but they would need major rebuilding near to get the bolsters and coupler box aligned...

Matt

[doctorwayne]

Matt, the Southern Railway's SU-class boxcar is what I have planned for my lone 36' MDC car.  Those cars (almost 15,000 of them, built between 1922 and 1926) had four truss rods and steel centre sills.  Supposedly, the Southern opted for this seemingly obsolete design because it was cheaper than comparable modern (at that time) designs.  I suspect that familiarity with the construction and its related repairs also factored into their decision.

My plan was to use the MDC queenposts, then fabricate a simple straight centre sill from strip styrene.  There's room for this along the centre of  the MDC cast metal floor, and even space to add crossbearers on either side of the doors.  I'd build the centre sill in three sections, leaving the queenpost castings each in one piece in order to keep them aligned while adding the truss rods.  The new frame components can be attached to the metal floor with ca, then further strengthened by flowing epoxy between the two sides of the frame. 
If your prototype didn't use truss rods, you can still add a centre sill and cross bearers (even easier, 'cause you can run the centre sill in one section from bolster to bolster), and there are already longitudinal stringers represented on the floor castings. 
A fishbelly centre sill would be done the same way, although you'd have to cut the main shapes from sheet styrene.  I did just that for this MoW Tool & Supply boxcar, made from an MDC 36' reefer:



I have only one MDC 36' reefer to build, and haven't yet decided whether or not to build it with truss rods.  If I can find 3 or 4 more of these, cheap, I'll do them as meat reefers, with truss rods, for my home road. 

Wayne

[Steamtrains]

WoW...Wayne...You're overloading my circuits....!!! I can't even begin to contemplate doing anything like this to a car.... :oops:
I'm afraid any attempt at doing this would end up as scattered pieces at the foot of the wall I'd thrown it against....

I've got a B'mann gondola I picked up on Evil Bay. I might try doing away with the steps and grab irons which look horrible on the original...But that's about it...

[sailormatlac]

WoW...Wayne...You're overloading my circuits....!!! I can't even begin to contemplate doing anything like this to a car.... :oops:
I'm afraid any attempt at doing this would end up as scattered pieces at the foot of the wall I'd thrown it against....

I've got a B'mann gondola I picked up on Evil Bay. I might try doing away with the steps and grab irons which look horrible on the original...But that's about it...

Hey! Don't ever speak ill of Bachmann 40' gondola... You could be surprised!



@Wayne: Interesting prototype, just made a quick search about the Southern 36' Boxcar... quite an hybrid animal. At first, I thought the center sill was very thick, like a fishbelly, but they are rather thin. Now I understand why you will build them in three sections.

My problem is that I have more shell than underframes and want to keep them for truss-rod varieties. I guess my best bet is to scratchbuild a new underframe from styrene. The funny thing about QRL&P is that their entire boxcar fleet by 1957 was much more modest than the Southern's, a mere 20 x 36' boxcars divided in to 10-car classes. I'll probably be able to build them all if I'm minded enough, and all painted a flashy red-orange.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

I was unaware that you didn't have floors for all of your reefers, Matt. Building new ones from styrene is a simple task, especially for someone capable of building such great-looking drop-bottom gondolas.

Wayne

[sailormatlac]

Wayne, your idea about the center sill will be useful for my 36' reefers that have their underframe and need to be a little bit modernized to survive until the 50's. The more I see your work on boxcars, the more I understant why you backdated your fleet to the 30's. No diesel, but a lot of diversity in term of freight cars.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

A little more progress to report, with three more already-in-service cars receiving brake gear. I used Accurail brake components, taken from other cars which received "K"-type brakes, and brass and stainless steel wire to represent the rods and some of the piping. These are meant to be layout models, so the brake gear looks reasonable when rolling by at eye-level. If there's a major derailment, investigators will immediately know the cause to be inoperable brake gear and rubberneckers will be aghast at such skullduggery.

An Athearn stockcar (the first two cars have had their floors flipped, and the flat steel weights secured inside the car. This makes it easier to drill holes for the wire rigging):





Athearn 50' automobile boxcar:





Athearn steel reefer - this car had its weight moved to the interior, which left the underframe "floating" beneath the floor. I added a sheet of .060" styrene, then cemented it and the frame together:





I also finished detailing the initial batch of cars, and got them primered, too. Here's a before and after look at each:

M&StL:





D&RGW:





L&N:





PRR X-29:





CPR Minibox:





AT&SF:





CCC&StL:





Michigan Central:





...and, to end this installment, a few car ends, before and after primer:














The next time you see these cars, they'll be in-service. Painting starts on Friday.

Wayne