doctorwayne's New Years Resolution Challenge...

[modelsof1900]

Very helpful modeling hints - and very good detailed cars again, Doc!

[Steamtrains]

Your skill and patience are of Biblical proportions....

Superb work...As usual...!!

[doctorwayne]

Thanks to all for your kind words - they do help to keep the project moving along.

I installed the roofwalks today, built-up from pre-distressed HO scale 2"x6" Evergreen strips. There are three strips of "boards" making-up the walkways, with about one scale inch between the strips. Each strip is comprised of three sections of board. I cut the mid-car pieces in all three strips to fit onto the mounting brackets moulded-on to the roof (the ends are staggered), then added the end pieces, making them about a foot longer than required on each end to allow easier installation of the supports at the ends. This shows the sequence of installation, from left to right, with all of the centre row done first:



Even in a closer view, the woodgrain effect isn't really noticeable:



After the walkways were complete, I added the laterals. They rest atop .030"x.040" strips (on edge) to bring the level up to that of the walkway:



The next task was to add the end braces for the walkway ends. The supports were cut from .010"x.030" brass strip, using a NWSL "Chopper". The photo below shows the sequence of assembly, left to right, with the braces ca'd to the car end only, then a 2"x2" crossmember added, and finally, the braces ca'd to the crossmember and the roofwalk boards, with the latter then trimmed to size.



While I generally prefer all-plastic construction for these braces (it allows solvent cement bonding, which is superior to that of ca) the 1"x2" styrene strip which I usually use lacks strength and is easily damaged. The brass strips will provide superior strength, with the ca now being the weak link.

Here's a view of the almost-completed end:



To finish the day's work, I installed the corner grabs on the roofwalk laterals. I usually make these in batches, and these are the last of about four dozen made, I think, a couple of years ago:



The next task will be to add the ladders to the cars' ends, then replace all of the missing, intentionally shaved-off, and oops-removed rivet detail, using Archer three-dimensional rivet decals.

Wayne

[MasonJar]

Nice work (as always ) Wayne!

Thanks for taking time to post the step by step, and the reasons for your choices. Very, very helpful!

Andrew

[ocalicreek]

How helpful to have SEVEN cars to line up for that step-by-step construction shot! Saves you from having to take seven pictures of the same car!

Galen

[doctorwayne]

How helpful to have SEVEN cars to line up for that step-by-step construction shot! Saves you from having to take seven pictures of the same car!

Galen

Yeah, and it saves the poor viewers (if there are many left) from having to wade through all the extra photos, too.
I generally get rolling on a particular phase of a project and then forget to take "in-progress" photos - that's why the eighth car showing the start of the roofwalk (a single board in the centre strip) isn't included: it had been already completed.

I went ahead and added the end ladders, and have decided that the side ladders will be shortened, like those on the ends, with the bottom rung represented by a drop-style grab iron. This will allow all of the hardware to be added to the cars' sides (grabs and ladders) before the cars need to be washed in preparation for adding the rivet decals. My hope is that they'll then be ready for primer without additional handling or cleaning.
These cars also will need weights - the interiors, with the thicker Tichy ends, are too short to allow use of the original Athearn weights, so I'll be casting new ones in lead. Since I intend to install them without directly cementing them in place, I'll try to remember to take a few more photos.

Wayne

[Gary S]

As always, docWayne, that's some very skillful work indeed. Concerning the wood roofwalks, will the paint be for fairly new cars, or will they be weathered to a degree? What I'm asking is: are you planning on doing a black wash to darken the grooves, then a little drybrushing of a lighter color over the top to show the "grain"?

[doctorwayne]

These cars will have a BLT. date of 1922-or-so, but are intended to represent cars that were considered "cutting edge" for their time. (And that opinion, I think, will be restricted to the owning railroad, at least to some degree. ) So, as new improvements became available, the road (EG&E) adopted them, replacing panel-style doors with the Youngstown type shown, replacing the original trucks with National B-1s in 1931 and installing Viking roofs around the same time, and changing from K-brakes in 1934 to AB type. In 1936, the second grab iron would have been added at the left end of the cars' sides. All of these changes were considered "improvements", not rebuilds, so the BLT. date would not have changed.
The cars will be painted boxcar red, with underbodies, ends, and roofs black, much like the older car shown below. Some roads left their roofwalks unpainted, while some painted them boxcar red, even when the roof itself was black. On the EG&E, they're painted black, so dirt and dust will be the main visible weathering.



In service, the cars will represent ones approximately 15 years old, but with paint jobs done when the roof replacements occurred.

Wayne

[doctorwayne]

Work continues on the boxcars. For some stupid reason I had forgotten to add tack boards to the cars' ends and doors, and for some even stupider reason , decided to make them built-up from five pieces for the larger ones and four pieces for the little ones. Normally, I do the "board" area as a single piece, with the two "metal" strips on the sides as separate parts.
The first task was to distress some 020"x.060" strip for the larger ones, and some .020"x.040" for the small ones. The metal channel of the side strips is represented by HO scale 2"x2", which was used in order to have the extra .002" thickness represent the thickness of the steel holding the "boards" in place.

Cutting thin stock to very short lengths on a NWSL chopper can be challenging, and I was soon as distressed as the prepared styrene strips.
Long ago, I began using a sheet of thin aluminum under the blade, in order to protect the Masonite cutting surface. It works well and doesn't affect blade life. However, the method for securing the stops for stock length is not especially positive, and I finally ended-up using a block of aluminum as the stop, securing it with a "Quick-Grip Handi-Clamp". Here's the set-up, along with the pieces needed to construct the large tackboards, to the left, and the small ones, at right:



Working on a sheet of glass, the boards were cemented together with one end pressed against a straightedge and a small brush loaded with lacquer thinner touched to the joints between boards at the free end. By the time all were so-assembled, they were dry and could be turned around so that the other end could be cemented. The next day, I used a #18 blade to lift the assembled boards from the glass, then added the "metal" ends. Here's a photo of a few, surprisingly even showing some of the woodgrain:



When not busy enjoying the tackboard construction, I amused myself preparing the Tichy ladders for the car sides and ends.



Both needed the mounting tabs removed and both needed to be shortened. I removed the bottom step, bottom rung, and the stiles up to just below the next rung up. For the end ladders, four 2"x2" blocks were added to the rear of the left-side stiles - this is to compensate for the thickness of the ribs onto which the right side stiles will be cemented.
For the side ladders, I cut three lengths of .010"x.020" strip styrene, then cemented them into the angles on the rear face of the stiles:



After cementing the ladders in place, I added pre-blackened Tichy drop-style grab irons below the side ladders, then used blackened .012" Detail Associates brass wire to form the straight grab irons for the left end of the cars' sides.
Here's how the cars look now:







The next task is to make some moulds for casting new weights for these cars. Once the weights have been installed, the cars will still need those Archer rivets to be applied, then it's off to the paint shop.

Wayne

[modelsof1900]

Doc, excellent details on your models! I love this fine and absolute model building.
And hints and technology for doing same!

[Tyson Rayles]

Great work Doc, plan on doing any in the N ormal size? What you don't have any of those cars? Well just PM me your snail mail addy and I'll get some to you ! I would like to get them back when you are done of course!

[doctorwayne]

.... plan on doing any in the N ormal size? What you don't have any of those cars?

Sorry, no N scale around here, although if I were to change scales, that's the direction I'd take. I have painted a couple of N scale brass locos, though, and built a small layout for another person, so I'm not totally unfamiliar with it.

Wayne

[Tyson Rayles]

Darn, I was really planning on you to increase the quality of my rolling stock!

[doctorwayne]

Despite the improvement in the weather, I managed to get some more work done on these cars.  Casting the weights was first, and while that work is not shown here, the basic work to make cast weights is shown HERE.
Because the Central Valley floors are quite thin, I decided to mount the lead weights vertically at the cars' ends.  The short lengths of strip styrene are cemented in place using lacquer thinner, while the weight itself is not glued, but simply held in place by the strip material.



The assembled car weighs about 7.5oz., a little heavier than intended, but not enough to be an issue.


With the weights in place, the cars were washed with warm water and dish detergent, then allowed to air dry.  The next day, they were ready to be decaled with the Archer rivet detail.  The main areas needing attention were above the new upper door tracks and at the lower side where the original bottom door tracks had been removed.  Here's the bottom area, with the rivets missing:



I cut the rivet strips from the main sheet using a sharp blade (working on glass, to provide solid support, means that the blade should be sharpened frequently), then placed them face-up on the glass, adding water with my finger tip.  I normally used distilled water, available at supermarkets and drug stores, but this was from the dehumidifier and was simply poured into the almost empty jug.  I've used it for decals before, and it works well and is cheap, too.  



...and with the new ones added (with Solvaset not yet applied):



Here's a car with all the rivets added and treated with Solvaset.  In addition to the ones over the door, I added larger ones (7/8" as opposed to the 5/8" used elsewhere) to represent the attachment points at the side sill to the car's bolsters.

 

In retrospect, I should have used the large ones where I used the 5/8" size, and bought even larger ones for the sills.  This wasn't noticed until the cars were primered, but I think that they still look better than with no rivet detail at all.





I hope to start the finished paint on Monday or Tuesday, with the cars' sides done first.  Once dry, I'll brush-paint the areas on the roof and ends where the colour change to black takes place, then airbrush the rest of those areas without masking.  

Wayne

[Steamtrains]

Wayne...

It is undeniable....You and Kurt are certifiably insane...

Most excellent work...