12-29-2014, 11:44 AM
Here are a few more stock cars. The first two were seen in the 2010 Spring Challenge, but I thought that they might as well be included here, too. They're both Central Valley flat kits, bought at bargain prices, and upgraded slightly with metal details.
This one is another Train Miniature car, with the same modifications as 1322, seen in the original post:
It seems to me that these last two have also been posted here somewhere, but I haven't been able to locate them. They're both AHM cars, bought many years ago at a train show, mainly because of their 5/5/5 Youngstown ends, not commonly seen on models at that time, but very common in my modelling era, the mid-to-late '30s. They're actually fairly accurate models of NYC stockcars, which were rebuilds of older single sheathed boxcars. The rebuild of the prototypes was quite extensive and the cars received adjustable second decks, allowing them to be used as single or double deck cars. The mechanism for that was moulded into the AHM carbody, but incorrectly included on both sides of the car. The major fault with the model, though, is that the body is about an HO scale 1'3" too wide.
I had used mine pretty-much as I got them, but an article in the March 1997 issue of RMC outlined a very well-done re-working of these cars by a local modeller, William Sharpe. While Mr. Sharpe did a very extensive rebuild of his cars to match the Central's prototypes, I opted to redo mine for my freelance EG&E.
The overall style is much the same as my other cars, with the high, Canadian-style letterboards, but I did remove the deck-operating mechanism from both sides of the car. Also, inspired by the work shown in the article (if you want to see these cars done really-well, hunt for a copy of that issue), I decided to narrow the cars.
Mr. Sharpe used a table saw for this task, but, since I don't own one, I decided to try it with a hand saw. The secret to accomplishing this, regardless of the saw used, is to snugly fit a block of softwood into the carbody. The saw kerf is pretty-much the width of the material needing to be removed, so after a couple of sessions of zrooba-zrooba, I had four fairly cleanly-cut half car bodies. After a few passes on a sheet of #150 sandpaper, the halves were cemented together using solvent-type cement (lacquer thinner). I applied the thinner generously to both mating surfaces, then brought them together and clamped them. This caused some of the softened plastic to ooze from the joints, but, once hardened, it was easily trimmed away leaving a joint which required no filling. I then added the usual details, including metal grabs and sill steps, and backdated the car by removing the moulded-on AB brake gear and replacing it with K-type brakes from Tichy. Here's a couple of photos:
Wayne
This one is another Train Miniature car, with the same modifications as 1322, seen in the original post:
It seems to me that these last two have also been posted here somewhere, but I haven't been able to locate them. They're both AHM cars, bought many years ago at a train show, mainly because of their 5/5/5 Youngstown ends, not commonly seen on models at that time, but very common in my modelling era, the mid-to-late '30s. They're actually fairly accurate models of NYC stockcars, which were rebuilds of older single sheathed boxcars. The rebuild of the prototypes was quite extensive and the cars received adjustable second decks, allowing them to be used as single or double deck cars. The mechanism for that was moulded into the AHM carbody, but incorrectly included on both sides of the car. The major fault with the model, though, is that the body is about an HO scale 1'3" too wide.
I had used mine pretty-much as I got them, but an article in the March 1997 issue of RMC outlined a very well-done re-working of these cars by a local modeller, William Sharpe. While Mr. Sharpe did a very extensive rebuild of his cars to match the Central's prototypes, I opted to redo mine for my freelance EG&E.
The overall style is much the same as my other cars, with the high, Canadian-style letterboards, but I did remove the deck-operating mechanism from both sides of the car. Also, inspired by the work shown in the article (if you want to see these cars done really-well, hunt for a copy of that issue), I decided to narrow the cars.
Mr. Sharpe used a table saw for this task, but, since I don't own one, I decided to try it with a hand saw. The secret to accomplishing this, regardless of the saw used, is to snugly fit a block of softwood into the carbody. The saw kerf is pretty-much the width of the material needing to be removed, so after a couple of sessions of zrooba-zrooba, I had four fairly cleanly-cut half car bodies. After a few passes on a sheet of #150 sandpaper, the halves were cemented together using solvent-type cement (lacquer thinner). I applied the thinner generously to both mating surfaces, then brought them together and clamped them. This caused some of the softened plastic to ooze from the joints, but, once hardened, it was easily trimmed away leaving a joint which required no filling. I then added the usual details, including metal grabs and sill steps, and backdated the car by removing the moulded-on AB brake gear and replacing it with K-type brakes from Tichy. Here's a couple of photos:
Wayne
![[Image: 005_zpsf07d018c.jpg]](http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj531/cnnutbar3254/005_zpsf07d018c.jpg)