Sylvan SS and Westerfield USRA boxcar
#1
I've been on a bit of a freight car building blitz over the past month or so:

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So far I've built a Tichy USRA hopper, A tichy Reefer and a Kaslo shops/Sylvan 1929 Canadian national single sheathed boxcar. I already built the same hopper and reefer and the boxcar project got away from me before I thought of posting a complete build on it. 
I'm also building a number of cars at the same time because they will all be painted in the same Freight car light brown 




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As is typical with a Sylvan model, the side walls were considerably warped. I ended up epoxying athearn weights to the sides in an attempt to straighten them. I also used some industrial adhesive from work  to glue the walls and roof together. 
Speaking of that, I also found that the roof was about 1/16" too long so I had to shorten it to make it fit. 
   

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I decided to slightly modernize the car By using steel doors and adding AB brakes.

 

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Not perfect, but passable.



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#2
Nicely done, Glen. Applause Applause Applause 

Wayne
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#3
Thanks Wayne.
I started doing a bit on a Westerfield USRA boxcar. It's an early example with drop grab ladders and a vertical staff brake.

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I bought the kit at a swap meet but it didn't have instructions so I contacted Westerfield and they quickly sent me a set that I was able to print off.


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#4
I finished off the walls up to assembling them on the frame:

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All the grab irons and some of the brake fixtures are installed before the main assembly. I also glued the tack boards onto the end walls and the doors. I found a photo of a Cn boxcar that has similarities to the Westerfield kit and I've been taking a cues from that.


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One modification that I had to make was the addition of a second grab iron on the sides of the car. It's a 'modernizing' feature. The kit includes extra grabs and 4 very small NBW castings to be installed above the grab ends.
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#5
That extra grabiron was introduced in the mid-'30s, but it took some time for railroads to add them to their entire fleet of rolling stock.

I have lots of cars with single ones, and lots with the second one added, too, as my layout is set in the late '30s.
When Accurail release their version of the Dominion-Fowler 36' boxcars, I changed the board-style "wooden" roofs into metal-sheathed ones, using .010" sheet styrene, and some strip styrene for the battens.  I also removed some of the cast-in-place doors, and replaced them with various types of doors from my "Parts Department".  All of the cast-on grabirons were replaced with wire ones, with some, but not all, cars getting the second one.

I had intended to add some photos of them, but pictures from the "new" photobucket will not show here as pictures, but rather are replaced with the single word "undefined".  I'm guessing that it's something in the Forum software, as they will show on some other sites.

Instead, here's a LINK to an earlier thread showing the modifications.

Wayne
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#6
Thanks Wayne. Since you mentioned this I went back and added the second grab iron to my Kaslo SS boxcar. I model the late fifties so I figure that the grab would have been installed by then.
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#7
Thumbs Up 
Nice looking cars ya got there.. I freely admit I never had the patience to build those craftsman style car kits. Nope
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#8
Thanks Larry. I would recommend that if anyone wanted to try a 'craftsman' kit, start with a tichy as they pretty much have the same components as the resin kits but are a bit easier to work with as they are plastic. That and they are considerably cheaper too.

I got the walls up:

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For some reason the 'b' end was a bit wider than the 'a' end so I had to sand the edges down a bit. The walls are 'spot-welded' to the frame and then themselves before running a final bead of CA around the seams.


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I also added the roof contour boards and ridge beam. The two part roof will be added later. I must have an older kit because this has all been eliminated in favor of a single casting for the roof.
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#9
I completed the brake gear:

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I went with the AB brake system, as most cars would have it by the mid fifties. I had to study a few photos and other models to figure out the air line routing from the reservoir to the valving unit.
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#10
I completed the USRA boxcar up to painting this afternoon. Yesterday I glued the roof and roofwalks on. The roof as I mentioned is a two piece affair. I used medium thickness CA to attach it as it does give a bit of time to maneuver the parts into alignment before it sets up completely. The roofwalk covers the seam.
The endwalks are a bit of a challenge.


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The walks are attached by straps made of flat brass strip. The ends get a 90 degree bend in them before gluing them to the underside of the walks.


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Then the straps are glued to the underside of the main roofwalk, and the edges of the roof.


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Then I finished the model off by adding the retainer valve piping, The roofwalk end supports and the stirup steps.


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Now I have 4 cars ready for the paint shop.
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#11
Over the past few days I applied the primer to the four cars.

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I used to use the gray Wal-mart brand primer but that was discontinued a few years ago. I've pretty much finished off my stash of that so I switched to Krylon Paver grey in the Chalky finish. It gives almost the same result as the Wal-mart paint but is considerably more expensive. The only other real difference is it has a longer drying time.
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#12
Tamiya offers a very nice grey primer in a rattle can.  The spray is comparable to that achieved with an airbrush.  I also tried Alclad's airbrush-ready grey primer in a 4oz. plastic bottle, and like it even more than the Tamiya.  Both are  good replacements for Floquil's grey primer, my stock of which is almost gone. 

Wayne
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#13
While I am fairly satisfied with the Krylon Paver gray, I'll keep the Tamiya paint in mind.
After your post I went through my Floquil collection and found a 3/4 bottle of primer. I don't use Floquil anymore unless I absolutely have to. I've switched to using water based acrylics for the ease of cleanup and less nasty chemicals. I do have about 30-40 bottles of floquil left though, if anyone is still using it.
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#14
Floquil was my go-to paint when I started in this hobby in the mid-'50s, but my favourite was the now-discontinued Pollyscale.  I have lots of it left, except for black and white.

Wayne
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#15
I have a fair amount of Pollyscale as well, and it's later Testors model master version. When the model master version was discontinued I bought up a fair amount of the colors I use. I also have used true-line's acrylic which seems to use the same formula as Polly-scale and Model Master. I have also used Rapido's Acrylic but haven't have the best of luck with it as it seems to dry and gum up my airbrush.
I have started to use Vallejo paints as they are Readily available at my local hobby shop.
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