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Bill Miller Car #2 Journals/Blogs
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Regular poster 374 posts royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

On 3/26/13 I made a MRH blog post about some construction articles in “HO Model Trains “Exclusively HO Scale”” by Bill Miller. I recently completed the second car based on his articles. It was an L. C. L. container gondola car used by the Delaware & Hudson and it appeared in the April 1952 issue. The thing that attracted me was the fact that A. C. Gilbert made a similar car starting in 1955 for his American Flyer tinplate line. AF used their basic gondola which differed a bit from the prototype that Mr. Miller wrote about. It was numbered #916.

The prototype was interesting in that it contained four square cutouts on each side so that air hoses and discharge hoses could be connected to the container. The article mentioned that a regular all purpose gondola could be constructed by leaving the square holes out. I had a nice advantage in doing it in my scale because I was able to order American Flyer replacement canisters. These are nice looking and very accurate to the prototype.

I had to work hard to track down decals. Even the more popular scales don’t really have much of a selection of D&H decals especially for the gondolas. I settled on a combination set of HO and O box car decals made by Highball Graphics (Set #F-119). I used both the HO or O decals based on their appearance and fidelity to the prototype. The model was completed with American Models Bettendorf trucks and Kadee #802 S scale couplers.

miller2a.jpg 

Since Mr. Miller printed HO scale templates in the article, I just had to measure them and multiply them by 136% to come up with S scale dimensions. AF saved me from having to make the canisters.

miller2b.jpg 

Here’s a picture of the Prototype car.

miller2c.jpg 

Here’s the HO model by Bill Miller

iller2m2.jpg iller2m3.jpg iller2m1.jpg 

The result.

pwrrpic.jpg 

Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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ctxmf74 Super User 15,937 posts
ctxmf74

Always great to see "Sensible" scale models

 Looks nice Roy.  Is the model of a different variation of the car than the prototype photo, it seems to be taller sides? ...DaveBranum

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royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

Stuck to the template

I can't answer why it might look taller. I upscaled the HO templates to S by measuring them and multiplying by 136%.

 

pwrrpic.jpg 

Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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richhard444 Super User 374 posts
richhard444

Bill Miller Car #2

Roy

I like the look of the car. Are the plans still available? If so where would someone get them?

Richard Superintendent CNW Peninsula Div.

Richard - Superintendent CNW Peninsula Div.

blog - https://mrhmag.com/blog/richard_harden
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royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

Plans

The magazine has been gone for a long time, so I don't think there would be a problem if I mailed you the full sized HO templates that were originally published. If you email me at royhoffman@yahoo.com, I'll send you or any other interested party a copy. I don't know of any other plans like in a car cyclopedia, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

pwrrpic.jpg 

Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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pipopak Frequent poster 894 posts
pipopak

Is the model of a different

Is the model of a different variation of the car than the prototype photo, it seems to be taller sides

I believe that the holes in the model are smaller, so the sides would look higher. Jose.

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royhoffman Regular poster 374 posts
royhoffman

Not a variation

Someone else thought that my model was taller that the prototype. When planning the model, I strictly followed the template provided in the article. I did look at Mr. Miller's model and it too looks taller than the prototype. The best thing probably would be to get ahold of the actual dimensions of the prototype. I was simply trying to emulate the article and as such, I'm satisfied with it.

 

pwrrpic.jpg 

Roy Hoffman

The S/Sn3 Scale Penn Western Railroad -
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pipopak Frequent poster 894 posts
pipopak

I see that the drawings do

I see that the drawings do not quite match the prototype pic, your model follows the drawing closer than the proto pic. Could be that the drawings were made from a different prototype car?. I see also a difference on the canisters, on the proto the tops are somewhat flatter with higher cylinders, so they make the sides look different also. Keep in mind also that they made the proto ones from what was available, not brand new gondolas.

Anyway a great looking model. Thanks for taking the trouble to post reference material along. Jose.

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