1st one out

First car done: CN 527448.  Improved dreadnaught ends, 6 foot door, raised panel roof, reinforced sill under door opening.  

 Fairly straight forward except for the under door reinforcements.  A bit of 1x6 and 1x10 styrene did the trick. I still have to add the corner grab supports.  CN eliminated the roofwalks but didn't generally lower the brake wheels on these cars so the tall ladders and corner grabs stayed in place until the cars were retired.   

 The prototype car in 1995.  Pre-grafitti era so nice and clean.  I was testing out Vuescan software for my scanner, does a nice job so I'll probably be buying it so I can scan without the watermark on the scan.  

One down, 20 some odd cars to go.

Marc Simpson

Building in bulk

This was my workbench when I went on a stock car building spree. These are PBL Sn3 kits were you basically get a box of parts and you have to assemble the sides, roof, floor, underbody and attach all the detail parts. Grab irons and truss wires are formed with brass wire.

--Bill B.

The cars are first airbrushed with a wood color and then the exterior is airbrushed with black. The D&RGW did not paint the interior of the cars because animals would chew on the paint. (Remember it was lead based back then). Decals are attached to the sides and ends of the cars.

The underbody piping is formed with brass wire including soldering in the brass turnbuckles. Wood boards are inserted into the turnbuckles like the prototype to prevent them from rotating. The underbody was not painted black and left in a wood color.

I find it is easier to weather the stock cars if I am the one who painted it. After the wood color has dried for a week, I airbrush the sides black, and before the black has completely dried, I gently rub the exterior with a Q-tip to expose the wood color below.  This simulates the rubbing the stock cars received when loading and unloading stock. (The lighting on the workbench makes the sides look brownish, but the color is darker black)

--Bill B.

Marc, I try and build in

Marc, I try and build in groups as well when I get the chance. I suspect your boxcar fleet will look very good once it is all done and I seriously doubt that you will be displeased with the process or the result. keep us posted on your progress, please!

I did something like that

I did something like that nearly 30 years ago. As I was working on construction, I was also building up freight cars for my freelance railroad. Back then the Athearn blue bod cars were probably the best bang for the buck and I ordered numerous box cars, reefers, hoppers and so on, all undecorated.

Being that my railroad is freelance, I didn't have to match any particular type of equipment. I had an assembly line set up similar to yours. I would paint a few dozen cars and they would move on to having decals for car data and then lettering applied. While paint and decals were drying, Kadee couplers and metal Kadee wheels or in some cases sprung Kadee trucks were added.

The next step was to lightly weather all of the cars and seal them with dull coat. Once completed, which moved along rather quickly, they were ready to put on the rails. Before I knew it, I had plenty of assorted freight cars custom lettered for my railroad.

Summer progress (slow but steady)

Now that we are pretty much at the end of summer I can take stock of where I am at in the BBB.  Between holidays, having outdoor fun, yardwork and the regular job there wasn't a lot of time but progress has been made.  

3 boxcars built and ready to paint, 8 in various states of completion and another 15 or so still to do.  I am modeling specific cars that I have photos of operating in the 1980's.  The car numbers are written on the sidewall of the car to guide me as to which car is which.  Many of the remaining cars won't need too much work as they are the Trains Canada cars that are actually based on a CN prototype car.    

Marc Simpson

Two double door boxcars underway

While on a work trip to northern Saskatchewan I have started work on a couple of resin double door boxcars made by Sylvan Models, now long out of production.  One is a 40' double door boxcar with end doors, originally for automobile loading, later put into general service.  The other is a standard double door boxcar with improved dreadnaught ends.  I am toying with the idea of adding reinforced ends that CN upgraded these cars with.  

 End door boxcar.  These were retired in the early to mid 1980's so barely fit into my era, but are an interesting car to add to the mix.  Variety is the spice of life!

Marc Simpson

You always find something interesting while researching stuff

While perusing a new book that I picked up this weekend (John Riddell's "Canadian National Colour Guide to Freight and Passenger Cars Volume 2", published by Morning Sun) looking at the various boxcars I came across a very interesting photo of a grain service boxcar. On page 11 of the book there is a photo of CN 428170 with a yellow head of wheat on a relatively fresh paint job.  The wheat indicates it was rebuilt for grain service in the late 1970's or early 1980's.

This car also has roof hatches on either end, an unusual feature for a boxcar. Richard Yaremko's Canadian Railcar Pictorial on CN 40' cars discusses these cars with roof hatches as being for potash service. Was 428170 rebuilt for grain service from a potash car, or were some grain service cars rebuilt with roof hatches?

Some enquiries online indicates that CN rebuilt both 10' height cars and 10'6" height cars for potash service in the mid 1960's.  It appears that when enough hopper cars were available for potash service the boxcars were converted to grain service. 

The car in the photo (I can't post it as it is in a book and I respect the copyright) has had the roofwalk removed, so it would be unlikely that the hatches on the car would be used and were likely welded shut.  This will be a very interesting car to build given the unique rooftop features.  Photos to come as I get the car underway. 

Marc Simpson  

Marc

I'm really enjoying this thread. Thanks for continuing to share your progress with us.

It's been a long time since I've built boxcar kits but your thread is getting the old juices flowing again!

Hatches, hatches everywhere

I got underway on the converted potash car last night.  I repurposed a car that I already had underway to represent the car I found in the book.  It features NSC3 ends (NSC was National Steel Car, a Canadian railcar manufacturer) and a diagonal pattern roof. 

Digging through my scrap box I found some Kadee roofwalk remnants from my CN tank hopper car project (see  ) to represent the steel grid roofwalk on the top of the hatch.  These were cut to size and set aside.

Based on the photo of the car, it appears that the hatches were cut into the centerline of the roof, under the roof walk.  CN welded a portion of the roofwalk to the hatch lid to allow continued use of the roofwalk. 

 I guesstimated that the hatch was 3 feet long based on the book photo and the spacing of the roof ribs on the model car.  The hatch was the same width as the walkway, or 18” wide.  Looking at my selection of Evergreen styrene shapes I came across a random C channel that was a scale 18” wide.  I cut the C channel to length and glued a few scrap styrene pieces on either end to create a rectangular box.  A bit of gap filling CA and some sanding created a nice smooth surface on the ends.  I used CA to attach the walkway grid to the top of the rectangular box to represent the hatches. 

Using a set of calipers, I measured a scale 9” from the ridge of the roof on the second roof panel from each end and scribed a guideline to cut out the raised panels and give a smooth surface to mount the hatch on.  A chisel blade was used to cut out the area within the scribed lines. 

I glued the hatches to the roof, ensuring they were square.  I used some 0.02” rod to represent the hinges as well as to cover up a couple of sloppy cuts I made.  I suspect the hinges were less substantial than what I made.  I didn’t attempt to make the latches on the opposite side from the hinge as these hatches were likely welded shut when the cars were converted to grain service and the mechanism removed.  At least they were until I get a detail photo of the hatches after the cars were put into grain service. 

 Two pieces of angle iron were added around the hatches, one to act as a rest for the open hatch, the other as what appears to be a safety appliance for a worker filling the car through the hatch, although I wonder how much use a piece of angle iron would be from a safety aspect.  I cut these from brass strip and glued them to the roof.   

 This car also had reinforced side sills under the 6’ door opening.  I have made a pattern to represent these reinforcements and cut the sills from scale 1x12 Evergreen styrene strip.  This was glued under the door opening.  From the book photo it looks like this car didn’t have the oval reinforcement plates added that appear on many other rebuilt cars. 

Now to add the brake wheel, ladders, grab irons and other remaining details.   

Marc Simpson

Just Think

Of how good you will be at painting and decaling after ths project.

AND you will feels so good about the good work you have achieved in creating a unified look that you can never duplicate by just buying them off the shelf (assuming they were available).

Looking Good !

Espee over Donner

Waiting on decals

I'm actually working with a decal manufacturer to bring out decals for CN's  modern 10' and 10'6" boxcar fleet in the new year.  There are a few available currently, and I would like to see the "definitive" sets available with the various sublettering variations, no roofwalk warnings, Churchill/Thunder Bay service only, etc.  I'll need a few...

Marc Simpson

Another one complete, on to the next one

Finished the brake and ladder details and added the corner roof grab supports.  Another car ready for the paintshop.  

Next!

Marc Simpson

Digging around my slides and

Digging around my slides and negatives I found a shot of a CN Fowler 36' wood boxcar in work service that I took in 1985.  At a train show a few weeks ago I picked up a Kaslo Shops resin Fowler boxcar kit for the princely sum of $5.  It is exactly the car I shot over 30 years ago so I have a good starting point.  Yet another project well underway.  You can't say I have a problem starting projects.  Finishing them maybe another thing entirely...

Marc Simpson

  The Kaslo kit underway.

 The well weathered prototype in Russell, Manitoba in summer 1985.  This will be a fun weathering project whenever I actually get to finish it.

Marc Simpson

You can't say I have a

Gee, that sounds familiar...

Two for work service

Two more done.    36' Fowler boxcars from Kaslo Shops resin kits. One (6 rung end ladder) was built in Magadan, Russia years ago on a work trip, the other (shortened 5 rung ladder) is just finished. 
There were a couple of end ladder variations on these cars, one with a full length 6 rung ladder and the other with a shortened 5 rung ladder. I figured I should have one of each type.  Have to figure out some prototype number for the 5 rung version.  The 6 rung will be the car I shot in Russell Manitoba in 1985.
Now to sort out how to weather the cars to emulate the prototypes I shot back in the mid 1980's.

Moving ladders on a TLT boxcar

One thing that has bothered me about the otherwise really nicely done True Line Trains 10' interior height boxcars are the side ladders - they are too far inboard and look odd when compared to other cars with correctly located ladders.  I decided to remove the roofwalk from one car to make it represent one of the upgraded cars that CN did. 

While I was removing the ladders on the A end to replace with cut down ladders I decided to also do the B end ladders as suggested by a post on the Canadian Railway Modellers Facebook page.

The ladders popped right off with a bit of pressure from an X-acto knife, and I redrilled the mounting post locations further outboard than the original location.  

Now to fill the old mounting holes with 0.030" styrene rod and gap filling CA.  I think the effort will be worthwhile, and TLT makes/made the paint to exactly match the paint they used on these cars.  Only 15 or so boxcars to go...

Marc Simpson

Boxcar Blitz

I have been enjoying this build and look forward to seeing any ideas you employ to get the weathered wood effect. Kaslo Models is a new name to me. How were the resin kits to build?

If you avoiding wiring then picking a few dozen projects is certainly the way to go! Perhaps doing 10 minutes of wiring everyday prior to this project, while fresh, would be a way of rewarding yourself. Drop feeders; run a bus; pre-solder some switch machines, ... At least that way you will start thinking about what you need and have all the tools out - maybe on a cart. Good excuse for new toys er tools to buy. 

Paint!

I made it a goal to start airbrushing my ever growing fleet of undecorated cars and locomotives this summer after a decade (or three) break from painting.  I have accumulated the compressor, airbrush and associated paraphenalia over the years, as well as a place to paint - my garage.  

So yesterday I met my goal by starting painting on some boxcars yesterday, a few weeks before the end of summer.  For a first try it wasn't bad, I did get a small run on one side of one of the cars so it will need to be stripped and redone.  More practice today on some cheap boxcars before I move onto the kitbashed cars.  

Marc Simpson  

truck details

Freightcars gotta ride on something so I've started on some truck painting.  The sideframes were painted boxcar red as per Canadian National practice.  They'll be getting some black washes to tone down the red significantly.  As well I've painted oily black on the wheel faces and flat black rear of the wheel and axle. If you don't want to have something noticed, paint it black.  Using a microbrush means I don't even have to pull the wheels out of the sideframes, just rotate the wheels and we're good to go.  Only 100 or so trucks to go...

Marc Simpson 

I like the fine tuning of

I like the fine tuning of moving the ladders closer to where they should be, Marc. So look forward to seeing your cars finished and in a scene. It has been great to watch your progress and to learn new things.

Marc, Would love to see how

Marc,

Would love to see how those cars came out.

Ask and ye shall receive

720134 from Sylvan resin kit 

799402 undec Walthers kit, 425825 from IM kit, HBMS 145 from Point1 Models resin kit.  

CN gondola, GMD-1 and 50' boxcar from kits.  GMD-1 was an unnumbered model

 Former potash boxcar, converted to grain service.  Roof hatches, door reinforcement and chopped ladders.  Remains to be decalled.

Still a fair number needing to be decalled.

Marc Simpson

whose red?

True Line Trains paint

Scott, I use TLT (True Line Trains) CN red #12, item # 010019.  They don't make it anymore but I have a good supply of it.  Rapido Protopaint and Trucolor also have a CN red #12.  I don't like how Protopaint airbrushes but have had very good results with the TLT paint.  Too bad it is now a finite supply.

Marc Simpson