Building the Car

I started with the Athearn 50 ft gondola shell.  I cut a section out that included 12 side stakes and 11 panels.  This will require cutting out an "off center" piece of the shell.  I made my cuts about 18" from the edges of the side stakes.  the key is to make it just longer than the MDC underframe and then sand it down to the length of the underframe.

I trimmed off the fishbelly of the shell even with the flat areas on the ends of the shell.  I like to do my sanding on a granite floor tile with a piece of wet/dry sandpaper on it.  The tile is dead flat and the wet sandpaper cuts faster and doesn't clog.

Next I mark a scale 2' 6" up from the bottom and trim off the top of the shell sides.  Once again sanding it smooth and parallel to the bottom.

The ends are notched back flush with the floor and even with the edge of the end side stake.  To protect the floor, I put a piece of tape on the floor so the saw doesn't scratch it, the finish the cu with files.

The side stakes can be gently tapered to be thinner at the top.  The ends are made from .010 styrene sheet cut to the height of the sides.  A styrene 2x6 is cemented to the top chord of the sides.  A piece of 4x12 or 6x12  can be cemented to the eds of the frames as an end sill.  Check to make sure the under frame still fits in the shell cavity when the end sills are on.

I used 1/8" plastic rod about 1/16" long to make buffer blocks (actually mine were made from plastic sprue, since I couldn't find my 1/8" rod) on a scale 12"x36" piece of .010 styrene as a mounting plate.  I took 3/32" plastic tube, twisted a drill bit in the end by hand, then sliced off a piece at an angle to make poling pockets.  Once again check to make sure the underframe fits.  If the buffer blocks are uneven, after the cement dries, you can gently file them to the same thickness.

Tichy 18" straight grab irons were added to the ends, sill steps were added in holes drilled in the bottom of the sides and a Tichy brake wheel was added on a piece of wire.  Normally I use A-Line type A sill steps, but I was out of them (6 scratch built gons consumed my stock) so I bent 1 ft wide U's out of staples for sill steps.

On to the underframe.  The coupler pockets and center plates were drilled and tapped for 2-56 screws.  The actual cars had a shallow fishbelly underframe.  I didn't want to spend the time to build one of those so I added a piece of .188 x .250 styrene between the truck bolsters (notching to go over the crossbearers.).  A small piece of .080 styrene was added as a mounting block for the Tichy KC brake cylinder.  

 Normally I would have called it good there, but lately I have been inspired by some of my friends and am trying to up my game so I am trying to add more brake piping and rigging if I can.  On this car the brake pipe ran up between or along side the center sill, so it wasn't visible, so I omitted the brake and branch pipe.  However in the prototype photos I have the brake cylinder and rodding are definitely visible below the car so I decided to add those.  I used Tichy 18" straight grab irons a brake hangers, the brake levers from the Tichy KC brake set and .0125 phosphor bronze wire (also from Tichy) for the rodding.  About a half hour's work that adds a lot.

 The underframe was painted with a rattle can of flat black paint and the shell was painted with Tru-color weathered black.  A low angle shot really shows the brake gear.

 
I'll give the paint a couple days to dry, hit it was a gloss coat, allow that to dry for a couple days, then it will be time for some Westerfield decals.

Kitbash

Thank you for taking the time to post the details of your gondola project.  Watching your thought process construct an early 1900's freight car from the more modern Athearn model is inspirational motivation for my own projects. M.

Neat project

Neat project Dave, thanks for sharing.  I never would have guessed there was the makings of a 1900 vintage gon hiding inside that athearn 50 footer.

Impressive

That is some serious dedication to the craft and impressive modeling skills.

Neat project.

I like making useful unique models from easy to find common stuff. If you have a sharp block plane you might save some time sanding the plastic to size , I've found they work well on styrene...DaveB 

Bookmarking this

So I have tips on using those modern gons given to me by friends.  Thanks, Dave!

Kit-mingle!

At least that's how I see it. A modified car body mounted on a modified frame of a different kit. This is an exceptional model, Dave! How many will you need for your W&N Branch?

Also, how long was this project percolating in your brain?

Eric

GMd

Since this is a fairly new car I will probably only need 4 or 5, have 2 now.  It will fall into a roster with about 60-70 other gons about 2/3 of which (40) will be P&R gons.

The Bachmann and AHM 34 ft boxcars are pretty much the same body with different roofs.   They can be modified into PRR class XA and P&R class XMa, XMb cars.  MDC old time cabooses with round roofs can be kitbashed into 30 or 34 ft round roof boxcars.

When manufacturers don't make models of cars in your era, every car is viewed with a lean and hungry look as a shape to be modified into something that looks like something from my era.

For example here are some hoppers I've made.  All but the white one are derived from the Life Like/Varney twin hopper.

In the back row, left is a stock LifeLike twin hopper.  You can pick those cars up used for $2-5 a pop at a train show

In the front row is a B&O hopper made by cutting a 4 ft section of the center of the car, removing the side stakes and resheathing the car to make a 30 ft wood hopper.   The center car on bottom row is a hopper with the side stakes sanded off and replaced with alternating angles and channels to make a Standard Steel Car Co steel hopper.  On the right bottom is the first pass at making a P&R class HTa wood twin hopper. The side stakes were sanded off and scribed siding was added to the sides and hoppers to make a wooden car.  It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped so in the top row, center, there is the 2nd attempt at an HTa.  I filled in the holes in the sides, then sanded all the rivets of the sides, keeping the pressed steel side stakes.  The sides were then scribed to make it look like wood sides.  The white car is a class HKa hopper bottom gon with a scratchbuilt superstructure on an Industrial Models version of the twin hopper.

That granite tile for sanding is genius

Why didn't I think of that?

Now to locate just one, and not have to buy a whole box full!

Great thread!

Tile

Sometimes a big box or tile store will have partial boxes they sell individual tiles from.

Also Habitat for Humanity Restore's sometimes will have single tiles