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MRH Contrib. Editor 905 posts Eric Hansmann Eric H. MRH Contrib. Editor 905 posts
Eric Hansmann Eric H.

Upgrade Branchline Yardmaster 1937 AAR Box cars

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These kits can be easily upgraded with the addition of cut levers, metal running boards, air hoses, different trucks, different brake wheels, or different doors. This makes for an easy introduction to prototype modeling.
 
The Steam Era Freight Cars web site has prototype images and a table of as built 1937 AAR box car prototypes. This PDF file details different appliance parts on specific railroad cars. For instance, if one of these box cars was bought by the New Haven the table may include data on the car class, builder, lot number, quantity, the number sequence, built date, brake wheel type, running board style, end style, and other details.
 
The file and prototype images can be accessed here: http://www.steamfreightcars.com/prototype/frtcars/1937aarmain.html
 

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Here are a few updated Branchline Yardmaster box cars. Cut levers were added to all of these cars, which is a simple upgrade.
 
The Monon and Detroit & Mackinac cars received Superior style doors based upon the details on these cars found in the table of as built 1937 AAR box car prototypes.
 
These parts were left over from older car projects, so it was easy to change out the doors.
 
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Cars 9215 and 2702 have not been weathered. All the other cars pictured here have had some weathering applied.
 
I start with a simple wash using burnt umber oil paint. A little pigment and lots of mineral spirits will cut down the new look of these cars quickly.
 
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In case you are wondering about the couplers, these are all Kadee #58 semi-scale couplers with the trip pin cut off. The knuckle face has been filed to smooth away the mold parting lines.
 
These cars see regular service on a large club layout where Kadee magnetic ramps are not used. Magnetic ramps are not used on the home layout either, so the pins are cut. Uncoupling is done using thin bamboo skewers. Removing these pins makes the appearance of air hoses and angle cocks all the more interesting.
 
Ted Culotta’s continuing series on Essential Freight Cars in Railroad Model Craftsman has been the inspiration to improve freight car details, especially the air hoses.
 
Ted’s series offers many techniques to assist a modeler in adding detail to the current fleet, or in building new cars from intricate resin or styrene kits.
 
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The level of detail for these cars is set by you, the modeler. Some people will remove the cast on grab irons and add new castings. Other modelers may choose to add or remove details to reflect the look of a car late in service, possibly the late 60s or early 70s.
 
The examples pictured here have minimal extra details to follow prototype practices. A little research made these even more enjoyable to build.
 
The Branchline yardmaster kit offers a great opportunity to get a fleet of cars running quickly and to encourage a modeler to widen their skills by adding prototype details. Building and detailing your first one is always the hardest.
 
Step up and give it a try. 
 
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Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist

Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
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Pat M Super User 327 posts
Pat M

Eric, Nice blog, gave me some

Eric,

Nice blog, gave me some suggestions for upgrading some of my boxcars. Say, that tannery in the backround looks awful familiar!

--> Pat Miller, South Branch Valley Railroad, Moorefield, WV.
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jeffshultz MRH Staff 7,972 posts
jeffshultz

Excellent posts....

...I hope that you'll consider writing articles for the magazine as well.

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Jeff Shultz - MRH Technical Assistant
DCC Features Matrix/My blog index
Modeling a fictional GWI shortline combining three separate areas into one freelance-ish railroad.
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_site_admin Administrator 179 posts
_site_admin

Nicely done!

Eric:

Very nice blog posts! I agree with Jeff ... how about some articles? (hint hint)
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Eric Hansmann Eric H. MRH Contrib. Editor 905 posts
Eric Hansmann Eric H.

Articles

Hey Joe and Jeff,

Thanks for your encouraging comments.

Does the mag have any specific needs? I have one or two ready for action and another I'm mulling over. One article features an overview of the new HO scale Accurail 41-foot steel gondola. The other has a working title of, "But I Don't Have Space for a Model Railroad". You can probably guess what it covers.

I've reviewed the details at the Contribute tab. As for images, I took those on the blog using a Nikon D60 set at the largest JPG setting. Photoshop was used to crop the images, save for the web, then size for about 600 pixels wide. The files out of the camera are 2MB. I note your preference of, "We strongly prefer digital photos in high quality JPEG format no smaller than 800 x 600 pixels and no larger than 1 megabyte in size." I'm unsure as to how much emphasis you desire on the main focus of the image, or if you would like some decent background as well. For instance, the last image above was cropped to only focus on the box cars. The rest of the image features a tannery and other freight cars in the background. It did not readily convey the differences in the models, but it looked great.

Drop me an email as to the article needs and desires, as well as the image preferences. You have my data.

Eric

Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist

Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
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Eric Hansmann Eric H. MRH Contrib. Editor 905 posts
Eric Hansmann Eric H.

Thanks!

Thanks Pat. We miss your efforts at the club. Hope all is well.

Eric

Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist

Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
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Eric Hansmann Eric H. MRH Contrib. Editor 905 posts
Eric Hansmann Eric H.

the larger image

Here's the bigger image I mentioned. My focus was on the three foreground box cars, but after I got home I thought it looked good with the background industry. Will have to use this vantage point on future photo ops.

Eric

Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist

Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
Reply 0
Thomas Active Member 32 posts
Thomas

One suggestion

Eric,

Very good series so far!

The only thing I would like you to add is before and after shots, or side-by-side, no detail added vs full details. Some folks have little idea what parts you are describing.  (The DE trains I model do not use knuckle couplers!)

Thomas
Thomas
DeSoto, TX
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