The rest of the story...

Splitrock Mining Company MOW cars

Working toward my NMRA AP Cars Certificate

I enjoy working on my NMRA Achievement Certificates and the needs of my layout at the same time. The Cars AP Certificate requires eight cars to be presented, and four need to be scratch built. I chose to create some unique maintenance of way cars for my crews. I figured flat cars would be easier to build than most other types of rolling stock, and I could create a couple of gondola cars as well. The search was on for videos, or step by step scratch built freight cars. It took a little hunting on the inter web, but I found a great resource in one of the NMRA Region’s web pages. The Lone Star Region of the NMRA has an amazing web page. It lists many things but on the Clinics tab, they list a four part series on scratch building a flat car. Some helpful pictures are provided and an almost step by step instructions with materials needed gave me the starting point.

http://www.lonestarregion.com/

Look for the clinics tab, and then the Flatcar clinic parts 1-4. I will let my photos do most of the explaining of the process. The written clinic explain it well in writing.

I set about acquiring materials for four cars, as two would be flats and two gondola types. I wanted a flat car to carry extra wheel sets for my car department and one to carry pre-made track panels for the track gang to store panel track in case of a derailment. The gondola cars would be general service cars used for hauling anything the MOW gangs needed, such as ties and tie plates.

Starting with the long side sills and center sills I cut some .060 x .250 strip styrene to scale length of 55’6”. I then trimmed them up on the ends to make the distinctive shape of center sill beams. Four of these per car meant a total of 16 were needed. Using the LSR clinic guide, I made marks at 6’6” and another 7’ for the angled portion. If I were to do this again, I would make the center sill beams taller than the outside sill. This would make the cross braces angled and look a lot better. Coupler pockets were then notched on the two beams that would be the center sections for each car. These long beams were trimmed with a .020 x .100 styrene to create horizontal bracing. A .060 x .060 strip was used for a spacer.

A NWSL chopper is essential in these builds.                A scale ruler is a must as well.

Having pre cut sizes of styrene for measuring, then marking with a pencil to file away the angled ends.

Here are all the long beams cut and sized.         The end pieces have notches for the coupler pockets.

Next came the end sills and cutting a notch for the coupler pocket. This was formed from 1/8” channel. They are 9’ wide and a notch cut in the lower center portion.  After getting the center beams added with the spacer piece, it was time for the bridge beams. Working with .250 x .060 styrene again, I made eight of these per car. They are 4’ each. Placing the first ones at the angled portion of the outside beams, and then moving 8’4” towards the center of the car. I added a .020 x .100 to the bottom of these.

Here we see the long beams with the flange added and attached to the ends. The cross braces are added next. The flanges are added to them. The .060 x .060 spacer separates the middle longitudinal braces. Its starting to look like a freight car underframe now.

All four cars have cross braces added, then come the smaller longitudinal braces from L angle stock.

If I was to do this again, here is another place to make your scratch building easier. I would have pre-drilled holes for the air brake piping. When I got to the portion to add the air brakes, this was the biggest pain for me. If I had lined up the holes to push the brass wire I was using to simulate the airlines, it would have saved me hours of extra working time, and less stress.

Work on the bolsters came next. The clinic showed a fancy curved bolster. Simple won out on a part no one will likely see.

Adding a place to center the truck screw. later this will be drilled and tapped for a standard 2-56 screw and commercial 70 ton trucks. The end braces are applied, and cut off once the MEK has done its job on the styrene.

Time to make the floor. basic sheet of styrene is cut to size. The flat car tops are then marked and notches made for the stake pockets.

All the notches are cut and the ends are made the width of the car frame. It is then attached using MEK.

The gondolas received a plain floor. No notches needed. The Details West Ends were attached next.

Sides were cut from plain styrene sheet. Top bracing and side braces were made from strip stock. I should have purchased stock in Evergreen company before I started this project.

                      The top brace has been added. Now we add the flat portion of the vertical braces.

The square vertical brace and the flat portion will equal the width of the top brace. Here we see all the vertical bracing added, their length cut to even length to fit the car frame.

Now the sides are attached to the frame and the basic shape of a gondola is becoming more apparent.

Now all four cars have the basics finished. Looking at the underside, time to add the air brake equipment and piping.

Here are the commercial brake parts. I was able to use the air tank and brake cyclinder assembly. Brake lever is fabricated. The first car I cut the hole and inserted it. The following three cars I made a faux lever out of two pieces and made it look like it went into the center beams.

                    Here are the pinch arms installed.                             Then attached with brass wire.

           The full levers are attached to wire, then we can begin the brake pipes running the length of the car.

The brake cylinder is attached to the brake lever.           The car pipes are then starting to be inserted.

Brake pipes inserted the length of the car.                              Central valve pipes added.

                 Here you can see the Faux pipes. I used a small square of styrene to hold the pipes in place.

      Everything in place, and marking the top of the car to make sure I know which is the A end and the B end.

                                 Cars marked and ready for more details. Full underbody of flat cars ready for trucks.

                                    Flat cars painted primer grey. Time to drill and tap for trucks.

Following the instructions in the kadee packet, a pilot hole is drilled first. The tap portion comes next.

While the drill and tap are handy, I add the couplers.      Testing out their height on the layout.

               Turning my attention to the gondolas.                Adding the rivet decals was easy and enjoyable.

                Following prototype pictures the rivets were applied on the vertical and horizontal brace areas.

back to the flat cars for a moment. Adding brake wheels and slack chain.      Small chain from LHS.

using eyebolt details to attach the chain to the styrene body. Small pliers and eyeloops help open and close the eyebolt around the tiny links.

The gondolas received the same treatment. They had a brake wheel attached to the ends. The walkover details needed to be put in first so I could thread the chain into the small opening.

Using an old cup to hold the car on end. Adding the chain into a small hole in the frame.

Non brake wheel end receives the walk over detail and grab iron. Wood floor being held while glue dries with my handy Fast Track tools. Working on four different cars meant I could switch between assignments while glues and adhesives dried.

Time to work on the loads. I wanted a panel track flatcar. Luckily I know where they are kept in the yard. having employee access helped aquire some great detail pictures. Note the dual rail bolt sections, something I added to mine as well. I took note of the chains and placement. Some chains held the load to the car, others held the loads together.

Starting out with 39' lengths of rail. I made a template with PC ties, and added wood ties for the rest. Using Fast Tracks Siding tie spacer to get them straight.

Here we see me adding the oversize Grandt Line tie plates...fail. I resorted to making y own out of styrene.

I was crazy enough to add the holes in the tie plates. My wife is missing a sewing needle, but she has more. A quick visit to the spray booth and a quick coat of rust. Adding some powders and such broke up the even pattern.

                             Looking much better. Now I just needed a track panel assembly line.

              Test fitting on the car. looking good so far. How many to the stack to look right? I settled on five.

Time to add the chains holding the load together. PDC company to the rescue. Bill Brillinger makes some great stuff.

Adding the chains to hold the load to the car. The chain tighteners painted red really stand out.

A Tichy wheel kit made the load for the second flat car. Quick assembly and painting. Then some weathering and finally adding to car. My car shops crew can now fix those worn out ore cars.

One gondola was going to have ties as a load. I looked at the prototype stacks for inspiration. I stained Micro engineering ties and made rows using a square and a homemade jig.

A quick styrene jig made assembly easy. Soon I had piles and piles of ties ready to be distributed along my right of way.

The second gondola was going to hold old tie plates. Here I masked off the sides and painted the interiors a dirty wash of rust, dirt, grime, sludge and other wonderful colors that I see on the prototype.

Grandt Line tie plates were painted, stained and colored many shades of dirt and rust. I then started to glue them into the car, starting with the biggest piles over the trucks.

Too clean for a gondola. Time to weather. here you can also see my homemade decals and the addition of the ACI label. A real era setter, showing my late 1960's railroad. My weapons of choice to start were water based oil paints by Windsor-newton. Then Pan pastels, powders, and washes.

The end results. I also went after the bottom, knowing these were gong to be viewed by judges.

After adding the braces, you are done with part one of this build. I had four basic car frames to start creating anything I wanted. It was now time to make some parts you will use later on. The stake pockets were made from two pieces of U shaped styrene, I think it could have been done with a square tube shape. I think the LSR author used what they had on hand.

Session two of the clinic takes us to more basic superstructure work. Longitudinal braces come next. Turn the frame over and using 3/64” angle (P-90501) to create these. Four per car are needed. These make the cars look well braced for heavy usage. It also added to the pain of the previously mentioned air brake piping. Then we add more cross beams, the secondary ones. These are .100 channel styrene. Ten of these per car.

Next comes the bolsters. I made mine different from the LSR clinic, and made them simpler. I did not feel I needed to make all those pieces when fewer would do, and the extra parts would not add to the judges score sheet anyways. There was going to be enough scratch built parts to qualify for that portion. I also created the flat car deck portion now. Using .020 styrene I measured and cut four pieces to size. I used each flat car and placed them on the styrene to get an exact flat portion. I added the stake pockets notches for the flat cars, and left the two gondolas with even sides. Now is the time to add the point block to attach the trucks too. This will be a nice flat piece for the commercial trucks to be screwed into the bolster. Thrall type cars have corner braces, so I added those using 3/64 angle pieces. Then add the stake pockets for the flat cars.

Now we can add the deck to the flatcars. I like the look of real wood, so that’s what I used. I cut the deck to size from scale 2 x 12 pieces and cut to 10 ½ feet long, glued together and then stained. I use a stain I picked up from XXX kits for building one of their amazing bridge kits. After painting and decal work, I attached the wood to the styrene deck and used my handy Fast Track tools for weights to keep the wood flat. Some warping did occur, but it only added to the look of a poorly maintained car that is not in revenue service.

Next comes the pain. Adding the brake rigging. I had hoped to use mostly commercial parts for the bigger pieces, but settled on just the air tanks and had to scratch build the ABDW box from a square piece of styrene. I needed a bigger part to anchor all those pipes. Scratch building parts such as the brake levers and brackets for holding the air tank. The piping was formed from XXX size brass wire. After trying to drill all the holes in the first car, I decided to use faux holes and just place a piece of wire in each section of underbody to give the impression of a continuous airline. This proved easier, but much more tedious. I had to make a small square of styrene with a hole for the wire. I used my MEK to attach all styrene parts.

Commercial parts were used for the air hose and angle cock details on the end. I also formed the bleed rod from the brass wire and bent the ends into loops so my HO scale switchmen can bleed the air off the cars when they need to move or switch them. Now we can move onto the trucks couplers and gondola sides and ends. I used small chain to make the slack adjustment part of the brake gear. I added brake wheel and a custom built holder on the ends. The gondolas had their own brake wheel holder on one of the ends. I then set about adding the trucks. I used 70 ton trucks for my 1969-70 era layout. I drilled and tapped a hole for the usual 2-56 screw and then I could weather the trucks before attaching.  I placed the cars in a large plastic cup with paper cloth protection and added the walkover plates. I used XXX products for their nice etched metal see thru parts. I think these parts really bring out the detail and can be seen from the top, unlike all that brake rigging on the bottom. I threaded the chin thru the hole in the walkover piece and the brake rigging was complete. Finally!

I used commercial gondola ends, Detail Associates FC 6221 GS-Dreadnaught ends. These gave me the detail I wanted and saved me a lot of time. The sides for the gondola were made from flat styrene. The bracing was made from two pieces consisting of a flat section against the car side and a square piece applied on top of it. These were equal to the width of the top brace that runs length wise along the top sill of the gondola. I knew I was going to add rivet detail with 3D printed decals from Archer or Micro mark. This was a fun part and really brought out the side sill and all the external bracing. I recommend using these for anyone who wants rivet detail on a model. After the rivet decals applied and dried, I could cover the cars in a coat of primer and gloss coat for the decals. I had my own homemade decals for Splitrock Mining and made a plaque on the gondolas for the SRM logo decal.

Now came the fun part. Adding the details of loads and weathering. The flat car that was to get the wheels required me to search for the Tichy Train groups amazing wheel car kit. I just wanted the load. Finding one online from an auction site proved no problem. The wheel sets and holders went together well and I painted and weathered them a good black and rusty color. I used pan pastels and powders to mix up the look. After gluing the wheels into the holders, it was one solid piece to center on flatcar # XX. I used an all-purpose adhesive to attach two different materials, small dabs of Liquid Nails. This worked great and holds the plastic parts onto the wood deck of the flatcar. The track panel car would be more work. I needed rail cut to 39’, ties and tie plates. I started out with Grandt Lines tie plates, but they proved too big. I ended up scratch building my own tie plates. I stained some Micro Engineering ties with black paint since these would be newer ties. I used code 70 rail. After everything had been cut and painted, it was time to assemble.  I took a field trip to the MOW area in the rail yard where I work. I climbed all over these cars and took photos to see how the panels were attached to the flat cars. I used Fast Tracks tie jigs for spacing the ties and attaching the tie plates and rail. I also used PDC joint bars on the ends of the rails to simulate the joint bars on the prototype loads. I thought about drilling the holes for the bolts on the other end of the rails, but I have better things to do, and I doubt it would have added to the judges point total. (See a pattern forming here?) They would be judging the car, not the load. I wanted the load for my own layout scene. I used small chain and the laser cut tighteners from PDC Company. I painted them red and ran the chain into the stake pockets. This made an amazing load and is a real eye catcher. After decals and adding the trucks, a little weathering was added and the two flat cars were ready to head to the NMRA Regional convention.

The gondolas have some details in the loads as well. One is filled with old tie plates, pulled from a track rehabilitation project and piled inside by crews tossing them or a crane with a magnet. The other one has tie bundles ready to be unloaded. I stained the ties and glued them into appropriate size bundles. I then added chart tape to simulate the steel banding used to hold the ties together. The tie plates we painted and weathered before being added to the gondola. I also made sections of the car that had been repaired. I added .010 styrene to simulate patches of steel that were welded over holes in the bottom of the car. I used archer rivet detail on the part that cover the bolster braces inside as well. Decals applied and an application of dull coat preceded the application of weathering powders and pan pastel colors. After adding trucks and couplers, the gondolas were ready for the Thousand Lakes Region Convention as well.

In order to achieve your NMRA Cars Certificate, you must showcase eight pieces of rolling stock. There must be four different types of cars, and one must be a passenger car. Four must be scratch built and four must achieve Merit Awards, scoring more than 87 ½ points by a NMRA judge. This does NOT mean that the four scratch built cars need to earn Merit Awards, just four of the eight need to earn that level of Merit. I had brought these four cars to represent the scratch built portion. I also entered the Hill salt car, The Sierra water tank car, A CBQ caboose built from a laser kit and a Branchline Pullman Kit I detailed with full interior.

I earned enough to get Merit Awards for the Splitrock Mining cars, and qualified for my NMRA cars AP Certificate. This gave me the fourth of my five certificate s so far. It was a fun process and I learned a lot. I have a great appreciation for those that scratch build cars. I wish there were more tutorials online and especially video production of such builds. The TMTV series of adding air brakes was running as I was constructing these cars, and those lessons will save me a lot of time in the future.

I hope you enjoyed this process and please ask me any questions. I will try to list all the parts and tools. Thanks to great MRH advertisers like Bill Brillinger and PDC for helping me create little details to make my layout come alive. Now, what type of ballast cars would my mining company have?

Many little things went into these cars. So many details such as lift levers and air hose and angle cocks. Homemade decals and all the grab irons and many more. It would take another 200 photos to show everything.

I accomplished my goal by building these cars. I received plenty of advice, both good and some good humored in the NMRA AP Page on Facebook. I highly recommend joining that group if you want to go for any NMRA AP Certificate or your Golden Spike Award.

Great job Thomas...

Beautiful work, well deserved certificate.      John

Impressive build!

I just bookmarked this article for reference when doing my own scratch building; I am impressed!

I scratch-built a small flat from an earlier time, using wood, but not to that level of detail; this is an inspirational article.

NMRA AP OROGRAM

I 'm ancient,  nearly getting my  NMRA   MMR , but. life circumstances caught up with me  , and I missed by  about 2 certifates, Your work is outstanding, hope you achieve your goal.

The  things I learned doing the A P program set me up for the next 25 years. At 44 years old I discovered people would pay me more for a model than fix their car.  I have built  models  for museums, collectors, commercial display , prototype. Thank you NMRA  for th skills I learned from your program. I did not only take but gave back by serving as  a AP judge . volunteer  and AP chairman. The NMRA was good to me .    RAY CLIFFORD

Bookmarked

Thomas, like IrishRover before me, I, too, have bookmarked this for future reference. I like to think that I am handy with an X-acto and styrene, but I am always in awe of those who can build up a car from scratch, or a steam locomotive from brass stock - as a gentleman I know from the O&W RHS does.

Bravo, sir! Bravo!

~AJK

Thomas

Well done , I hope you don't mind if I use your plans as I would like to build my own flat cars . Thank you .

Smokey Dawson       Australia

Congrats

Those cars look really nice. Thats a lot more work than I put into my rolling stock.

Thanks

Excellent work. It occurs to me that if you have the negatives? for your prints it may be possible to convert them to digital and this could make a great MRH mag article. If that can be done, could you use it toward another certificate?

I am also bookmarking this.

Jack

Very Nice!

Thanks for the details on your build - I have had these Clinic instructions in my "to do" list for a year.

Quick question - when you shaped/angled the ends of the beams - did you do one first as a pattern and then do all of the others individually - or did you, say, clamp them together, and do a number of them at one time?

Artie

Thank you and photo updates

Thank you for the kind comments.  Thank you to MRH staff for posting this to the Facebook and Twitter feeds as well.

@John Winter Thank you for kind comments

@Irish Rover Thanks as well.

@ Raymond The AP program has pushed me out of my comfort zone on many things. Mostly with dealing with paperwork and having my work "Judged by others". I have learned that my fellow modelers are very kind and offer encouragement when my models don't meet the NMRA standards. There was never any belittling, but constructive critisim on how to do better next time.

@ AJK Thank you as well.

@Red P Glad you enjoyed my post

@JackH TY, and here is the problem with my photos. I had great pictures and resized them to fit for printing. I made up a small booklet to show the NMRA judges my "homework" and hopefully get them to appreciate the work and craftsmanship I tried to put into these cars. I failed to save the originals in their original size. My fault. That is why they do not look better when enlarged. lesson learned. Make a set for the Internet and future MRH blogs, and one for print media.

Congrats!

Great work! Extremely nice built models! Congratulation!

The great and the "bad"

Congratulations!

Thanks for sharing. I just renewed my NMRA membership. I may have to look into these certificates. As you said, it looks like a good way to get out of one's comfort zone and try something new.

Kent

Congrats

 Thanks for sharing that.  Nice work!!

More answers and feedback

Artie asked:

Yes, I made one and then made sure the rest were the same size and shape. I did not make them all at once in a clamp, but I wish I had.

Paul Schmidt says;

I totally agree. I want to write some articles for MRH but as I am working on my NMRA Master Model Railroader Certificate (Degree?) I need to finish the Author AP Certificate. I had already completed half the points needed for the AP Certificate via Electronic Media. The NMRA still requires at least half the points awarded for the Author certificate be works submitted to PRINT media. I have been writing articles for my local Division and my regional newsletters at a hectic pace. I did a nice piece on making my working track scale, my material yard for the track crew and a couple of one evening projects involving a tie replacement program and a the building of a speeder shed, and the making of town sign board welcoming visitors.  The editors thank me greatly, as I can supply some great photos and many pages of text. I also have an article about the operations of my Splitrock Mining Company coming out in the next issue of the OPSIG newsletter, The Dispatchers Office.

All of these could have been submitted to the MRH crew for possible inclusion in any upcoming issue. I do have many more areas to cover with the ongoing construction of my layout, mostly scenic elements such as creating a small diesel servicing area based on the CNW/UP in South St.Paul, and the structures in my town that sits on the north shore of Lake Superior in the late 1960's. This will include Fotomat, Dairy Queen, Erickson gas station ( A precurser of the Holiday and Super America chains) and a small VFW. I hope to complete my Author AP in a few months and can then concentrate on electronic media.

Kent wrote:

Let me know if you need any help Kent, If I cant give you an answer, I can find someone who will.

Thank you all again for the positive response. It encourages me to keep my blog updated.

...

So submit your articles to MRH!!

WOW

Incredible workmanship! Your cars look amazing!

Those look really good, I

Those look really good, I have recently started messing around with some of my scrap parts but none of it looks as good as that without a lot of planning or materials

The NMRA still requires...

This bothers me more than I have words to express.  PRINT is dead...

Otherwise...

I am so impressed by the workmanship and the dedication to detail.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Regards,

Golden Spike

Thomas-

Did you get your Golden Spike award before going for your AP certificates? I'm thinking about embarking on that process before I try for AP.

Mike in CO

The Print requirement is obsolete.

The part about half the AP author's work being in "print" media was from before MRH, and was likely to prevent someone from blogging their way to an AP certificate. 

MRH counts towards the "Print" side - in fact I believe Charlie Comstock's AP-Author was submitted using only MRH material, possibly to establish the precedent.

I've got a stack of my stuff waiting to go off, and if Jack Hamilton says it will fly, I believe him. 

Update: I decided to hit the NMRA website to check on this, and here is the big paragraph that I believe covers it:

• Material that is electronically published and has a formal editor is credited at the same rate as printed material,  This would include the publications of Historical Societies, NMRA organizations, and others who have a formal editor to manage content and have moved to electronic publishing in addition to or in lieu of print publication.  The AP Executive Vice Manager will make final determinations of credits for electronic publications.

Looking in the rear-view mirror...

First off - fabulous work Thomas! Nothing more needs to be said....

In hind-sight, this would have been a great article for the pages of MRH, and, you would have accumulated credit towards the NMRA Author Certificate. Unless of course you already have it and I missed that comment somewhere in your notes.....

Thank you all again, and the NMRA Author AP Certificate

Thank you for the kind comments everyone.

Now, onto that NMRA AP Author certificate.

Jeff, if this turns out to be correct, thank you very much. I have found out that the NMRA AP Facebook page actually has Franck Koch-MMR as a member. He is the final word  and helped me attain my Civil Engineering AP Certificate. I will start this discussion with that group and bring up the point of an electronic only publication having a dedicated editor and panel being the criteria for allowable points.  I really appreciate your input and if Charlie Comstock had all of his points from his MRH submissions, then I have a precedent.

I don't mind this thread being moved away from scratch building cars, because I am helping it move off course. It is also helping with more information in many objectives. We are all getting a lesson in what it takes for certain NMRA AP Certificates and how we can update the AP Program to fit into the new media that is on our smartphones and tablets. 

Thank you everyone, this is encouraging.

A masterclass in scratchbuilding cars

Thanks so much for posting this Thomas. I'm inspired to give such a project a go myself now.