Quarantine Project Boxcars

While under lockdown, I attempted to use my suddenly available time productively. I was able to land a number of Central Valley, Labelle, and Roundhouse/MDC kits. The CV and Labelle kits were craftsmen wood kits, while the Roundhouse/MDC kits were plastic and diecast. Sitting down, I started assembling these kits one by one, and in about a month, I had a nice fleet of new cars ready to enter service.

An Xacto knife and sandpaper is all you really need to put any of these kits together. The NWSL Chopper is nice, but not essential. I never used a miter saw for any of these. To help with the roof ends I made a carstock template to guide my carving efforts. One can make one from just a piece of heavy cardboard, or plywood, or Masonite, with the desired curve cut into it for the cutting blade. Use of a template helps to get both ends to look the same. Take it slow and frequently compare it to the provided documentation and you'll be OK. The worst that can happen is that you'll may end up building another piece of roof stock from leftover supplies on hand. (Don't ask me how I know that. Just know that I do.) Prototype wooden roofs were covered with a layer of canvas and then coated with tar. So, any mistakes can be simply covered.

Central Valley Ventilated Boxcar Kit.

Central Valley Boxcar Kit.

Central Valley Refrigerated Car Kit.

 

Central Valley kits are remarkably simple to construct and for their age are decent kits. These kits of Box cars, Reefers, Ventilated Box Cars, and Cabooses were basic wood kits which come with pre-formed and carved wood bases and blocks for the floor and car frame, the ends, and the roof. Traditionally these kits contained all the basswood and soft metal castings required. With pre-printed and pre-scribed wood sides, roof, and ends. The printing on these cars runs the gauntlet of quality. With some carsides being crisp and sharp. While others are dull and blurry. Metal details and the famous Central Valley Trucks with Snap on bolsters are included with each kit. The user was expected to buy trucks and couplers separately. Central Valley made the trucks, but alas they are no more, and it takes some scrounging to find appropriate trucks now-a-days. I tend to replace the metal details with Tichy NBW and brake equipment. As well as replace the brass rod with fishing line for the truss-rods. These make very nice cars that ride well and can be modified to fit a number of prototypes. On the downside, these are old kits. The printing on the carsides can be rather crude. The trucks that come with the kits are clunky and sometimes ride awkward and will require adjusting. A lot of the old casting have imperfections, and as I said before, I tend to use Tichy hardware for this very reason.

Central Valley Boxcar Kit

 

I've built a few LaBelle freight cars and while I love the results, the construction can be a bit of a headache. The kits came with everything except trucks and couplers. I found the destructions confusing, with drawings that are not scale to the parts provided, and the construction methods were straight forward, but made all the more challenging by wood parts and blocks that clearly were planed with old tooling. Warping, odd sizes, and uneven thicknesses abound with Labelle kits.
 

A LaBelle 34 foot boxcar

 

Labelle 34 foot boxcar

When it comes to painting these kits, one must remember that wood is porous. The varied grain of the scribed siding wood will absorb paint at different rates. LaBelle kits generally use a very good grade of scribed wood, but there is still a possibility that the grain will show through the first coat of any paint. Central Valley cars tend to be pre-printed, so too much paint will obscure detail and grain. One can either use a primer coat or a light application of your main color first - allow that to dry completely - and then a second coat. While the single coat may create a weathered appearance, that wood grain issue remains and I've found it better to use two coats of paint and then go back and apply light weathering if desired.
 

Also recall that dried glue does not absorb paint. Careful gluing is important on these kits to keep the glue from spreading out on surfaces that will be painted. The "second coat of paint" process can help to cover problems, but it is better to avoid the problem as the paint almost always appears more glossy on the spots covering glue. 

 

 

I also finished two more of the Crown Point flatcars kits. I covered these kits in an earlier review.  I put Tichy trucks under these ones. 

  

A few kitbash projects were likewise knocked off the shelf. Such as this tankcar built with a brass shell found in a parts bin at a local hobbystore atop a scratch built car-frame and body. The flatcar with load was built from an AHM flatcar lettered for the local "Stone Mountain Railroad" 

Roundhouse/MDC boxcar

Roundhouse/MDC, and later Roundhouse under the Athern banner, produced a number of 34foot wooden boxcars with trussrods. These cars are typical of 1890-1920 construction, while easy to backdate into the late 1880s. The kits are easy to put together, as they often come with a cast metal frame, plastic spru of parts such as the running board, queen-posts, and brake equipment, an a large body shell. I tend to replace the plastic parts with Tichy hardware, and use fishing line instead of thread for the rods. Otherwise, the cars go together as instructed. Sometimes with a few small details car to car. These are cheap and cheerful cars, and make fine runners. 

Well, that's all I have for this post. I'm back at work, so long spans of hobbytime are over. I have plenty of projects in the works though, and I can't wait until the pandemic lifts so I can return to the model railroad club and give my new freight train's worth of rolling stock some run time.

Crown Point Model Engineering Flatcars

Recently released from Crown Point is this wonderful kit. This model is a replica of the 30 foot Central Pacific Railroad flatcar. These cars were built by the CPRR during their construction period as they built the western half of the Pacific Transcontinental Railroad in the late 1860s. The CP owned around 2000 of these cars, and built a few for the Virginia and Truckee Railroad. These cars had a rather long service life. Lasting into the Harriman period on the Southern Pacific.

 This is Crown Point's first laser cut kit, as up to this point they have offered only 3D printed models from their Shapeways store. Thus, this is their first time putting a true craftsman style kit out there on the market. Each kit contains two cars, as well as decals to model either the CP or V&T versions of the car. However, the decal set included is for the late 1870s lettering style instead of the construction period lettering.

For my purposes, these cars are to be modified to represent W&A flatcars from the 1850s-70s. Based on the only photo I've been able to find of a W&A flatcar during the reconstruction period. Each kit contains the laser cut sheet, detail parts from Tichy such as nut and bolt castings and a brakewheel, stem, and pall. 

For my cars, I altered the kit slightly to remove the captured ends, change the deck stake-pockets slightly, and I removed/altered the pocket number and pattern. One car I did build to the instructions, while the others received alterations. I found that I could build a car in about four to five hours, and I assembly-lined the final three cars. I also cut apart the laser cut decks into their individual boards. This was a personal taste as I could now stain and weather the car board by board and get a nicer effect. 

For trussrods, the kits came equipped with flat styrene for the flat iron barstock, and brass wire for the wire truss rods. The Tichy hardware was a nice addition, and thankfully the kits provide far more nut/bolt castings then required. As I shot a fair number off into the ether during the kit's construction. Directions were sharp and straightforward. With the packet coming with a set of color drawings for painting, as well as a small history blurb to tell a little about the prototype.

The kit comes less trucks and couplers. I used a set of MDC/Roundhouse archbar trucks on one car, and Tichy archbars on the others. Kadee scale #58 metal couplers and draftgear boxes were installed to finish the build. As built the car should have link and pins, however in my oncoming Railroad Safety Appliance Act railroad, MCB couplers and draft gear were becoming common.   

Overall, this was a nice product and a welcome addition to those of us who model railroading in the 19th century. I hope to see more from Crown Point and I really am looking forward to their next line of rolling-stock products. 

If interested, Josh Bernhard has done a wonderful review of the model on YouTube: 

These cars are limited in offering, and as of this writing, I do not believe a second run of these cars has been done. However, If interested in picking up a few of these cars yourself, hit up Crown Point Model Engineering as they may have some still in stock. Otherwise, check out their other offerings. (Please note I am not associated with this company; links are provided for modeler's convenience and not sponsored.)

Great Basin Carshops

Ah, feel that in the air? It's springtime, and the weather outside is just beautiful. It's also still full of the dreaded Itus known as Covid19. Since the quarantine is still in effect, I've turned to a number of projects that have been sitting on the back-burner.  

Great Basin Carshops is a product line started by my friend Josh Bernhard. They provide lettering for 19th and early 20th century model railroaders. What makes their products unique is that all prototype artwork is traced directly from photographs, lettering diagrams and drawings to provide an absolute accurate letter-style. He offered me a set of his decals to try out and sent them to me, because he's an awesome lad.  

I could have just slapped his decals on any old kit. However, I decided that I wanted a unique car for a particular set of decals he offered. More on that set later and what makes them interesting. 

Open platform boxcars where pretty common in the Northeast prior to 1870s. With the NYNH&H, The The Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway, O&W, L&M, and many others counting them among their rank. I started this kitbash atop a Mantua flat roofed passenger car frame. Taking the body and cutting the sides off but leaving the ends in place. New sides where made from crescent board that I scribed and cut. I really like using crescent board due

to it's ease to cut, ease to scribe with an X-acto blade, and it's ability to take varnish, paint, and sealants very well. New end railings were made from brass, a roofwalk, and a stemwinder handbrake round out this car. The car is not equipped with airbrakes. Mostly because I couldn't find the appropriate K-brake casting. This will change once the small box full of them that's floating around my workshop turns up. 

For this car, I chose the "Wickham Whale Oil Company" decals. 

Now, a little context this these. In 1890, the Utah Enquirer published an article titled Whales in The Salt Lake. According to the article, two juvenile Australian whales, one female and one male, were “planted” in the Great Salt Lake in 1873. 

According to the story, James Wickham imported them and commissioned special rail cars filled with seawater to transport the whales from San Francisco to the lake. His intentions being to start a great basin whale oil industry. Mr. Wickham “planted” the whales in a small bay with fencing he installed to keep the animals corralled. Much to his chagrin, the whales broke free and swam to deeper waters. Six months later, an associate of Mr. Wickham’s spotted the whales not fifty miles from their intended home in the Great Salt Lake. 

Of course, the whole whale of a tale is fiction. However, the tale had rooted itself so deep that today there is a Great Salt Lake Whale Watch Society, and a commemorative plaque placed at the location of the 'planting'. 

This set of decals represents a "what if", based on real private owner boxcars. With operating and reporting marks traced from prototype sources. The packaging is nice, and include a little leaflet with the decals both explaining prototype information (In this case, the story behind the Wickham Whale Oil Company) which is a very nice touch. The decals are of very high quality. You will have to cut them as close to the lettering as you can, as unlike the Microscale decals, these are built atop a single paper sized layer of film. 

Going on the car, working time is quick but effective. I had no problem moving the decals into position with a brush. The only complaint I have is that one of the decals actually had a small printing defect in it. One of the Master Car Builder markings had the lettering smudged. However, it was small and didn't effect the overall look of the decal set. A little bit of weathering covered it, and the defect did not appear again on any of the other sets. 

Overall, I give this product a solid thumbs up. Looking forward to more offerings. 

Check out out the offering made by Great Basin Carshops. They have a lot of promise, and I'll be returning to them for sure in the future. 

Tichy Arch Bar Trucks

The archbar truck was the most commonly found truck during the 19th century. They were composed of pressed steel and bar components that were bolted together and could be found on 40 and 50-ton capacity freight cars. Although they worked well, archbar trucks required a lot of maintenance. The bolts that held them together tended to work loose with the shocks and jolts of heavy operation and would require frequent tightening. They were gradually replaced by more advanced designs starting in the 19-teens. Eventually being banned from interchange service entirely in 1940.

In the past, I've used the MDC/Roundhouse archbar on most of my builds and cars. As I happened to have had access to a large stockpile of these, and most of the roundhouse cars which at one point made up my fleet came with them stock. However, as time went on, these started to become harder and harder to find and my own stock pile diminished. 

Both Kadee and Tichy offer an arch-bar set that comes as a pair of trucks. Tichy's come as a kit, while Kadee's are ready to run. I decided to snatch up a number of the Tichy sets as these can be modified to make a broad variety of truck styles. Including the body-hung brake beams since the brake-shoes are a separate part and don't need to be placed in between the wheelsets. I also like that the journal box covers are separate parts. So I can model a few either ajar, or cocked on their hinges. (Darn lazy carmen.) 

Each truck comes on it's own sprue. Included are a number of nylon bearing caps (thankfully Tichy was smart and kind enough to include some extras...for the inevitable cut that send one spewing off into the ether.) as well as the side frames, center bolster, and brake-shoes and beams. The finely molded styrine is easy to cut, and the directions simple to assemble. 

I like to build a number in quick succession. The brake-beams as provided slot into the bottom of the bolster after the truck is anchored to the car. So, unless you are ready to place the truck onto it's car as soon as it's finished, you will have to hold off on this final piece until you are ready.

Overall, a fine product from Tichy and one which I now have in large number thanks to the low cost. 

 If one is interested in this product, the kits can be obtained direct from Tichy or you can order them in bulk from Train Life

(Please note I am not associated with these companies; links are provided for modeler's convenience and not sponsored.)