Happy Holidays!

 Wishing everyone a peaceful Holiday Season with family and friends.

Resin PRR X37 Build, continued

 Continuing with a detailed step-by-step description of this resin boxcar build.  The trucks and decals I ordered for this project arrived, as well as some 1/4 ounce wheel weights.  The photo below shows these and some other details that I intend to substitute for, or add to, kit furnished items.

From left to right, a Tichy AB brake set will be used for the underbody brake detail, 1/4 ounce stick on wheel weights as needed on top of the floor, will likely use a Detail Associates Equipco brake housing (#12 on sprue), Branchline 7 rung ladders are a close match for the prototype after being cut down to 6 rungs, and a Kadee Equipco brakewheel is in the upper middle.  The Bowser 2D-F15 coil elliptic trucks with steel wheels per my research, Yarmouth #220 etched brass sill steps for GSC tank cars will be modified for the corner sill steps, and Microscale set 87-1201 for the lettering with Shadow Keystone heralds round out most of the major enhancements.  I realized after the fact that I did not include the airhoses and brackets from Hi-Tech Details or the coupler lift bars (Tangent) in my photo.  

I have not yet decided whether I will use the resin “wood” running board from the kit, or substitute a Yarmouth laser cut wooden running board set.  In addition there are a few other items such as bracket grabs (Kadee or Red Caboose) and wire that will be used.  More description on these as I progress.

In my last post, I had test fit the floor into the one piece resin body after some careful sanding on the edges of the floor casting.  The fit is very snug and I was concerned about pressing the floor all the way on.  It was suggested that I drill and tap the bolsters for the trucks so that the screws could be used to help remove the floor.

The first step in doing so was to measure and locate the centers for drilling the bolsters using a small metal rule to check from side to side, verifying that there was equal material on both sides of the centerline, then marking the middle with a pencil.  The bolsters should be 5 scale feet from the end of the car, hopefully in the middle of the kit bolster.  After using a sharp probe to make a dimple, a #50 drill was used to drill through the bolster and floor, cleaning out the resin spirals as I went.  This was followed by tapping for a 2-56 screw.  The resin is soft enough that no lubricant was needed.

This photo also shows the Kadee #78 couplers and near scale draft gear boxes that will be used, although I will wait to mount these until after everything is set with the floor fit . The mounting lug at the back of the box will be removed and I will also check the coupler box overhang at the end of the car to reach six scale inches. After tapping the bolsters, I temporarily installed 3/16” long 2-56 screws so that I could continue with my floor fit check.

Putting the floor back in, I discovered that it is still just slightly long and will need more careful sanding to reduce the length, as you can see on the left side in this photo.  The floor width seems just right.  I also noted that the floor fits just too deep into the body on the right.  On the left side additional checking shows that it is about right when the floor is fully engaged on that end.  I may shim the right end to bring the floor closer to flush with the sides and end of the body.  

That’s my progress for now, and with Christmas upon us, will take this back up at the end of the week for my next installment.

Building a Resin Kit - PRR X37 Boxcar

For this first resin boxcar build, I’m going into somewhat deeper detail on the steps involved than one might typically see online, in hopes that the information may be useful for others just getting started, like me.

 In some respects, modern resin freight car kits are similar to styrene kits, containing a one piece carbody, a floor, or underbody, and various detail parts that are added. They differ in that they are all unpainted and usually require the modeler to furnish some items, such as trucks or styrene shapes and wire, and possibly decals or brake components also.  The construction steps are similar, although sometimes more involved.  Many who build resin kits will also do some research to customize the model for their modeling era or to match a specific prototype variation.  This aspect is one that I find enjoyable.

There is a great variety of prototype information available, both printed and on the internet.  This is worthy of its own post in the near future.  Kit instructions range from the greatly detailed to cursory, depending on the source.  It is worth the effort to do some searches online or to look for information and photos in reference books and magazines, if they are available to you.

After unboxing the kit and inspecting the pieces provided, it is a good idea to read through the instructions a time or two to familiarize yourself with the assembly steps.  Before you do that, you may want to wash the resin components to rinse off mold release agents and read at your leisure while the parts dry.  Dawn dishwashing detergent is frequently recommended, because it does not contain oils or additives such as lanolin that can cause issues when painting. Shout is used by some. You want a product that will clean off the parts without leaving its own residue behind.

I used a plastic food take out container and a soft bristle toothbrush to gently clean all the resin parts thoroughly before rinsing with cool water.  Then I patted them dry with paper towels and set them aside to finish air drying while I read over the kit instructions.  Now is the time to be sure you have any needed parts that are not in the kit, or to plan for substitution of kit parts if you wish.  Common examples are brake components and ladders.  I will point out several examples as the kit build progresses.

First off, I needed to get trucks, which were not included.  My research online indicated that most of the X37 cars were equipped with PRR 2D-F19 coil elliptic trucks, as mentioned in the previous post. In HO scale, there are examples of similar trucks available from Tichy and Bowser.  It seemed to me that the Bowser 40194 PRR coil semi-elliptical freight trucks had an appearance closest to the prototype, so I ordered a set.

I model 1965, so I also needed to consider the appearance of theses cars in my time frame.  The decals in the kit were for the as built Circle Keystone lettering scheme.  My research indicated that the cars had been repainted in the Shadow Keystone scheme by my modeling year.  Microscale offers a decal set 87-1201 that should provide what I need, and was ordered.

Once the major kit parts had dried, I inspected the body for flash (excess resin from the molding process).  This carbody has a fair amount of flash, including 32 “vent gates”, which are small rectangular tabs around the inside of the body near where the floor fits, as shown below.

Click to enlarge

These all have to go. I had not seen this before in other resin boxcar kits in my stash so was a bit confused at first. Some friendly folks at resinfreightcarbuilders.groups.io , an online modelers group, confirmed that I did indeed want to trim these nubs off so that the floor will fit. After a bit of pondering, I decided to use a micro saw and nippers, followed by chisels and sanding.  The JLC micro saw and Xuron sprue nippers did a nice clean job with the bulk of the gates.

You will note the N95 mask, which is good practice to wear when producing resin dust, as it can be an irritant and even toxic if inhaled in significant amounts.  The trimming was followed by my 2.5 mm wide Godhand chisel blade in a short handle to shave down most of the remaining material.I have written about this tool previously. You can find that post using the keywords on the sidebar.  This is one of my favorite tools, very versatile, with a range of chisel shapes.

Final clean up of these gates and the other thin flash on the sidesills was done with a #11 Exacto blade and several sanding sticks, ranging from 240 to 600 grit.  This work required patience and use of a magnifier to be sure it was flash and not part of the body being trimmed. The body cleaned up nicely.  I was pleasantly surprised in working with the resin material. In some ways, it seems more workable than styrene.  I did end up with a small notch in one of the side sill tabs, whether from an errant chisel or exposing a bubble in the resin, I do not know.  Squadron Green putty was used to fill it, followed by sanding once cured.

Shaving with chisel and sanding in progress

Once the gates were sanded smooth, it was time to check the fit of the floor.  It is not uncommon for resin floors to require sanding for length and/or width.  In some cases, the floor might be short, but more often it can be slightly long, as in this kit.  I used 240 grit sandpaper taped to my workbench to gradually and carefully sand the sides and ends, checking frequently for fit and squareness.  A piece of glass to tape my sandpaper to would be a good addition for my workbench.  Wear a mask during sanding to avoid inhaling resin dust.

You can see the mustard colored sandpaper and the green tape below the model.  I checked fit after a few swipes repeatedly until the floor was a tight fit.  My carbody is bowed inward slightly so I gently slid the floor in from one end.  Bowing or warping is another common challenge with resin kits.  My next post will discuss this and how I dealt with it.

On Building A Freight Car Fleet

A Portion of The Kit Stash

 Like many model railroaders, I have accumulated a large number of freight cars and locomotives over the years.  My early Athearn train set cars and additions from Model Die Casting (Roundhouse), Tyco and Con-Cor were later joined by more detailed models from Intermountain, Red Caboose and others.

My early purchases as I got more serious about the hobby were from hobby shops, and occasionally mail order, as this was before the Internet.  Most were kits, because I had enjoyed building aircraft models and this carried over into my model railroad hobby.  There were a few "ready to run" model purchases, joined by some gifts from family.

When I got even more serious about the hobby, I found other kit manufacturers such as CB&T, Branchline and LifeLike Proto 2000 (now Walthers Proto).  There were even a few exotic (to me) resin kits from Sunshine as well as swap meet finds of other craftsman type kits.

Some of these purchases were spurred by my interest in the Great Northern and other Hill Lines, some by what I had seen on the tracks in real life as a kid, and some by whim.  I did tend to stick with the 1960's, despite temptation in the form of gorgeous looking modern era cars.

For a long time, however, my purchases were only loosely guided by a vague concept of how I might eventually incorporate them into a large model railroad scheme.  Some of this was understandably the result of lack of time to embark on planning and building a layout, or defining what it would even look like.  Some due to the shiny allure of a new model that I happened on and convinced myself I really wanted, without much thought of how it "fit" into any bigger plan.  Some just looked fun to build.

When I began to narrow my focus, and develop an interest in building more detailed models, it was actually helpful in limiting impulse buying.  It has not slowed me down but it has  guided me toward models that I know I really want.  Some earlier buys have been sold to make way for things that better fit where I see myself going.

Recent purchases have tended toward craftsman kits or kitbash opportunities that will challenge and develop my skills.  There are some incredible small makers of resin car and mini kit offerings along with masters of kitbashing who share their talents for me to learn from.

As I am not building a large layout with a big “fleet”, I’m not as much driven to balance my models with car distributions or relative numbers of a particular car as I am  to explore modeling challenges.  I am adding some particular car types in line with my forest products interest.  This includes tank cars, double door boxcars and flat cars.  The Great Northern is my home road, along with subsidiary Pacific Coast, and sister roads Northern Pacific, SP&S and CB&Q so these roads feature prominently.

A Return and Resinating

 I am somewhat embarrassed at my lack of progress as I re-read my last post (from January!). Of course there are reasons, none of which are of much import other than life’s adventures. Everyone is healthy with no significant challenges or issues. No sense dwelling on where the time has gone as we can only go forward.

My workspace, while compact, is all set up and is proving functional.  The picture below shows the arrangement, with most of my commonly used tools at hand.

As usual, all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them

The space is well lit and the compactness actually helps minimize my tendency toward clutter. The open shelves house more tools, projects, reference books, styrene, wire and small commonly used detail parts such as grab irons, ladders, uncoupling levers, screws and the like.  More details such as doors, roofs, roofwalks, underframe and brake components, scenery and vehicle details are on the shelving with doors just visible at extreme left.

While I have not been building much, accumulating more freight car kits has continued.  There are two cabinets above on the wall filled with my kit stash, which now has some 240 styrene, resin and hybrid kits in total (yikes, this is the first time I have put that total down in one place!). I have been disciplined about sticking with my 1965 modeling period with a focus on the West and my interest in forest products industries.  Opportunities to pick up a few out of production kits from Sunshine, Speedwitch and other small resin kit makers have allowed me to stash some signature cars that I am very excited to have.

Given my current interests, as well the limited space for a small six foot switching layout, I am honing my focus on the cars that I want to build for both my historical interest as well as growing my modeling skills. As a result, I have been judiciously selling a few kits that no longer fit and am also selling some ready-to-run (RTR) cars, particularly when there is a kit I can build to replace them.  My space will only allow use of a handful of cars at a time, so enjoyable kits to build are a priority now.  Model building is the part of this hobby that I enjoy the most, and I am finding that historical research to construct accurate models with high fidelity is very satisfying.

Resinating

On that note, I have finally started on my first resin boxcar kit after an epic length of time procrastinating.  The kit, Funaro & Camerlengo (F&C) number 8400, of a Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) X37 single door boxcar, is sitting on the workbench in the photo above.  The prototype is similar to a 1937 design boxcar, with some characteristic Pennsy design features.  These were 40’ length cars with a 10’ 4” inside height. The roof has distinctive depressed panels at each end for car clearance, with a wooden roofwalk.  The sides have a unique alternating rivet pattern and most of the X37’s rode on PRR coil elliptic 2D-F19 trucks with both leaf and coil springs. Here is a prototype builders photograph.

You will also note the interesting two rung steps on each corner.  It is a very appealing car with its slightly out of the ordinary look versus other cars of the time.  The PRR built 1000 of theses single door cars starting in December 1939 and a large number were still on the roster in my modeling year of 1965.

Here is the kit on my workbench after removing it from the box.

In deciding on which resin car kit to start with, I considered a few factors, including having a one piece body with a fairly standard underframe, standard ladders versus grab irons, readily available decals and good prototype data to work from.  I do realize that there are certain challenges that come with most F&C kits, but so far it has been within my capabilities and I expect it will look decent when finished. Honestly, I also purchased this kit at a discount and would not be overly distraught if I messed up.  The kit is readily available and could be replaced if the worst happened, unlike many of my others.

I’m making progress this week on flash clean up and have ordered trucks and decals.  I will post in progress photos and commentary, including some enhancements, over the coming weekend.  For now, I wish all of you in the US a Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Holidays & A New Years Resolution or Two

 So much for plans and intentions!  This past year has been full of  life's curveballs and my batting average has taken a big hit.  Work and family have taken precedence while I have little to show for progress on modeling projects, although some key kits and detail parts have been acquired for existing projects and several (many) new ones have been added to the stash. My wife has accused me of being a collector and the current view would lead one to agree with her.  Time to change that and build something.

 On the plus side, we finally have our occupancy permit for the new house that I mentioned in June (!).  Moving has commenced and space is cleared for my modeling workbench.  Over the next couple of weeks I should be able to move the stored kits, supplies and such while setting up the space for active modeling, so my first resolution for 2024 is to build at least three resin kits before the end of June.  A Westerfield Canadian National long gondola (kit 7111) purchased in June of 2022 will be my first.  After that, there are a few one piece box car kits to choose from (RCW or Yarmouth first probably) as good next steps in building my resin "muscles."

The layout configuration is becoming clear, likely an L-shape shelf by the workbench with a pulp & paper mill complex.  This will be the Puget Sound Pulp & Timber plant, loosely based on the actual mill (later Georgia Pacific, now a park) on the waterfront in Everett Washington.  My space will only allow a compressed portion of the mill, but it will include switching for a nice variety of my cars.  I will cover much more about this plan in future posts.  

The potential for another layout that will be more operational and grandchild friendly has opened up in our loft space.  The intention is to have them build some nice basic cars (Accurail, etc.) so that they can see their handiwork as we play with trains together.  This is a great use for many cars that I purchased before getting the rivet-counting, super-detailing, prototypical modeling bug.  It also should satisfy my desire for watching some trains go around the loop.  I have a track plan from many years ago that may get adapted for this endeavor.  

Which leads me to my second resolution for 2024, to blog regularly.  For now, I am setting a goal of 15 posts in 2024, which, given my track record over the last couple of years, is plenty to aspire to!  

I really hope to get into a regular cadence of model building this year while working on the shelf layout to provide a place to enjoy completed cars.  Not going to call this a resolution, but rather a goal, with the pledge to blog helping to keep me on track.

Wishing all of you a very Happy Holiday season and all the best in the new year. 

Onward!

 Well, it has been awhile.  Life gets busy at times, with family, work and...stuff.  While I have not been getting many models built, there has been progress on other fronts with my hobby.  These developments have re-energized me to get back to it.

Most importantly, we started construction of our new home, where we will retire, late last year.  I have a few years of work left but we have decided to make the move now, rather than hold on to both houses.  My work has been remote for years so no change there.  What will change is that we are downsizing substantially.  I am fortunate that I will have a dedicated space for a workbench and a small shelf layout, as final arrangements for our living space have developed.  This was a bit uncertain until we were well underway with construction and a serendipitous change was made in the location of the washer and dryer in our laundry room.

In progress photo, no lighting, tile not yet grouted

This is the space, small but can be dedicated to a workbench on the far wall with an "L" shape shelf layout above and on the left side.  It is about 7' x 5' of wall space.  The washer and dryer were originally to go on the wall to the left, below the cabinets but the plumber, in his wisdom, installed the connections on the wall behind me in this photo.  What at first seemed to be a mistake became an opportunity to gain more room for my hobby than we originally planned.  

My shelf may be a bit lower than originally conceived, to allow room under the cabinets, but I think it will be ok.  I was strongly considering a proscenium framed shelf design so will see if I can incorporate the cabinet as the top of my layout frame.  The counter on the right will have the laundry sink at the near end, not yet built out in this photo.  

Finishing work continues on the house, and we expect to move in sometime in July.  I will be moving my workbench and all hobby materials once we are in.  It may make sense to build a new workbench in place in the corner with the layout shelf above.

As typically happens, building a custom home, even a small one, has been an "adventure."  Coordinating subcontractors and working through the questions, crises and compromises has taken up most of my "leisure time" bandwidth this past year.  It is nice to see the end of the tunnel ahead.