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.
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.
