An all Steel Boxcar

[TheJoat]

I bought a "semi-kit" from Bob McCown over at LSC. It is basically a set of acrylic panels that when glued together produces a nice clear box. Details are attached, as desired.

Here, I've built up the box (sans roof) and started gluing z-braces and angle pieces on to the sides and ends. The frame was built up earlier.


As it turns out, I wanted more than one, so I decided to build a small fleet. In this case, a half dozen.


When you're building 6, there's more than a few grab irons to bend. The EBT style cars have bent angle grab irons, so I built a jig to ease the process. This allows me to bend both right and left hand grabs, as well as 3 different lengths of straight ones. The ones at the ends are mirror images of the ones on the sides.


In a surprisingly short time, I bent over 180 of these from brass rod.


Of course, then holes must be drilled and each put into place.


The fleet progresses nicely. Sort of like an assembly line. After awhile, the car starts to look pretty good.


I needed to bend some brass strip to make the cut levers.


Finally, paint and decals...


And, from a sunny spot...


...now, only five more to paint...

[altterrain]

That's really nice looking, Bruce. What kind of paint did you use on the acrylic and does it need any special priming or prep to take the paint well?

-Brian 

[TheJoat]

Brian,

I just painted the whole thing with Krylon Ruddy Brown Primer....so I guess I did prime it...

 I didn't do anything else before painting...other than vacuum off dust and plastic pieces.   I haven't seen any coverage issues.

[S&G Rute of the Silver River]

Hay thats cool. and if your a little short on cash just whip a few out and evilbay-em!

[jamesbaker]

If a guy want to pick up some of these could he find them online or would he need to call a hobby shop and have them shipped?  What about a price Tag?

Thanks
Baker

[Sweet Santa Fe]

These look so real, it's unbelievable.  What size brass rod did you use?  And how long did it take you to get all of these done?  Are there any plans that you used for these? 

I think that you did a fantastic job.

 

Melissa     

[Anonymous]

Looks like a winner to me! Very nice paint and graphic. Who was the graphic person that did the logo?

William

[TheJoat]

Thanks to all. 

Baker, If you want to buy the basic structure, contact Bob McCown over at Large Scale Central

Melissa, I used .040 brass rod for the grab irons.   I started back at the end of February with 6 of them, but I was also working on a large building at the same time.    The other five are almost ready for painting.

The "plans" are really a set of web based instructions.  They are very well done, with lots of pictures.

William,  The decals come from Stan Cedarleaf.   He has done all of my decal work and does a great job.

 

[S&G Rute of the Silver River]

Very Nice. why did you use clear plastic for the walls?

[TheJoat]

Thanks!  The real reason was that Bob had arranged to have them cut to size - for a VERY reasonable price.   Acrylic is a GREAT modeling material.   It's very strong, easy to assemble, and impervious to the elements.

[TheJoat]

I got some poling pockets from Bob.   They clean up very nicely and are a great addition to the end.

You can see them in this picture, along with my crude riveting.  

I'm using a texture 3d paint...and it's not consistent in the dot size...but I like the affect.  It's fairly quick - I can do an entire car in under an hour.  Just don't look TOO closely. ;)

This is a closer shot of that first picture and you can see it at least adds some texture. ;)

I'm still experimenting with different paints - I bought about 4 different types.  The key is to have a pretty tiny hole in the tip.   Also experimenting with some of the glue dispensers.

 

[TheJoat]

I bought 6 "kits", and they are now basically complete.   One I lettered for the EBT, the rest for the J&B RR.
While they still need a little more weathering, I coud not resist the urge to take them on a trial run today.

I really enjoyed running them today.