What is a channel?

[dknelson]

jockellis

I'm finally building some Swift reefers from my 1954 MR "Build Your Own Cars and Locomotives" Dollar Models book and the instructions say to mount one of the three brake system pieces on "channel" so that the straight rod going from it to somewhere else will clear the underframe. So what is a channel. Sixty two years after publication, the cars are leaning more toward a Benjamin than a Washington.

 

 

I assume the article in question is Paul Larson's Building an HO Swift Reefer, first published in the October 1953 MR (I don't own the book compilation you are working off of).  Although that was the era of the Dollar Car series, in MR at least the Larson article was NOT billed as a dollar car and it is far more detailed (with complete brake piping and such) in ways that the Eric Stevens dollar cars usually eschewed.  The workmanship on Larson's Swift Reefer is impressive even today. To quote Larson "Speaking of small details, the way I see it, if a man is going to build a car from scratch, he might as well model the underbody details and make the car a really first class piece of rolling stock."

 

Anyway ... on the fifth page of the article Larson is finally getting around to mounting the air reservoir, AB brake valve, and brake cylinder castings.  (Just as an aside there is a nice drawing of the brake valve showing the openings where lines go to the other parts -- I intend to copy that drawing for future use in underframe detailing).  

 

What Larson writes is "The brake cylinder should be mounted on a short length of 1/16" by 1/8" channel.  If the cylinder is mounted directly to the floor, the rodding will not clear the underframe."  That bit of channel is shown on the materials list.

 

While we are talking "channel," the list shows another size of chanel stock -- 3/32" channel which is mounted flush with the underside of the car at the ends, and the end sheathing extends down to that channel.  This channel at least is clear if you study the model and prototype photos in the article as well as the drawing.  I assume the book reproduces the entire content of the article.

 

The rodding (No. 22 wire) he refers to is not the air line piping but the moving (on the prototype) rodding that through a system of levers activates the movement of brake shoes on the trucks on the prototype, and is attached by more rodding and chain to the brake wheel.  

 

So Larson was not referred to the "channel" that runs down the center of the car which is formed by the two I beams that make up the central framework.  Rather, as Doctor Wayne and Maxman point out above, he is referring to a small bit of channel that creates space between the brake cylinder and the bottom of the floor so that the rodding which leaves the brake cylinder does not interfere with the cross members.

 

Channel stock is more or less U or C shaped stuff.  If you go to Walthers' website and search for scratchbuilding supplies using the word channel, you'll find brass, wood, and plastic. I did not search for the very sizes that Larson recommends but I suspect they are there somewhere, or something close.

 

Larson's article says he photographed and measured an actual Swift reefer at a Milwaukee packing house.  Given Larson's modeling skills and attitude I have to imagine that his prototype did in fact use a small piece of metal channel to hold the brake cylinder off the floor.  As Doctor Wayne shows and Maxman says, other stuff can create that pad or spacer.  But in the spirit of Larson's article, I'd go with channel stock.   

 

Dave Nelson

[doctorwayne]

maxman

jockellis

instructions say to mount one of the three brake system pieces on "channel" so that the straight rod going from it to somewhere else will clear the underframe.

 

 I think what they want you to do is use a spacer piece to elevate the part above the surface of the floor.  It doesn't have to be a piece of "channel"...it can be anything including a rectangular pad.

 

 

Yeah, unless you're trying to represent the brake system fairly accurately, a block of styrene or anything suitable should do the trick.
On this modified Blue Box car, I used simple blocks and only the most rudimentary piping:

...and from trackside, because of the deep sidesills, only a bit of it is even evident:

...while this Tichy car was done a little more fully...

...because a little more would be visible:

Wayne

[maxman]

jockellis

instructions say to mount one of the three brake system pieces on "channel" so that the straight rod going from it to somewhere else will clear the underframe.

I think what they want you to do is use a spacer piece to elevate the part above the surface of the floor.  It doesn't have to be a piece of "channel"...it can be anything including a rectangular pad.

[MidlandPacific]

Think of a long, square tube with one side removed, so that there are only three sides.  The K&S website probably has some picture.

[MisterBeasley]

On this car, notice the two long sections running the length of the car on the underside. Between them is an open "channel" broken by the cross-bracing.

 

[jockellis]

I'm finally building some Swift reefers from my 1954 MR "Build Your Own Cars and Locomotives" Dollar Models book and the instructions say to mount one of the three brake system pieces on "channel" so that the straight rod going from it to somewhere else will clear the underframe. So what is a channel. Sixty two years after publication, the cars are leaning more toward a Benjamin than a Washington.