Scratchbuilt HOn3 Boxcar

[Graffen]

Here are some pictures of my scratchbuilt HOn3 D&RGW 3000 series boxcar: 

 

It is fiddly with the small struts that holds the walkway....

 

 

The doors with fittings and brackets .

 

 

 The ladders are made of jig-bent nickel silver wires with Grandt Line nut-bolt-washers .

 

Painted! 

Properly cleaned, primed with plastic prep for improved adhesion on plastic and then painted with Polly Scale D&RGW freight car red. The sides and ends are clear coated with Future Kleer to prepare it for the decals.

The original:   

 

Now it's just the couplers left to add and the decals and some light weathering. It was a good test run before the construction of the rest of them. I intend to build 10 of them in the first round. Next build will be in mixed media with a wood body/chassie and brass/plastic parts.

[mlehman]

Beautiful work there, Graff.

[Graffen]

Thanks! I liked the way it turned out. It will be great fun finishing it!

[Anonymous]

Excellent job!

[narrow gauge nuclear]

Great piece of work!  I would hate to have to build all of my box cars this way, however I do plan a couple of special, maybe kit bashed, boxes of my own to create a custom car or two.  Your effort is very inspiring.

 

[hon30critter]

Hi Graffen:

I am curious about how you 'cleaned' your very nice box car. I have a scratch built rail truck which has the same problem as your freight car did before cleaning. The styrene sides are covered with bits of I don't know what, but they obviously have to be removed before painting. They won't come off with just a simple brushing. In fact, they seem to be rather well attached. This may be a stupid question, but how did you clean the stuff off?

Thanks

Dave

[Graffen]

I used a soap flakes, the type used in dish washers. I washed it with a flat artist brush. The small spots you see in the pics are removed with a glass fibre brush, which has the advantage of making the area dull.

[hon30critter]

Thanks Graff:

I will give the soap a try.

Unfortunately I have applied some rivet decals to the body. If they don't survive the washing process I will just have to chalk that up to learning the hard way and do them over again.

Dave

[mlehman]

Dave,

You probably can't get TSP in Canada any more, just as we can't. We do have a TSP-substitute that works pretty well. That's what I use when I have the need for doing this sort of cleanup before finishing. If the TSP-substitute is available in Canada, it's worth a try.

[Mixy]

Great job! Can't wait to see it finished with decals :)

Mixy

[hon30critter]

Thanks Mike:

I actually have some TSP on hand so I will give it a try.

Dave

[narrow gauge nuclear]

TSP still availabe by the pound here in VA at most all hardware stores.  I guess some states have banned it.

It's good stuff and does the job....  Oh well.