Scratchbuilding On30 Freight Cars - My Approach (photo heavy)

[tbdanny]

Hi all,

Scratchbuilding and kitbashing locos and rolling stock is one of my favourite aspects of the hobby, and On30 is a good scale for this.  As such, about a third of the rolling stock on my layout is scratchbuilt.  The most recent addition was a 16' logging flatcar.  This was built with the method I usually use for my scratchbuilt rolling stock.  I'd like to share this method here, in case someone else finds it useful.

I started out with a Tichy Train Group HO scale 40' boxcar chassis.  This is from their outside-framed USRA boxcar kit, however they sell the chassis separately.  It's part no. 3019 on their website.  This part comes with built-in coupler boxes and bolsters which need to be glued on.  These ensure that the couplers and bodies are all at the same (correct) height, and also allow me to build rolling stock to a consistent (20') length.

My first step was to remove the two hexagonal sockets cast into each end of the chassis.  On the original kit they're used to hold two nuts as weights, but here they won't be needed.  I carefully cut down as much as possible using a hobby knife, then use a file to remove the rest.  In the above photo, the one on the left has been removed, and the one on the right is yet to be filed.

If I were making this a 20-foot car, my next step would be to cut off the two protrusions for the door sills in the middle of each side.  In this case, however, I was making a 16-foot car.  From each end of the chassis to the start of the cast floorboards is 8 feet in O scale.  As such, I used the raised edges of these boards to guide my hobby knife, and cut the middle section out of the chassis.

I stuck the two ends of the chassis back together, using a ruler to ensure that the sides were straight.  This was done on the flat surface of my workbench, on top of a sheet of greaseproof paper.  I've found that doing my gluing on greaseproof paper helps keep any excess glue under control.

Once the chassis had dried, I marked and cut some solid brass bar to length.  The purpose of this is threefold:
- It adds the required width to the chassis.
- It adds a bit of weight to the model.
- It provides reinforcement for the chassis.

That last one is especially important for a model like this, where the chassis has been cut and put back together.

There is a small 'lip' running along the sides of each chassis.  I cut this away on all four corners using a hobby knife, then glued short sections of 3.2x1mm styrene strip in place.

My next step was to glue the brass bar in place along each side.  I ran a line of CA along the edge of the chassis, and put a small drop on the protruding bits of styrene.  I used a ruler to ensure that the ends lined up.

After both the brass bars had been glued in place, I covered the top of the chassis in a thin layer of CA, making sure it reached the edges.  I then pressed the chassis onto a sheet of black cardboard.

This is a recent refinement, which I came up with while building the tender for locomotive no. 7.  As I'm using real wood (coffee stirrers), I sometimes have problems with the CA not holding the boards in place.  Hence, adding a layer of cardboard allows me to use white glue to stick the boards in place.

Once the CA had dried, I cut around the sides of the chassis.  With this done, the chassis of the model was complete and ready for the body to be added.

I started by cutting two side boards to length.  I used long, thin coffee stirrers for the wood boards.  In O scale, they're about 3/4 of a foot wide.  After gluing the side boards in place with CA, I used my NSWL chopper to cut the end boards to a scale 6 1/4 feet wide.  I then glued them in place, using the flat side of a square file to ensure they were at the correct angle.  Once the initial glue had dried, I put a drop of CA on each side, and used a toothpick to spread it along the edge.

While this was drying, I turned my attention to the log bolsters.  These were from a pair of logging disconnects I had built from a kit.  I wasn't entirely happy with how the disconnects had turned out, so I decided to replace them.  Incidentally, they were the original freight cars numbered 14 & 15 on my layout.

I cut off the brass wire protruding from the bottom of the bolsters, then filed the bases of them flat.

With that sorted, I cut the boards I would need for the rest of the flatcar.

I've found that I get good results by staining each board individually, in a 50/50 mix of water and black acrylic paint.  After dipping each board in this mixture, I placed them on a sheet of greaseproof paper to dry off.

While waiting for those to dry, I returned to the chassis.  I cut a gap in each of the end boards for the coupler, then used a file to ensure it was flat and square.  Once that was done, I painted the side and end boards in the maroon used by the Bradford Valley Lumber Company.  The paint I use for this is Tamiya XF-9, 'hull red'.

For the brake wheel, I took one from my spare parts box and mounted it on the end of a dressmaker's pin.

After the boards had dried, I started putting them in place atop the chassis, using white glue.  I carefully aligned the first board at each end, lining it up with the top of the end boards.  I placed the log bolsters three boards in from each end, which puts them almost directly on top of the trucks.

I then continued to lay the boards down, sticking them in place with white glue.  Working in from each end, I found that the gap for the last two board was just narrow enough to prevent them both from fitting in.  So I filed them both down slightly, until they fit without any gaps.  Once that was done, I stained the edges so no plain timber would be showing.  I chose to narrow two boards instead of one, as the amount of wood that would need to be taken off the one board would have made it noticeably narrower than the others.

With that done, I was able to complete the deck.  I left it aside to allow the white glue to dry.

I have a few pairs of Walthers arch bar trucks, which I had painted grey.  The holes for the bolster screws on these are quite wide, and I didn't have any screws to hand that would fit them.  However, I did have an assortment of NWSL washers, which are for use as spacers in gearboxes.  After trying a few sizes, I found that the one with a 3/16" outside diameter and 3/32" inside diameter fit perfectly.  With these glued in place in the truck, I was able to use the screws I had to hand.

Using a no. 70 drill bit, I drilled a hole for the brake wheel at the end of the deck.  I then cut the dressmakers pin to length and test-fit it.  The brake wheel assembly was then painted maroon and left to dry.

While that was drying, I turned my attention to the underside of the freight car.  After gluing the truck bolsters in place, I added the beam underneath.  This was made from two coffee stirrers, cut to fit between the two bolsters.  Once they had been cut to length, I cut the ends at a 30-degree angle.  The Tichy chassis has a raised beam along the bottom of the chassis, with two thin slots running either side of it.  This is for the plastic beam from the original kit.  I filled each of the slots with CA, then put the cut coffee stirrers in place.  I ensured that they were perpendicular to the chassis, then added some extra CA on the inside to secure them in place.

My next step was to add lead shot between the two sides of the beam.  I built this up in layers using CA, ensuring each layer was dry before adding the next.  I ended up adding three layers before reaching the top of the beam.  I didn't add wood over the top of the beam, as that would have rubbed up against the truck axles at the ends.  This side will be facing down when the model is on the track, so the open beam won't be noticeable.

After the brake wheel assembly had dried, I glued it in place.  I then lettered the sides, and painted the underside plain black.  Once all that was dry, I sealed the model with a coat of lacquer.

All that was left was to add the couplers and trucks.  The built-in coupler box at each end of the chassis can take a Kadee no. 5, but the lids have to be trimmed to fit behind the end beam.  With that done, the completed car was ready to run on my layout.

I've found that this method can be used to create a variety of freight cars, such as the following examples:

Flatcar no. 4 started out as a general purpose flatcar, with stake pockets along the sides.  In this case, I marked and drilled out the holes for the stake pocket castings along the side boards, then glued them in place.  Later on, the BVLC decided to convert this to a logging flat, and so log bolsters were added.

Flatcar no. 3 is a general purpose flatcar, made in the same way as no. 4 above.

No. 7 is another logging flat, built almost exactly the same way as outlined in this post.

Gondolas no. 12 and 13, (not pictured), were done with metal castings for the side supports.  The deck boards between each support were cut slightly shorter, to accommodate them.

Water car no. 5 is the first one I built that wasn't a 20-footer.  In this case, I just built a flat deck, then added some scale lumber for the supports, with nut-bolt-washer castings on each end, then glued the water tank on top.

Crane car no. 10 is the shortest of the freight cars I've scratchbuilt using this method.  (No. 11 in front of it was done with a cast metal chassis).  I had used two of the Tichy chassis together to create a 30-foot chassis for a member of my model railroad club.  He was going to use it for a rotary snowplow.  I used the end bits I'd cut off to create the 10-foot chassis for this model.  The crane itself is a Backwoods Miniatures kit, which I mounted on a section of 2mm styrene.  A screw in the middle of the styrene base goes into a nut in the chassis, which allows the crane to pivot.

A boxcar could also be built using this method.  If I were doing such a model, I would omit the black cardboard across the top of the chassis, but would still add the side and end boards.  The vertical boards of the boxcar sides would be glued to the side board, and verticals along the end would be trimmed so that they sat above the end boards.

[mlehman]

tb,

Thanks for sharing. It's great that you break scratchbuilding down into many small steps. In many ways, scratchbuilding is a variety of small things, often simple, some times more complex, that accfumulate and pretty soon you have a model -- and a nicely finished one, as I particularly admire  that on models given my own limited skill in that area.

["JaBear"]

Gidday tb, I too would like to thank you for sharing your methods. I must admit that I thought that using the Tichy chassis as a starting point and then adding to it is a rather convoluted method but with more reflection can see your logic as it gives you constant correct heights, without going through the different convolutions that I do to achieve the same thing.

 

Besides the end results do far more than just speak for themselves; like your #7 kit bash, outstanding!!!

Cheers, the Bear.

[hon30critter]

tbdanny!

Great models! Excellent and very thorough tutorial.

Thanks.

Dave

[doctorwayne]

Interesting construction methods and you've certainly achieved good-looking results.

I, too, wondered about the use of the Tichy underframe, though, and some of the construction methods, too.  The following isn't meant as a criticism, as your cars certainly look good, but is merely my thoughts, along with some suggestions.

If you use this car as a standard to set coupler heights, it would be much easier to simply duplicate the measurements involved, such as thickness of the bolsters and centreline of the car.
The entire car could then be built in styrene:  A single piece of .060" sheet styrene (or two sheets laminated together) could replace the Tichy part and the end and side extensions, too.  This would eliminate especially the side extensions, where ca is a less than reliable and often a not-very-permanent choice for such type of joints.  Styrene-to-styrene joints using solvent-type cement are far more permanent, and such construction would permit the fishbelly underframe to also be of the same material.
While the car's sides are intended to represent wood, they could be done as such in styrene, although a car with a steel fishbelly underframe would usually have steel sidesills, too.  Regardless, you could have used strip styrene ( Evergreen ) to represent steel sides or used sandpaper and/or a razor saw to distress strip styrene to represent wood...again, the bonus in using this material is the strong bond offered by such all-styrene construction.

For weight, sheet lead is a good option.  It can be cut with a utility knife and used either in sheet form to cover the underside of the floor to either side of the fishbelly frame, or rolled into a solid mass to fit between the underframe members, in place of the lead shot.  If used as sheets, contact cement or retainers cut from strip styrene will make a pemanent bond.  The latter method is illustrated below, albeit in a boxcar:

You would, without the Tichy coupler pockets, be able to use whichever Kadee coupler and draught gear box best suited your needs - the narrow to-scale (in HO) might be an option, but pretty-well all Kadee draught gear boxes can be screw-mounted to the styrene underbody.

The log bolsters/bunks could also be easily made from styrene strip material and done either as all-steel fittings or as wood ones with steel details.  There's a vast array of nbw castings available in styrene for such details (and that again goes back to the strong bond offered).

Were I doing that car, I'd also do the deck in styrene.  Properly distressed and painted/stained, it can look more like real wood than wood itself, as the grain of real wood seldom scales down as well as we'd like.  Of course, that strong bond comes up here, too.
  Your wood decks do look good, but on otherwise all-styrene cars, contact cement would have been a good choice to bond wood to styrene and very permanent.
The other advantage of styrene is the speed with which you can work.  That's not always important if you're building only one or two cars, but can come into play if you need 10 or 20 of the same type.

I also like those gondolas and the crane car looks good, too.  I'm a little surprised by the water car, but the rectangular tank is certainly unique.  Other options could have been the tank from an  HO tankcar on a similar flatcar, or perhaps a short, re-purposed tender, like this one.  The bunker area was cut open and modelled, with a few tools and some junk tossed in:

This water car, for firefighting purposes, belonged to a lumber company in northern Ontario:

If you wish to build more house cars, Evergreen also offers sheets of scribed car siding, suitable for O scale, and Grandt Line has, I believe, O scale door hardware and other details, all in styrene.

Wayne

 

[brochhau]

Thanks for posting this. I've been wanting to try something like this myself. I appreciate you sharing your efforts! 

 

Scott