"How To" series: Making a boxcar shed (few pics included)

[tstage]

Greetings!

Do you have any old boxcars just sitting around that you don't know what to do with? Here's a simple idea of turning a retired wood boxcar into a useful trackside structure - just like the railroads used to do.


(Click pictures to enlarge them)

Materials needed: (Either wood or styrene can be used)

(1) Shell - Accurail 40' boxcar, with ridge walk and brake wheel removed

(1) Floor - 1-1/8" x 5-1/2" x 1/16" thick sheeting

(4) Floor standoffs - 1-1/8" x 1/2" x 1/16" thick sheeting

(1) Roof substrate - (2) pieces of 5-13/16" x 5/8" x 1/32" sheeting

(2) Fascia boards (long) - 2 x 8 dimensional lumber x 5-7/8" long

(4) Fascia boards (short) - 2 x 8 dimensional lumber x 1-3/8" long

Roofing: Silcone Carbide sandpaper: 320 grit (black)

X-acto blade: #11

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DISCLAIMER: I got the idea from an American Model Builders boxcar shed and depot kit that put together last year. I used a 40' Accurail boxcar for my project. Obviously, dimensions will vary in the type of car used and between manufacturers. Sorry for the lack of pictures to the tutorial. I thought of it AFTER I had put everything together. [:(]

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Construction
1. Remove center ridge walk from top of box car shell. Remove brake wheel from box car end, if desired.



2. Spread boxcar shell apart with your fingers. Press floor piece up inside of shell until it butts up along inside ridge, where the frame would rest. A proper fit should yield a 1/16" between the bottom of flooring and the bottom of the shell.

3. Glue the (4) floor standoffs to bottom side of flooring, as shown. The bottom of the standoff should now be even with the bottom of the shell. To give your shed a more "off the ground" look, glue 1-1/8" pieces of 10 x 10 dimensional lumber to the underside of the shed. (See first and last picture for details.)

4. Center and align one of the roof substrate pieces so that one edge is right along the center line of the roof. Glue with CA adhesive. Repeat process for other side. Let dry.


5. Glue long fascia boards to edge of roof. Make sure that the fascia board is parallel with the sides of the boxcar.


6. Glue (2) of the short fascia boards to end of roof so that they align with and overlap the longer fascia boards ends.


7. Glue the other (2) short fascia boards along the top edge of the short boards you just glued to to form a taller piece. Let dry.

8. Once the short fascia boards are dry, use an X-acto knife with a #11 blade and trim off the excess fascia sticking above the roof.

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TIP: You can lay the boxcar on its end and use the roof line as your trim line.

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9. Use a file to file all rough edges and surfaces smooth.

10. Cut roofing piece so that it overhands each side by ~1/16". Crease roofing so that it lays flat over ridge. Glue roofing to roof with wood glue, center, and let dry. For layered look, roofing can be cut into strips.

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TIP: After 10 minutes, when wood glue has had a chance to skim over, clean off ANY excess wood glue that oozes out from underneath roofing BEFORE it completely dries.

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11. Paint top and underside edge of roof with Polyscale Grimy Black. Paint fascia and boxcar desired color or simply weather original paint scheme.



There ya' go. The railroads were resourceful and saved money by (re)using the discarded and unused items laying around their yards. Now you can model your railroad just like the real ones used to.

Enjoy! [:)]

Tom

[electrolove]

Nice tutorial, I like it!

[dknelson]

Not just railroads made use of old boxcars in this way.
Drive around rural parts of Illinois and you'll see plenty of old boxcars and reefers used as sheds. Some are wood outside braced, some are all wood. Usually they are painted the same red as the barn. Some are stand alone, some are integrated into other structures.
Dave Nelson

[simon1966]

Good idea Tom, I have a candidate for this. It had a broken truck, so rather than put it back into revenue service, I think I will turn it into scenery.

[pcarrell]

I just shot a pic this weekend of an old U.S. Navy boxcar thinking that it might be cool to model this. Check this out;



This tutorial is not only great, but timely! [8D]

[tstage]

Philip,

Thanks for the pic. [:)] I kinda like the "quonset hut" roof but the 55-gal barrels make me nervous. However, the paraphernalia around the shed does give it some unique realism that I might have to employ on my layout.

Tom

[pcarrell]

I'm not sure what's in the barrels. They do add a nice cluttered look though.

Notice too, it's not setting level. It really has that "it was just dumped here" look.

[tstage]

Philip,

In your picture, was the boxcar shed bottom sitting on the ground, or was it up off the ground on railroad ties or sitting on something?

Tom

[pcarrell]

Right smack on the ground. It rests on some ballest, but thats it.

It's a lot smaller then a regular boxcar too. You can just make out the shed in the back of this pic.

The orange piece of equipment is a B unit pictured here;


That's probably about the best size referance I can give you with the pics I've got. I'll be back out there in a week or two so I can get more info then if needed.