F&CC boxcar

[nachoman]

Most hon3 freight car kits are the craftsman variety, and can run $15-$20 for a box of raw materials and instructions. The difference between scratchbuilding and building a craftsman kit is small. I could use another boxcar or two for my railroad, and I decided to build one out of materials I have laying around rather than spend money on a craftsman kit. The basic structure is illustration board, with a stripwood frame. I'll cover the outside with scribed cardboard, probably from a frozen pizza box, and add a few details from the scrap box.

kevin

 

[jim currie]

is F&CC your road name Kevin ? if so there was a prototype for it .

 

[nachoman]

florence and cripple creek was a colorado narrow gauge line that sold off about 200 boxcars to various railroads in the west, including the southern pacific, magma arizona, montana southern, carson & colorado, nevada, california, and oregon... that's the prototype.

My railroad is completely fictional, but I loosely base it on several southern arizona narrow gauge lines - the coronado, morenci southern, shannon arizona, magma arizona, and united, verde, & pacific.

kevin

 

[jim currie]

just wondered if it was the F&CC drove the old road bed many times.

 

[zedob]

just wondered if it was the F&CC drove the old road bed many times.

Phantom Canyon? That's a great drive. Just don't try and take a camper down it. :thumb:

 

[Drew1125]

That is some very impressive work, Kevin!

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[nachoman]

I've added some siding, made from a frozen pizza box. I scribed boards using a needle in a pin vice. It took awhile to scribe all the boards, but it is snowing ouside and I didn't have much else to do.

kevin

 

[nachoman]

here is my progress after a weekend of work. Next comes some doors, and maybe some bolsters and a roofwalk. The trim work near the roof comes from the cardboard box some tea bags came in. I learned white glue does not stick well to the painted side of the box, so I lightly sand this side with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the paint.

kevin

 

[RailRon]

Kevin, your F&CC boxcar looks every bit as good as a car made from the original LaBelle kit.

Heck - I never had even the idea to scratchbuild a kit-built car. You are so right - it really pays off! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

One question, tough: Didn't you have any problems with warping, when you paint the scribed cardboard sides, ends and roof?

Ron

 

[nachoman]

good question, Ron. i havent painted anything yet. But, this car is a wooden, narrow gauge prototype, and a little warping may look good. I have had some warping as a result of the glue, and I actually like the effect. I have a solid backing of illustration board that holds the whole car pretty true. The warping is just in the thin scribed overlay. I have built many things out of cardboard before, and to prevent warping from paint 1) don't use water based paints. 2) airbrush rather than brush paint. 3) if acrylic paints are to be used, an initial light sealant of a spray laquer (dullcote) would prevent warping from the paint.

kevin

 

[Russ Bellinis]

If you want to use a water based paint, you can thin it with denatured alcohol instead of water. The alcohol will evaporate much faster than water will.

 

[nachoman]

a few more details added - all paper or cardboard. The photo is a bit out of focus, but I think you can see my progress.

kevin

 

[Chessie6459]

It is looking Great.:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[nachoman]

two more photos: the first was in the process of making the roofwalk. I cut a bunch of stripwood pieces 9" scale length, and glued them to the roof. When the glue was dry, I sanded them flush and glued a scribed cardboard roofwalk to the top. I've also added bits of stripwood for the coupler pockets, and cut a notch in the sides to allow for coupler installation. It is basically all details now. I'm not sure how to make the poling pocket things on the corners. The rest of the brackets I think I can make reasonably out of bits of cardboard, plastic, or brass. Most are barely visible anyway, so i am not too worried. Here is the prototype I am aimiing towards:

http://www.urbaneagle.com/fcc/ncngbox3.jpg

I'll use NBW castings for the larger bolts, but the smaller ones I may just make a dimple in the cardboard with the tip of a pin to simulate the bolt. I think for the poling pocket on the corner, I'll take a copper wire, wrap it around a nail to make a loop, then solder the loop to a piece of sheet brass.

kevin

 

[nachoman]

i decided to test out my poling pocket construction idea before heading to bed. Not bad, eh?

 

[nachoman]

well, i finished up this project. The only things I bought specific for this project were couplers and some brass wire to make grab irons - the rest I already had onhand in the scrapbox or pulled from the recycle bin. The bulk of the car is made from recylced frozen pizza box carboard. If I was to make this car again, I would look for carboard that had finer fibers because the pizza box got a little "fuzzy" as it was scribed. Maybe 3x5 index cards would work well. I have some wood strips for the underframe, and the structure of the box is ilusration board. Some of the little details are bits of brass sheet, the others are made from the cardboard. the truss rods are magnet wire left from an an electronics project, and the brakestaff is an old guitar string. Paint is model master wood, with polly Scale boxcar red on top. I sanded through the red in places to reveal the wood color to simulate peeling paint.

kevin

 

[McFortner]

Good grief, that looks like one of the ones I saw at the Colorado Railway Museum last year! I wouldn't worry abou the "fuzzyness" much. The weathered wood I saw on some of the really old box cars looked kinda fuzzy in real life!

Great job. So did you weigh them down any?

Michael

 

[jim currie]

great job :thumb: you can get high quality card board at art supply stores called strathmore board its thin and it comes in 1,2 or3 ply that was the standard building material in the early 60's when i started to do modeling.

 

[RailRon]

Kevin, this is an absolutely concours-worthy model! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

I second Michaels opinion - weathered wooden boxcars often have splintered planks, and with the paint chipping off this gives a sort of 'fuzzy' appearance.

Ron

 

[C&O Fan]

Looks great!