So, here we go. My first new topic, with photos.
Several years ago I started a scratchbuild of the New York & New England box car:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-020225102609-538972168.jpeg)
But I made a mistake by installing a wood roof rather than metal:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-020225102608-53893496.jpeg)
It sat uncompleted for the past nine years.
I decided to venture forth and try to repair the problem and finish the scratchbuild. The roof details had to be removed:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-020225102608-538942338.jpeg)
. . . more to come . . .
Michael,
I am looking forward to watching your progress. I wish I could count how many times I have had to rework a freight car because I found a clearer photo or new information partway through a build. In fact I have a scratch built boxcar on my bench that fits that exact situation.
Jerry
Thanks, Jerry. I suppose we all have unfinished projects. This one's been sitting on my pile of unbuilt car kits and has been moved many times as the pile got shorter. It was time to do something with it.
Mike
Michael,
I'm on the front row and have a Diet Pepsi. Let the show begin! ;D
Tom
Hi Mike,
Good see you here. I'll pop in once in a while to look at your progress.
Bernd
Michael!
I'm so happy to have found you here!
You have probably noted this place feels like home with so many familiar RRL members here.
I'll be following you here for sure!
NY&NE is one of my favorite (relatively short lived) 19th century railroads. It dates back to seeing the NY&NE logo on a stone in the adjacent town (Millis, MA) railroad station (which has been preserved.) NY&NE was also a connecting line for the late Craig Bisgeier's Housatonic RR. NY&NE was eventually merged into the New Haven (as a consequence of a lot of typical 19th century financial shenanigans.)
Here's a nice video walk-around the Millis station. It doesn't show the stone with the NY&NE logo, but it does show a lot of the details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txeX0Y1rWbM
dave
Welcome to MF Michael, I'll be looking in on your build..... 8)
Howdy Mike, congrats on the restart of the box car. It looks terrific. I'm looking forward to your build. Have fun, mike
Thank you, Tom, Bernd, Dave B., Dave E., Gregory and Mike. Nice having you along for the ride.
Mike
I covered the roof with 0.005" styrene:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-020225102608-53895946.jpeg)
and added the roof walk:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-020225102608-538961866.jpeg)
I'm back to where I started, but the roof is now correct.
Mike
Looks good. Do you know when the prototype was built?
Looking good, Mike!
Pete
in Michigan
Quote from: jbvb on February 02, 2025, 09:04:50 PMLooks good. Do you know when the prototype was built?
James,
Thank you. I like these early New England boxcars. The earliest Equipment Register I have is for 1885. This car was in a series that was built some time before that date.
Mike
Good to see you here, Mike. Like the rest of us, I'm sure this isn't your first redo. I'm watching too.
George
Thanks, George.
That's a great job of scratch building.
Mike,
Nice recovery on the roof, you would never know you made a mistake.
Thank you, Rick and Ron.
So now you have a nice clean roof. Will you add Murphy Roof style battens?
NY&NE was usually badly cash-strapped, I'm kinda surprised they'd fork out for a metal roof.
dave
Nice work Mike.
Quote from: deemery on February 03, 2025, 07:55:45 PMSo now you have a nice clean roof. Will you add Murphy Roof style battens?
NY&NE was usually badly cash-strapped, I'm kinda surprised they'd fork out for a metal roof.
dave
Dave,
A drawing I have does not show battens, so, nope, no battens on this one.
I think these New England lines could be conservative in their engineering, hence the metal roof rather than the more modern double layer of wood.
Mike.
Quote from: Michael Hohn on February 05, 2025, 10:11:45 AMQuote from: deemery on February 03, 2025, 07:55:45 PMSo now you have a nice clean roof. Will you add Murphy Roof style battens?
NY&NE was usually badly cash-strapped, I'm kinda surprised they'd fork out for a metal roof.
dave
Dave,
A drawing I have does not show battens, so, nope, no battens on this one.
I think these New England lines could be conservative in their engineering, hence the metal roof rather than the more modern double layer of wood.
Mike.
Are you sure it's metal? I'd be willing to guess painted canvas rather than metal, given the railroad and the era.
dave
The question whether the roof was covered in canvas or metal will have to go unresolved. In his book on early freight cars, White says very little about canvas roofs and a lot on metal, so I'm going to go that way.
Meanwhile, I have been working on the underbody. I have no plans to work from so I went with a generic look. Here's the basic work of the timbers complete:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-210225180512.jpeg)
Truss rods added:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-210225180546.jpeg)
The bottom just slips into the upper assembly.
Here's a check of the car with trucks and couplers:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-210225180609.jpeg)
Some weights, a few more details, and it's ready for paint.
Mike
What are you using for angle irons?
dave
Nice work Michael!
Howdy Mike,
The bottom of the car looks well done. Are you planning on adding any brake rigging?
Have fun,
mike
Nice.
Looking good Micheal.
Bernd
Nice, neat work, Mike.
George
I'm in the back row but I'm paying attention to this build. Very nice!
Just took my seat, good work going on here! :o
Very nice Michael. Glad to see you building here.
Jerry
Thank you Dave, Philip, Mike, James, Bernd, George, Bob, Karl, and Jerry.
Dave, I am not using any angle irons, so I don't know what you mean.
Mike, I'm not doing any brake gear. There were several ways of doing the brake system even before automatic brakes, and I have no information for these specific cars.
Mike
Quote from: Michael Hohn on February 22, 2025, 10:33:56 AMThank you Dave, Philip, Mike, James, Bernd, George, Bob, Karl, and Jerry.
Dave, I am not using any angle irons, so I don't know what you mean.
Mike, I'm not doing any brake gear. There were several ways of doing the brake system even before automatic brakes, and I have no information for these specific cars.
Mike
These....
Screen Shot 2025-02-22 at 11.16.10 AM.jpg
dave
Dave,
I understand now. Each is actually two pieces of styrene
Mike
Mike,
Getting caught up here and it is great to see a scratch build from styrene. Looking good for sure.
Tom
Thanks Tom. I enjoy working with wood more than styrene, but styrene is better for box cars. The scribing is not so oversized and the edges are crisper, more in scale.
Mike
Howdy Mike. Great to see you have started this thread here. Always enjoy seeing your builds.
Nice save on the roof, without having to remove the old wooden one.
Plenty, & enough detail underneath.
Looking forward to seeing the painting.
Although I'm not commenting much, I'm keeping an eye on progress. Mike. Great work. You are a master of detail.
Thank you, Rob and Dave.
I'll have an update later today . . . maybe.
Mike
Here we are, two days later, with my brief update.
All details have been added:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-010325100547.jpeg)
Next: on to the paint shop.
Mike
Looking at this a bit more closely, the 2 truss rods half-way in from each side strikes me as unusual. No Air Brake on this car?
(Speaking of truss rods, I dug out a plastic baggage car kit with clunky cast-in truss rods. I cut those off and will replace with more-to-scale rods. I also carved off the UC valve so the look more closely matches the older brake gear on my Ambroid build.)
dave
Before I paint, some weights, made from a couple of large nuts (I bought a box of them years ago.) I enclose them in a styrene box and glue them down to the styrene floor. No loose weights after final asseembly.
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-010325165817.jpeg)
Dave, having no knowledge regarding underbody detail, I decided to leave off the brake gear, including air brakes (I have no information suggesting that these early cars had air brakes) and I followed a contemporary New Haven car for the spacing of the truss rods. I rarely detail the underbodies very much, preferring to put my time into building a credible fleet of rolling stock.
Mike
Mike, it looks very good to me.
Nice job!
Quote from: Rick on March 01, 2025, 06:32:13 PMMike, it looks very good to me.
Nice job!
Thanks, Rick!
Howdy Mike,
I've been following the build and am excited to see it nearing completion. Your modeling is excellent as usual.
Have fun in the paint shop,
mike
Quote from: friscomike on March 01, 2025, 10:20:03 PMHowdy Mike,
I've been following the build and am excited to see it nearing completion. Your modeling is excellent as usual.
Have fun in the paint shop,
mike
Mike,
Thank you! I'm putting off the painting until my garage warms up a bit. That's where I do my spraying.
Mike
Mike,
Glad to see you're getting into it with some projects on this forum.
Car is looking great. Love scratch-built box cars.
Bernd
Great work Mike..... 8)
Micheal ran across your thread and that's a good looking boxcar.
Nice to see you posting here, btw.
Quote from: Bernd on March 02, 2025, 09:59:15 AMMike,
Glad to see you're getting into it with some projects on this forum.
Car is looking great. Love scratch-built box cars.
Bernd
Thanks, Bernd. It's been a while since I last did a rolling stock scratchbuild; it's been fun.
Mike
Mike,
Your boxcar looks great Mike.
Quote from: Larry C on March 02, 2025, 11:17:58 AMMicheal ran across your thread and that's a good looking boxcar.
Nice to see you posting here, btw.
Thanks, Larry. Happy to be here.
Mike
Mike,
The boxcar is looking great. I agree in that styrene is better for scratching building a boxcar. Yours is very well done.
Tom
19th century (asbestos fireproof) roof paint: https://www.pacificng.com/template.php?page=/ref/color/hwjohns/index.htm
dave
Quote from: deemery on March 03, 2025, 05:59:50 PM19th century (asbestos fireproof) roof paint: https://www.pacificng.com/template.php?page=/ref/color/hwjohns/index.htm
dave
Very cool.
Recently completed, save for weathering:
(https://modelersforum.com/gallery/1660-140625103020.jpeg)
The decals were a little large, but to the best of my knowledge the car has the correct dimensions. If I knew then what I know now I would have compromised by making the car a little oversized in height.
By my calculation, this project required about seven years. It was pushed aside repeatedly over the years, but now it's finished. Relief all around.
Mike
Nice sharp car. The lettering going down to the very bottom of the car might be a bit off, but given the wide variation in 19th century lettering, it's certainly defensible. Where did the decals come from?
dave
Dave,
Thanks. The decals were from Art Griffin.
Mike
It was well worth the wait! Great job all around Mike.
Jerry
Quote from: Michael Hohn on June 14, 2025, 01:13:04 PMDave,
Thanks. The decals were from Art Griffin.
Mike
I have a bunch of Art Griffin (hopefully carefully) stored. Any problems applying them?
dave
8)
Mike, congratulations on finishing and the results speak for themselves.
Quote from: deemery on June 14, 2025, 02:46:22 PMQuote from: Michael Hohn on June 14, 2025, 01:13:04 PMDave,
Thanks. The decals were from Art Griffin.
Mike
I have a bunch of Art Griffin (hopefully carefully) stored. Any problems applying them?
dave
Dave,
Yes, they did seem more brittle than I remember. I have some more sets of Art Griffin decals; as I was working with these I was thinking maybe it's time to use them. Have to build the cars first.
Mike
Quote from: Rick on June 14, 2025, 05:39:57 PMMike, congratulations on finishing and the results speak for themselves.
Thank you!
Great looking rolling stock. Clever traps for the weights.
Jeff
Howdy Mike,
Another fantastic job on a boxcar. I can't wait to see it in action.
Have fun,
mike
Beautiful work Mike..... 8)
Quote from: Zephyrus52246 on June 15, 2025, 06:15:04 PMGreat looking rolling stock. Clever traps for the weights.
Jeff
Jeff,
Thank you.
As for the weights, it's about the only way I've come up with to guarantee they do not come loose.
Mike
Quote from: friscomike on June 15, 2025, 07:09:53 PMHowdy Mike,
Another fantastic job on a boxcar. I can't wait to see it in action.
Have fun,
mike
Thanks, Mike.
As far as seeing it in action, that will have to wait. I'm currently trying to get ready for an op session with modern equipment.
Mike