Wood box cars Scratch building and trick shots

[bparrish]

So I'm going after a new build as I am chained to the work bench..... What bad luck! ! ! !

I'm going to build a batch of wood box cars that fit my time era, 1897-1914, and walk you through some steps and trick shots of keeping stuff straight and square.

I got all the wood parts from Northeastern Wood Products and the plastic detail stuff and grab irons are from Tichy.  Both companies are great for turn around times on orders.

I have built so many Labelle and Central Valley cars that this  is not a big new adventure that I need comprehensive drawings.  Also I am not building this for AP judging so I am going to leave out some under floor details.

Here is a photo of the basic box that all cars start from.  The order of construction is important however.  The end scribed wood must go on first.  The sides go on later and lap over the ends as does the roof sheathing so the end is also covered.



Below is a shot of the ends being glued up to the boxes.  Nothing scientific.  I make sure that the bottom edge of the scribed panel is flush with the floor.  This assures that the scribed lines are straight up on the ends.



Here are the six raw car bodies with the ends glued on and waiting for trimming.



More later
Bob

[PRR Modeler]

I'll definitely be following this Bob.

[ACL1504]

Bob,

I'm on this bandwagon as well.

Tom

[bparrish]

Now for the most tedious part of a car build............. tying the truss rods.  I use .010" fishing line for a number of reasons.   It scales out at a fat 3/4" and it is flexible.  If you try and use brass wire in this dimension and you even as much as touch it in any following step it will bend, stretch and NEVER go back where it was.  Fishing line is stretchy and will put up with handling.  It takes paint reasonably well.


I am putting this photo up again as it is now relevant.  The lines are in order from left to right: bolster, string holes, queen post, queen post, string hole, bolster




Fishing line is notoriously slippery so here are a few things to remember.  NOTHING sticks to it and you cannot make it knot tight at the location you want for the stuff we are trying to do.  I learned this while fly fishing and modeling.  Also, when pulling knots tight spit on it a bit and the line will slide into a much tighter knot.  My wife hates when I spit on stuff ! ! ! !


So..... any time you want to secure it, tie a knot as close to where you want it.  Lay it down on the floor of the car and then put a drop of super glue on it.  The glue really will not stick to the fishing line but the knot cannot pull through the glue.

This photo is hard to figure out but there is a knot in that pile of glue



When you are setting the tension for the last time put a round tooth pick in the hole to hold it.  I learned this from my dad when he took up re-caning chairs after his retirement from the Burlington.  He had a ton of little pegs to hold things still while he worked.
Tie a knot as best you can and put a drop of CA glue on the knot.   Then you can remove the tooth pick.

Note also that the queen posts are laying down.  This is to allow for enough load on the string later to pull them straight. 




Now to the finish.  Stand up the queen posts, move them a bit off off of the pencil line and put a drop of CA.  Slide the queen post onto the line and kick it off.

Then you can tension up the lines.



Here is the batch done and ready for the next step.

[WigWag Workshop]

I'm interested! They look great so far.


-Steven

[PRR Modeler]

Great modeling and how to guide.

[deemery]

I did a similar project earlier this year, where I started with shaping some wood parts on my miter saw and then added siding, etc.  Similar approach for the underframe, too, solid floor.    One thing I had to do was mill down the NESL roofs, because the cars I was building were narrower than the default roof size.


dave

[GPdemayo]

I'm in too Bob.....new treat to see a boxcar being built from pieces. 

[bparrish]

So I got a step out of order and Dave prompted me to get this right with his remark about the overhang.

To clean the scribed panels on the end I do a thing called decking down.  It shows up in the car business when you need to flatten or check for flat of a casting that will bolt to something.

I put down a sheet of sand paper and then work it down. In this case I need to true up just the boxes and bring the scribed ends to the box.  The photo below shows the roof over hang off of the sand paper.  I do this over the edge of the work bench.  This keeps the overhang out of the sand paper for the moment.  You need to have a sharp edge on what ever you are using for a work surface.



Here is the cleaned and decked end.


Now here is what Dave was talking about.  The wood from Northeastern has a wide overhang as they cannot know how thick of a siding you will be using.  I use on thirty-second panel so it sticks out way too far.  Below is another decking down process that makes this really easy.  Find a piece of sheet metal just thicker than what you want to have left.   That is, your siding plus a few thousandths of an inch.  Place the metal on the sand paper and hook the overhang on the side of the metal.  The wood will be removed down to a point where nothing is touching the sand paper.  Can't miss .... perfectly straight.  I often use a steel ruler.  In this photo there is the bottom steel weight out of an old blue box Athearn box car.   If your metal is not wide enough then put the spacer metal near the edge of the sand paper and let the lower edge of the car run on your smooth work surface. 




More later
Bob

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Very neat stuff here. Great thread.

Tom

[bparrish]

Thanx Tom....

I need to add something here.   I am not building these for AP evaluation.  A model destined for evaluation must be designed for that from the first moment.  It cannot be dolled up later.

I chose not to have a board and beam underfloor on these that I would if it was to be evaluated.   



To do a board and beam it only needs to have scale 6x6 beams in a configuration of the prototype and a piece of scribed siding facing down.

Here is a photo of a narrow gauge flat car I built about 15 years ago for my cars certificate.   The boards were individual rather than scribed as the prototype had only one layer of wood decking.




see ya
Bob

[Oldguy]

All good tips, albeit about 40 years too late for me.  I loved the LaBelle car kits, other than forming the clerestory end trim.  No Central Valley,but had some Classic Miniatures (?) cars.   You have put a bug in my ear with a LaBelle Gas motor kit that I have, with the power unit.  I always hoped that they would put out the Pagosa Combine in HO as the Frisco had one very similar to it.
Sorry for the hijack.

[bparrish]

I'm back from a few days away from the bench..  A trip to Stanley Idaho, 7200 feet up in the Sawtooth mountains about three hours from Boise.   Some work projects at a church camp that I have worked with for nearly 40 years and some kick back fishing time.

I need to take a side trip here and talk about making up side and roof panels.  The scribed sheets that come from Northeastern and other suppliers are not wide enough to cover the entire side or roof of a 32 foot or longer car.  So measures must be taken to glue those segments together before mounting them to the car base blocks.

Here is a photo of a my first scratch build in 1962.  Those were the days of Ambroid glue ane Walther's Goo.  Neither were very permanent.   The crack in the siding is where there was a seam in the siding.  This is a 28 foot box car that was an experiment on a lot of things at the time for me.  That space was not there originally. The car is still rolling around on  my railroad.   It's just a habit I suppose.


So where this is going to show you how to edge glue side and roof panels.  I started working in a piano restoration house in Chicago in late 1961 at 15 and stayed there through two years of college before Viet Nam caught up with me.

Shown below is the cutting of the side panel at the height of the car you may be working on plus a bit.  This cut shown is eight and one half scale feet.  I use a machinists square to make sure that the boards are absolutely up and down when applied to the base of the car.



I then cut off the first board from the sheet as the manufacturers often do not have an entire board on the edge.  I do this to both edges on all parts before starting so I don't overlook it later and miss on the board spacing.



Now this is the cool part.  Place one of the sheets scribes down on a piece of blue tape.  The tape MUST be as show as it is stretchy the way it comes off of the roll.  Place a second sheet with the scribes down as tight as you can get it.  If there is a space then make another cut and try and get it cleaner.  Losing a few boards on the sheet won't matter.  Now to go on.


Fold the sheet open a bit to produce a small gap.  You will then pull a thin line of yellow glue in this area




Place flat on your bench and wipe off any glue that pops out.  Place a second piece of tape on it and set aside to dry.

[bparrish]

The assembled part should look like this while waiting to dry.


Given at least a few hours, or over night the tape can be removed.  I cut the tape at the edge of the side panel and peel off on a diagonal while holding down the wood.  Once both sides are clear of tape you have a single continuous panel greater than the length of your car.  Some cars may require two glue lines to get suitable length.

The seam will be only noticeable by a change in the wood or grain color but the glue bond is surprisingly strong.


I learned this as working with veneers on pianos, all seams must be built like this before applying to the piano case.

[PRR Modeler]

That is really cool.