Building a (small) fleet of Mount Blue Boxcars

[elwoodblues]

Accoding to the instructions, the next step was to stain the deck and under frame.  I used Hunterline Driftwood to do this.  This is a before and after picture, OK the deck is only half done.





The deck completely stained.





The underside completed.

Thanks for looking in.

[deemery]

There was a discussion on MRH forums on how to weigh flatcars.  Joe Fugate suggested mixing small tungsten balls (tungsten is much more dense than lead) with Portland cement, then filling between the sills with that mixture.  The Portland cement fills in between the balls and provides a dense but solid weight.  

dave

[jbvb]

I  built an Eastern Car Works styrene depressed center flat kit years ago. I filled the openings in the frame with lead shot and secured it with white glue. It's been on my layout for more than 10 years, operating well when empty.  Weight low in the car counts a little more for stability.

[deemery]

I  built an Eastern Car Works styrene depressed center flat kit years ago. I filled the openings in the frame with lead shot and secured it with white glue. It's been on my layout for more than 10 years, operating well when empty.  Weight low in the car counts a little more for stability.

The potential problem with lead shot and white glue together is they can slowly react to produce lead acetate, which can cause swelling.  That's one of the reason for Portland cement as a binder.

dave

[jbvb]

I  built an Eastern Car Works styrene depressed center flat kit years ago. I filled the openings in the frame with lead shot and secured it with white glue. It's been on my layout for more than 10 years, operating well when empty.  Weight low in the car counts a little more for stability.

The potential problem with lead shot and white glue together is they can slowly react to produce lead acetate, which can cause swelling.  That's one of the reason for Portland cement as a binder.

dave

I'll take a look when I next see that car (think it's in staging right now).

[elwoodblues]

Ok,

This is how I weight my cars, it's old fashioned but it works.

For closed cars I use self adhesive car weights 1/4oz car weights that can be easily cut in half to give 1/8oz.  I mount them over the trucks.  This lets you open the car doors without the weights being easily scene.

Now for the controversial part. For open cars I use sheet lead, the type used by plumbers and roofers.  I cut the sheet into thin strips and glue them between the ribs on the underside of the cars.  Because lead has a bad rap (rightly so) I never handle the lead without nitrile gloves.  The scissors I use live in the same box as the lead sheet and are not used for anything else.  I use 5 minute epoxy to glue the lead to the underside of the car.  When the epoxy is dry, I paint the lead, usually a couple of coats of paint.  Whenever I handle lead I always wash my hands after.

I probably won't change my method as I have enough sheet lead to last a lifetime.

Keep in mind that this works well for me modeling in On30 and 0 scale.   

[deemery]

I've scratch-built flat cars where the inside sills were shorter, allowing me to glue a 'full' sheet of lead to the bottom of the car floor.  

Are you using regular kitchen scissors, or something more rugged?

dave

[elwoodblues]

I've scratch-built flat cars where the inside sills were shorter, allowing me to glue a 'full' sheet of lead to the bottom of the car floor. 

Are you using regular kitchen scissors, or something more rugged?

dave

Dave,

I'm using something more rugged like old fashioned sheet metal shears.

[Rick]

Very nice.

[Larry C]

Ron nice looking flatbed!!

[elwoodblues]

Thanks for the comments Rick and Larry.

More progress was made on the boxcars yesterday.  So far I have been following the instructions but at this point the next step is to start construction the sides and ends of the boxcar.  I decided to bypass this for now and install the brake rigging instead.  I have built a couple of these kits before and I find it easier working on the underside of the car while I can still lay it down flat on it's deck.



The diagram from the kit showing the brake rigging.  This is used as the template for bending the main air line.





The main air line bent to shape.





The air line blackened and ready to be installed.  The instructions call for the lines to be painted with a permanent marker (Sharpie) but I have never had great success painting brass rod with this method so I used Blackin-it instead.

[elwoodblues]

Now comes the fun part.

Installing the main air line.  The instructions say you can cut the line in "half" under the brake cylinder to make the install easier, but if you are careful you can install it in one piece like I did.  The trick is to take your time and feed it by the long end.  The air line goes under the truss rods and then under the queen posts and bolsters which gives the air line a lot of places to get stuck of you're not careful.





The ends of the air lines are held in place using plastic eye bolts that are drilled and glued to the frame using ACC.





Where the air line crosses from one side of the car to the other side of the car a "U" made of 0.015" brass wire holds the air like in place.  I made these by bending the brass wire into the "U" around one of the  tongs of a pair of tweezers.  Once bent they were cut to length and painted black.  I drilled mounting holes on each side of the air line and inserted the "U" in place.

Next up is the brake appliances.

Thanks for looking in.  

[Jerry]

It's called patience!  And seem to have a lot of it.  Great job Ron.

Jerry