Resin Car Works blog manager Eric Hansmann has been working on replacement boxcar roofs. Here are his notes.
I model the mid-1920s and have benefited from recent Accurail models of the Fowler boxcar and the 36-foot double-sheathed boxcars. Several have been added to my fleet with detail upgrades but some of the Fowler models need a metal roof to reflect the prototypes. I thought I’d build a few Murphy XLA roofs for the models.
Bill Welch, the Xxtreme Modeler, shared more images of his M-K-T boxcar project. Here’s Bill with a few notes.
Better door rollers were created by harvesting these small pieces from a Tichy Youngstown door set, part #3055. The locking levers were made from 0.015-inch diameter wire that was heated and flattened.
Small details can add to the look of a model. Grain clips were made from small rectangles of thin styrene and glued into place. A defect card holder and towing loops were also installed. Rivets were harvested from an old Athearn boxcar kit and installed where the bolster and cross bearers connect to the side sill. Gussets and diagonal braces on the original car body have been carved off.
Placard boards need to be installed on the car ends and doors. These are easy to build with some styrene and replace kit parts that are often too thick with exaggerated space between boards.
Here’s a view of the right side of the car. The new prototype appropriate details are easy to spot and have improved the model appearance.
Here’s the link to Bill’s previous post on this M-K-T boxcar project. He promises to share more soon.
What’s on your workbench?
Bill Welch (The Xxtreme Modeler) shared images of a recent project. He’s working on an M-K-T War Emergency boxcar. He’s rebuilding the underframe using a Branchline reefer underframe as a starting point.
Styrene rod was installed for the train line with a 3D printed T-connection for the air line connection to the brake valve. The black dots are Archer rivets.
The body is from an Intermountain War Emergency boxcar kit. Bill has been whittling details off of the car body before the roof is glued into place. This will stiffen the box so the floor can be cut out. Eventually, he will shorten the 5/5 Dreadnaught ends.
Bill works from the prototype and is using this image for inspiration. He has not yet decided if the car will be painted boxcar red or Sloan Yellow, which is how they were delivered from the M-K-T shops.
What’s on your workbench?