Weekend Update 3/31/13

[timwatson]

Tim Watson:  I have no idea what the DL&W called theirs, but it looks like the "War Emergency" cars built by many roads during WW II.  The idea was to save steel by eliminating the side sheets, but to keep the strength of a steel framed car.  Thus, they had the typical steel underframe and ends, but the sides had added diagonals for strength, with boards replacing the steel sheets.  Many of them resembled the USRA cars of the teens and 20s at first glance, but they were built to late 30s dimensions.

NKalanaga wonderful information - thanks a lot. Do you happen to have or know of any of the '30's prototypes out here on the web?

[PaulP]

I find piles of tie plates in yards and along the track so this week I set out to simulate that in nscale.
I started out making some masters out of styrene and after finding my old dentist casting supplies dried out I ordered up some of the smooth-on products.
Found a pressure pot, which I am cleaning up but haven't got ready yet, I decided to try a mold anyway. Looks like the mold turned out with lots of microscopic bubbles which leaves the parts rough on the edges as you might see in the pictures. These things are so tiny it is hard to clean up the edges as they are only .050 by .080. I am starting to build a pile of them one at a time!! I think they will do.


As far as the chicken molds I am having a hard time getting them to fill so I will keep working on that. Nscale chicken head are also very small!!
Paul

[nkalanaga]

The "30s prototypes" I meant were the standard car designs from  the thirties, not any specific prototypes, so, no, I don't know what this one may be based on.  Most roads that buildt War Emergency cars just changed the sides on whatever cars they were building, using their usual ends, underframes, roofs, etc. 

MT's composite side 2-bay hoppers look very much like a War Emergency design.  The CB&Q built a lot of hoppers and gondolas that way, with many of them receiving steel plate sides after the war.  Others stayed wood, and some of those hoppers ended up in sugar beet service on the Northwest after the BN merger.

The NP and GN also used a lot of wood on boxcars during this period, with many of the GN cars having plywood sides.  Freshly painted, they looked like metal.  Besides steel shortages, part of the GN's reasoning was that they had a lot of lumber mills online, but very few steel mills.  Why not support the local industries?

[chessie system fan]

Hold on thar, ...  is that all you're going to say???      How did you make that added frame piece?  How do you screw it in place there,
and where will the steam chest go after this.   LL Berks are nice mechanisms.  A way to convert them to an x-10-x is good news.
Do you have another thread on this that I've missed?

Haha.  It really is absurdly simple.  It only took a few years to realize it was easier to add the addition to the front instead of the rear.  Kind of a facepalm moment when I figured it out.  Basically, the addition is made from bits of styrene and copies the front driver area of the berk plus the steam chest mounting.  The whole thing screws into the original mounting for the steam chest using the original screw.  I've put drivers on it and it works smoothly.  The steam chest is now mounted on the new bracket area in front that copies the original mounting area.

I should note that the top rear looks solid in the pics, but it actually has "side flaps" ...for lack of a better term.  The steam chest mounting area is a tad thinner than the driver area, so I just extended the sides upward to cover it.  I plan on making castings of it sometime since it's so useful.  I also plan on starting a build thread once I make progress on the J's boiler.  I'll have to scratchbuild the whole loco.



I suspect there are additional benefits to this setup too.  As I'm sure you know, the berks are very rear-heavy.  Adding a large weight to the front in the now longer boiler should help balance it.  Also, the berks have two drivers geared, but it was originally designed for three (you can tell by the bottom plate).  Might as well make the fifth driver a geared one and move the two non-geared drivers forward.

Since everything has been moved up one space, the metal posts for the side rods need to also be moved forward.  Nothing that some brass tubing can't handle.

The catch in all this is you need to locate an extra driver set.  I was fortunate enough to acquire an extra mechanism a while back.

[Nilmadic]

I find piles of tie plates in yards and along the track so this week I set out to simulate that in nscale.
I started out making some masters out of styrene and after finding my old dentist casting supplies dried out I ordered up some of the smooth-on products.
Found a pressure pot, which I am cleaning up but haven't got ready yet, I decided to try a mold anyway. Looks like the mold turned out with lots of microscopic bubbles which leaves the parts rough on the edges as you might see in the pictures. These things are so tiny it is hard to clean up the edges as they are only .050 by .080. I am starting to build a pile of them one at a time!! I think they will do.


As far as the chicken molds I am having a hard time getting them to fill so I will keep working on that. Nscale chicken head are also very small!!
Paul

Paul, Check this out...about halfway down the page


http://www.proto87.com/n-scale-track.html

[LIRR]

not much time to get anything done over the weekend, but take some photos...



gotta fix those handrails...


this shot would be awesome if it weren't for the light reflecting off the cab number decal and the cobwebs on the nose. damn good cell-phone camera, the cobwebs weren't visible to the naked eye....
 


things are lookin' up...

[GP38-2freak]

Happy easter...my "Egg" was a older Con-Cor RDC without mechanism  , a Atlas 2-bay PS-2 Hopper "Penn Central"...now what the heck should I do with this RDC?????

[Swing Motorman]

I love the tie plates, they're certainly a detail most of us are missing.  And Aaron, I'm very interested in your J-1 mods.  I'm nervously planning some steam builds myself, and I was wishing for a way to do a J-1.  I'll be watching with interest for sure!

My weekend was blissfully unproductive, visiting family.  But during the past week and this evening, I managed to get 8 cabooses up to standard on couplers and ride height (or should I say "down" to standard for that category?)


The N5c fleet, lowered and all couplers finally on the right height (took a while!)


The rest.  Note the LV "Northeastern" caboose in the background, which also received new wheels and coupler height work.


Please wish me luck on my coming steam kitbashes.  I haven't attempted anything this ambitious before,  but now I've bought the parts I need to start on the first of three major models... hopefully next Weekend Update will be an interesting one for me!


-Steven

[nkalanaga]

For an RDC without a mechanism, I have no idea if you model a prototype road.  If you freelance, at least in part, convert it into a demotored coach.  Regular passenger trucks, a few boxes underneath, diaphragms, you've got a cheap, and unusual, commuter or tourist car.  I don't know if any roads ever did it, but there's no reason it wouldn't have worked.

[peteski]

B&M (and later MBTA, from the vast pool of B&M RDCs) did utilize bunch of dummy RDCs as passenger commuter cars. But IIRC, they still retained their original trucks (with all the mechanical doo-dads removed).

[Lemosteam]

Please wish me luck on my coming steam kitbashes.  I haven't attempted anything this ambitious before,  but now I've bought the parts I need to start on the first of three major models... hopefully next Weekend Update will be an interesting one for me!

-Steven

We're here for ya!  PRR Cabin cars look great too, not sure about that LV unit though 

[Swing Motorman]

We're here for ya!  PRR Cabin cars look great too, not sure about that LV unit though 

Thanks John.  Just wait until the LV crummy is riding behind some PA-2s on a fast freight... it'll look better to you. 


-Steven

[lock4244]

Scott, that bridge is really taking shape... looks awesome!

Chris, that Red Barn build looks great as well. Real soft spot for those motors... and I've a pair to build 'someday'. Can't wait to see it painted.

I trucked three of my slab side covered hoppers, but nothing more. Well, I also did some rough approximating the length of the fuel tanks on CN M420's #2530-2579, which I have at ~17' based on CN Mechanical Department drawings from 1974/75. This is to correct the tanks on some of the Briggs M420 kits that are too long. Now I have to worry about reinforcing the frames, which is something I'd hoped to avoid. Oh well.

[Dave V]

Busy day at Enola per usual...

[chicken45]

Those are Bowser cabin cars? Nice! Like the ride height. I need to lower mine. Z scale couplers make a big difference on them.
I also love the Bowser Trainphones.  I recently enjoyed modeling the wire that goes in to the cupola.