A Little Scratch


GaryMc

Member
After returning to the hobby after 20 years things have really changed. Got the narrow gauge bug and can't believe what rolling stock cost and you still have to buy trucks and couplers or layout alot of cash for the ready to run stuff. I'm old school and like to build so i decided to have a go at building a
30' ventilated boxcar, very freelanced from looking at alot of pictures. Still have a few details to add then off to the paint booth. Thoughts and comments always welcomed.
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What an inspiration Gary! :)
Does the door slide open? Sure looks like it does. Are you going to stain it or leave it natural?

I want to learn how to scratch build, too... and recently picked up some stick wood and a really sharp precise clippy hand tool that cuts it square or at any measured angle. Right now I'm still learning how to kitbash plastic.

By the way... where do you get that really cool grooved wood that looks like boards? It adds a lot of realism.

Greg
 
Thanks Greg, the wood you find at your local hobby store if they carry balsa wood, but you can scribe it your self with a little layout time and a metal straight edge with a needle in a pin vise. I plan to paint it when i finish up the rest of the details so stay tuned.
 
"Thoughts and comments"... Very nice, indeed! :)

I, too, am returning to the hobby (now On30) after around 20 years away (HO scale back then). It's sad that I can't do any construction these days without glasses.
 
"Thoughts and comments"... Very nice, indeed! :)

I, too, am returning to the hobby (now On30) after around 20 years away (HO scale back then). It's sad that I can't do any construction these days without glasses.

I just use an array of various magnifiers to compensate...

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...got this nice big glass lense hands free magnifier for $6. :)
 
Finished up and ready to go to work.Used Kadee trucks and couplers and some nut and bolt castings from Grandt line.
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Oooh... nice job, Gary. :)

Cool green, too. I like that little turnbuckle on the truss rod, and the realistic rock background sets it off nicely.

Greg
 
Nicely done. Just goes to show you, like any other hobby, you can spend a ton of cash if you want, but you don't have to.
 
Amazing boxcar, exactly right up the alley of what I want to do.

I would like to populate the new HOn3 expansion of the club layout with some of these, do you mind giving a rough and dirty explanation of how to make a bunch? what parts you used, where you think I could find them, etc etc?

I'm thinking a small fleet of 25 cars or so would populate nicely, a few boxes, flats, and some gons. What would be really good is if I (with your expert guidance) could figure out a standard pattern that I could build jigs for and hash them out.

This would be really good if it enables more newcomers to HOn3 to enjoy it without having to spend $30-$50 a car...

After the club I have my friend who is building a layout in his newly built garage who wants to have an HOn3 section. And I want to help with that too.

Gary, this car is amazing. Please keep up the good work.
 
Build summary:
I used scale lumber for the frame and sheet balsa wood already scribed for the floor and body parts. Grandt line will be your best for detail parts like nut and bolt castings,turnbuckles, brake hardware and door harware etc.... Already had all the parts and pieces laying around from other projects so cost was very small. I used Kadee couplers and trucks, the trucks come with bolsters.The grab irons are from walthers if i remember right. The corner braces are made from thin brass sheet. Truss rods are from brass wire with the small queen post from a handrail stancion off an old tyco engine. NGSL gazette is the best mag for reference on narrow gauge stuff and spent alot of time just looking at pictures and drawings with dimensions, this was a freelance build as my Sierra Pacific lines railroad is or will be...still in the planning stage and just building things for it. Hope this helps some and just build it to scale, i used 3.5mm equals 7 feet and as far as i can tell from a kit i am putting together right now it is right.
 
The car looks great! I have been building some "used" HOn3 kits that were never built. I got them really cheap, and they have come with everything - including trucks. I'm really starting to get into narrow gauge railroading as well. I just bought the Blackstone K-27, and am so impressed with it, I can't wait for the C-19 to be released!

As far as cost goes with some of the built rolling stock, the way I look at it: You don't typically run as many cars with narrow gauge as you would with standard, so you probably are going to spend less anyway. The cars are also really nicely detailed, and run great. As I am experiencing right now, its a lot of start-up cost, but I really think it's worth it for the amount of detail and realism involved.


Keep up the great work on the scratch-built cars, I look forward to seeing more of them!
 
Decided to build some flat cars which i think are harder to build than the box car as weight is a big issue, added some brass sheet at each end for weight which ment having to notch each frame piece to fit.I have 2 complete and 1 to finish up with the small details and then off to the paint booth.
 
Neat!

I have picked up three sets of Kadee trucks and a corresponding number of sets of Sergent couplers so I will be starting something here soon.

So far I have only assembled one of those Kadee trucks and man those springs are a pain. I thought they were bad when doing couplers but I learned that they are even more of a pain when you have to jam EIGHT of them into a truck...I refuse to buy that jig. Not worth it. I managed to do it okay without, I figured out a way.
 



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