Tichy USRA Hopper build


C

CNR Glen

Member
After completing my DPM steam and power plant build I ordered a set of Tichy USRA hoppers to service it. I figured since I had managed to build both the Tichy Boom car and 120 ton crane with little difficulty these would be a snap.
Just to be cautious I decided to build one and then to other instead of trying to build both cars at the same time. As it turns out that was the way to go because I made a number of mistakes on the first that I can avoid on the second. First the completed first car:
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My major mistake was gluing the frame in backwards. You can't see it here but the brake gear aren't attached quite right. I did manage to 'Mickey-Mouse' it to look okay though.
I'm posting progress pictures of the second build. The one thing I really like about the Tichy hopper are all those seperate brass grabs. It makes the model look right. On the first car the instructions tell you to drill and install the grabs fairly close to the end of assembly but I think it's better to do the drilling before assembly so you can support the delicate structure from the back while drilling through.
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I used a piece of high density foan to support the part while drilling
with that over I assembled the brake gear:
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It's all very well detailed. The instruction include diagrams for all the air piping. I decided not to go that far, it wouldn't be that visible on the layout.

I have found that unlike the crane and boom car these kits require some sanding to get the parts to fit right. The frame had to be filed slightly to get it to fit into it's groove on the bottom of the car. Last thing I did tonight was to CA the weights into the bottom of the car:

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Nice build so far Glen. I picked up a box of five kits, for $25. They are the USRA rebuilds. There was supposed to be six, but the previous owner decided he didn't have the skills to put them together. He trashed the one kit he was building and sold the rest to me.

One problem that I did have was with the decals. They were garbage.:mad: Many of them tried to disintegrate on me. They, at least on this model, pretty much stayed together. On one end, the decal did fall apart some, but I got it fixed enough to work. I don't know if it was a matter of how he store the kits or if they were bad to begin with.

If this isn't an undecorated model, I would take a small decal off the set with the car, and place on a piece of styrene and see if it falls apart. If it does, you can either replace them with others, or use Microscale's decal film and paint some new film on the decals and let them dry before application. I didn't have any with these models. I had ordered it but it hadn't come in yet.

Anyway here's a couple of pics of one of the 5 I built. 4 are C&O, and the other is a Wabash.
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And the brake end.

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Thanks for sharing the pictures, Carey. Mine are the undecorated since I'm decaling them for Canadian National. The hardest part there was tracking down decals for them. CDS made them but they went out of business and sold off a number of years ago. I phoned and E-mailed about 10 hobby shops and distributors before I was able to find 2 sets.
 
Yes thay do. I might look for more later

I managed to glue the ends onto the hopper body. These required some sanding to make them fit right.
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I also glued the brake cylinder to it's pad on the frame. This is one of the things I screwed up on the first. I didn't realize that the cylinder had to be installed at this point. I ended up gluing it on when the frame had been glued to the body. That made it alot more difficult.
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Thanks I tried them but they didn't have the CNR hopper transfers in stock any more

I glued the frame and bolsters onto the body tonight:
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Again there was a bit of filing to get everything to fit properly. I also corrected my mistake with the first model and glued the frame on the right way, both 'B' ends together.
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While I'm not going to add the delicate brake piping between the cylinder, air tank and tripple valve, I do plan to pipe the train line in since to's a bit more visible on the completed model.
 
One thing I keep forgetting to ask. On the first model I lost a right side door operator casting (D-6). It was in my tweezers one second and the next, Zing!
Does anyone have a spare?
 
With the frame and body glued together I thought this would be a good time to plumb the train air line into both models
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I used the .020 brass wire that is supplied in the kit. I made the line in two pieces, with the joint under the frame where the red line is. The line is glued in with CA. I fabricated the end hangers/brackets out of some scrap styrene ends, they will be trimmed to size once the glue dries.
 
CNR Glen said:
One thing I keep forgetting to ask. On the first model I lost a right side door operator casting (D-6). It was in my tweezers one second and the next, Zing!
Does anyone have a spare?
Click to expand...

I don't remember, but what type of door release is on the model? I have IIRC a set of Wine hopper hatch releases. I'd have to go through the rest of my parts, to see if I have anything else.
 
How many decal sets do you need? I hace 3 sets of C-D-S decals that will work. I have 1 set for CN twin hopper #560 and 2 sets for CN 2 bay hopper #561. The only difference between these is the road numbers. The CN logos are the same. They come with extra numbers so you can easily change the car #. If you are interested PM me. Ron.
 
I'm sorry I think you misunderstood me. I managed to find the two sets that I needed. Thanks for your help though. If I wreck a set I'll call you!

On a side note I did a quick check of the second set of instuctions. It seems they re-wrote them between the manufacter of my first kit and the second. In the second you plumb the brake gear first, then add the ends. It even comes with wire bending diagrams for the delicate .010 wire between the components. If only I had built this one first!
 
Sorry Glen, those aren't Wine door locks, and so far, I haven't uncovered anything in my boxes of parts, (5 plastic loaf of bread containers), as of yet. I'm still looking.
 
That's okay, I may just scratchbuild a replacement. After a bit of weathering you probably wouldn't see the difference.

Okay on with the build
I sanded the molding pins off in the hopper floor. There are four round pin marks on the floor. I should have sanded them out before assembly but it slipped my mind.
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I also added the cross braces and the large gussets to the interior
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You have an option of either a large cross brace (for an early build) or two tiangular gussets in the center (later build)
Lastly I tied the trainline into the AB system and trimmed the end brackets down
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I drilled a small hole in the bracket to I can attach an air hose to it later.
 
I pretty much finished assembling the pair this morning. I added the doors and their associated hareware parts
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There aren't any pins or guides for the door channels or plates but locating them is pretty easy.
I added the brass grabs. The mounting pins have to be trimmed to 1/16"
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I bought a set of flush cutters from the craft section in Walmart specifically for cutting brass wire. Any extra wire that came through the interior of the car was nipped off with those.
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I also found that the drop grabs fit perfectly ( I did have to re-open a couple of my pre-drilled holes) but the straight grabs were slightly short. I drilled the holes for the straight grabs a bit oversize to compensate.
Tichy gives you these neat car stands that fit into the truck bolsters.
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These will let you stand the car unright without breaking the delicate details (stirups ect) off.
Then I finished the pair off with the manual brakes and the stirups
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As mentioned I used the ajax power brake instead of the staff brake. The kit comes with both brake types but the 50 ton hopper instructions only cover the K brake with the staff brake wheel. If you want instructions on the AB brake and Ajax wheel, Tichy has the instructions to the 55 ton Panel hopper on their web site.
The Stirups and the door operator casting are the last parts to install before painting.
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I'll try to fabricate a replacment casting for the door operator casting that I lost.
 
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I scratchbuilt the missing door operator. It looks a litle crude in comparison to the kit parts but keep in mind it's small size:
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Once it's painted and the car has been weathered I'm counting on it blending in.
I'll be priming the cars in the next couple days.
 
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