Scratch Built Rolling Stock

[lock4244]

Pud, I love that express COFC flat... I remember you posting shot pics of it a while ago. Can't remember if its in the Morning Sun book 'Canadian Pacific - Lines East' or Omer Lavallee's 'CP in the East - International of Maine Division', but there are shots of your handiwork's prototype on the Atlantic, so they weren't just on the MTL - TO corridor.

Daniel, that transfer hack looks amazing! You're too modest.

[SkipGear]

Here is the closest thing to a scratchbuilt piece of rolling stock I have. This was done about 2 years before the JNJ kit came available. It actually started as an I-17 bay window resin kit from Camden and Amboy. The kit was so badly molded and out of square that I striped it of all detail and started massaging it into an I-5 wagontop (I know the road number is for an I-12, it's one of those projects I plan to revisit later).

The only before shot while it was still intended to be an I-17:


After:



Most of my scratching is still aimed at loco's.

[wm3798]

Here's my entry for the kitbashing department.  Atlas fishbellies stretched into 66 Ton H-21's.

Lee

[Iain]

My one completed scratchbuild is a Dismal Swamp RR 42" gauge flat car with a kit built steam donkey







Tha flat car itself is mostly juniper scraps from the NC Maritime Museum boat shop that I cut down with a couple of pieces of basswood.

I've also recently been doing some work on my infamous Babyface DR4-4-1500




I don't know if this counts, but since I plan to use it on the layout and it is N scale, I'm going to post my scratchbuilt shadboat



It's about 25 scale feet long.

[cv_acr]

Not rolling stock, but about the same size:



Modified 40' boxcars into woodchip gondolas:

[Philip H]

Foobie woodchip gon I did in the early 1990's to an article on the HO version.  I think it was either Mainline Modeler or MR.  The paint shceme is the paint and decals I had on hand - but considering that grey/primer loco pic that keeps making the rounds, I don't feel so bad.

All it needs is a tad more weight, some FVM wheels, and a little more weathering . . .

[mcjaco]

Most of my scratching is still aimed at loco's.

Tony, where did you get the trailing truck for that? 

This thread is making me rethink my Soo Line Laker project.....

[SkipGear]

Tony, where did you get the trailing truck for that? 

This thread is making me rethink my Soo Line Laker project.....

The trailing truck is a stock Model Power Delta truck. They come with a few versions of the Pacific and come with the most recent undecorated versions. When I found out about them initially, I ordered a half dozen from Model Power as parts. I think the last person that tried to get them said they were out of stock but it doesn't hurt to try again.

[bbussey]

I wish regular work and ESM work left more time for modeling so I could finish some stuff.  Here are two projects I hope to finish by the spring.  The masters are rapid prototype cores with etched brass overlays, from which resin castings were produced.

New Haven NE-5 body that fits on the Atlas NE-6 underframe.  Etched brass roofwalks on the casting.  Still have to design the end sills and ladders, and patch/sand some rough spots.



New Haven turtleback roof baggage car.  WOT roof vents on the master, WOT bathroom vent and four-wheel baggage trucks on the casting.  The casting still needs ladders, window glass and diaphragms, which are all available commercially.  The PolyJet rapid prototype resin on larger models isn't as resilient as the polyurethane resin used to make the castings, which is why it is stored on an aluminum core cut to size.



The fineness of resolution still isn't there yet for the PolyJet resin, even with .0006" layers.  I think the trick for future models is to use the PolyJet as a core only and cover the entire outer surface with brass overlays, which I'll try in the future.

[sirenwerks]

Modified 40' boxcars into woodchip gondolas:

Chris,

Those are HO right? Or is someone making an undetailed PS1 car end in N scale?

[cv_acr]

Modified 40' boxcars into woodchip gondolas:

Chris,

Those are HO right? Or is someone making an undetailed PS1 car end in N scale?

Yeah, they're Intermountain HO.

[sirenwerks]

Modified 40' boxcars into woodchip gondolas:

Chris,

Those are HO right? Or is someone making an undetailed PS1 car end in N scale?

Yeah, they're Intermountain HO.

Curses. I wish IM would get on the ball and produce the PS1 car in N, as a kit. A huge portion of the WP's boxcars had late PS1 ends and trying to use Athearn's PS1s to replicate the diversity seems more daunting than working with IM parts.

[wm3798]

Another rescue from the junkbox...  The donors came from Ed's bottom drawer.  They must have risen from the bottom getting ready for the big move today.

Here's the original "Hecho en Mexico" by Aurora:


The lack of trucks disguises how horrendous these cars actually are.

Here's the result of a few hours of labor, and a bunch of stuff I had laying around:


Improvements include:
Removal of some cast on details,
addition of a Gold Medal Models brake wheel and separate ladders,
removal of odd sidewalls,
modifications to underframe to lower the car close to 2 scale feet,
installation of MT body mount couplers,
installation of Roller Bearing trucks with metal wheels (Con-Cor trucks from the junkbox.  The wheels had already been lifted for another project.)
Flanges turned down for c55 track operation (wheels were old darkened metal pizza cutters, I believe from a Life Like car.  I chocked the axle in the Dremel and had at them with a file.)
paint and decals
weathered deck.

So, the only "new" parts were the ladders, brake wheel, and couplers.

Lee

[wcfn100]

I remembered that I did have something else in the unfinished department.





It's mind boggling to think that here it is, ten years later, and I may still need to finish this stupid thing to have an 89' flat other than MTL's excuse.

Jason

[DKS]

Strange... where's Chris Schmuck? Just about everything he does is scratch or close to it. He could add about five or six pages' worth of stuff here...