OK, rather than restart a thread that was started three years ago, and since I recently encouraged (read that: nudged, prodded, annoyed, etc.) Chris333 to finish his boxcab with a build challenge on another board, I thought I'd bring this topic back up and see where he was, as well as ask others about their boxcab projects (David K. Smith, did you ever get that Z-scale CNJ unit?) and maybe encourage more builds. Why? First, I like boxcabs. B., there are very few commercially available boxcabs, and most aren't American prototypes. And III, I like scratchbuilding/kitbashing/scratchbashing/etc.
I'll start off with a little about my project. I was working on a
grand track plan (HCD and a half in an L-shape) that was coming along great, but I was quickly realizing that there was no way I would ever get around to building it, much less affording it. So one day, while helping someone on the Z-scale forum design a little switching layout, I got an idea for a
compact harbor switching layout with a car float.
Well, you can't have a harbor layout without a boxcab, can you? (It's a rhetorical question. I don't really care what your answer is, just accept it as fact for now.) And since another member (both here and there) who shall remain nameless other than his first initial, and remaining characters (MC Fujiwara), cooked up an idea to turn it into a challenge, so who was I to disagree? So, here it is, from start to finish.
Originally I was going to do a flat-sided car and add realistic photo sides to it. This came from an RPO car I wasn't going to use (old ConCor car).
IDE (get it, IDE?) even done some of the rooftop details. The "partsboxcab", as it became known, used a little bit of everything. My budget sorta dictated that, so there you go.
I had a pair of these cabeese, so one was certainly an extra. CHOP CHOP CHOP!
A little bit of work and off comes the cupola. Wow, looking boxy already!
Shortened it a bit, after measuring, and remeasuring... and remeasuring my remeasurements. Since I had yet to acquire a powered chassis for the project, I quickly put together a dummy chassis from the leftover caboose parts. I also filled in the roof with some styrene, filed to match. Then I cut out the doors and put them on the sides, filling the holes with more styrene.
I test fit all of the roof components, and wow, it's looking like a boxcab!
Since I was running this on less than a shoestring, I had to get mighty creative, even when it came to tools. Did you know that Legos were so versatile?
Meanwhile, I was able to do a little horse-tradin' and got me a powered chassis. The Kato 11-107 was a great starting point. Just a few modifications and it fit right in. Here it is, all put together.
Time for paint. Gettin' there, but way too shiny. A little dullcote and some chalks are up next.
But first, some weight. The unit is too light on its own, so I chopped up the remaining weight from an old RSD-15 and started gluing it on.
Now that's more like it! Here's the almost finished product, shown with some filth applied, and pulling the idler/reach gondola (also scratchbashed) and a CNJ boxcar. I also added brake hoses and touched up some details.
And viola! Instant boxcab... just add effort. I still need to install the LED and some fiber optics for the headlight, and I need to print out the number boards on the laser printer. But I'm quite happy with the results and this was a hugely fun project.
So, anyone else have a boxcab tale?
