Boxcar Blues

Ok, so maybe there is a reason I get Accurail (Inaccurail) cars so cheap! 

 

Let's start by using some glue!

 

First I want to mount some of the clamping pads.  Here is one drying.

Bob's right.  The bright color is easily seen from underneath the layout where there is no light.  It also gives a good contact point for the clamp and can be replaced if needed.

Here is the book full of pier pictures.

I like the loose leaf notebooks so I can take the pictures out.  Each photo is in a plastic sleeve to protect it.  I've also been know to put samples of the weathering materials on the back of the photos and slide them back in the sleeve for reference later.

The Monon gondola needs to go back on the shelf so that I can work on the L&N boxcar tonight, so I'll take a sticky note and write on it the next steps.  This way I don't forget and can match up like paint jobs when I fire up the airbrush this weekend.  Flat black, rust and oxide red.

I'm a fan of the L&N, but this kit has some really bad flash on the plastic.

All of the kit parts are here.  The brake wheels look terrible and if I can find a spare they will go in the trash.  Horn hook couplers are tossed as well.  I have friends with billions of horn hooks.  They just can't make themselves throw them away for some reason.  The wheels (plastic) went into a drawer.

I cleaned up the running boards and mounted them.  They aren't really level so I pressed down on the flat workbench to straighten them out.  My glue stand is missing so I'll have to build another.  Actually I could use a couple of them.

Next we'll work on the frame.  I'd like to run this car with the doors open so that you can see the cotton inside.  So we'll paint the floor area by the door.

 

 

The Dr. Ben's Aged Driftwood is in reach so I'll use that.  One coat goes on easy.  

Next I'll test fit the weights.  The pins are much smaller than the mounting holes!

To keep the weights from banging around I put some silicone bathtub caulk down and will press the weights into the calk.

A quick check of the scale and the NMRA RP guidelines shows the car will be just a bit heavy when I add the metal wheels, which is ok for a small train.  

Next we'll trim and mount the doors and the door guides.  This step goes easy.  I left the doors loose in case I ever want to shut them.  This is a single sheathed boxcar with roof walks and a high brake wheel.  

 

 

The underframe is test fit into the body and we are ready for painting.  I put the steel wheels in the box and sealed it up for the night.

Again I made a note to myself about the paint colors.  That's it for tonight!