Scratch built gondolas

[benmaxwell]

I work in a steel mill and we have lots of gondolas running around hauling scrap for the furnace and in general service. Most of these are ex Conrail cars made up of component roads, PRR, NYC, RDG, LV, and EL.

One day I took a good look at an ex PRR G36 and realized that due to it's welded construction I could probably build it from styrene. I took some measurements and drew up a sketch of the dimensions.
I took Evergreen styrene, both sheet and shapes, and proceeded to build an acceptable first model. The ends came from Tichy, along with the ladders, and grabs. The underframe was made from an extended Athearn 50' box car frame.

Over the next year I refined my techniques and built other cars that we had running around the plant.

At our melt shop 65' gondolas are used as spacer cars between the remote drones and the scrap cars. This prevents the scrap bay operators from tearing up the drones.

I built this car from dimensions obtained from one of the spacer cars. It was built with Evergreen styrene sheet and shapes. Ends are from Detail Associates cut and spliced to make 5 ribs. Ladders, grabs, and steps are Tichy. Underframe is a stretched Athearn 50' box car underframe. Decals are from Microscale. Trucks from Atlas


Within the last year a large group of ex NYC lot 120,and 130 cars have arrived in the mill. Some were previously used in hot slab service and had the vertical end ribs and the lettering below the car side. I got dimensions and started building.

This car was built again with Evergreen sheet and shapes, Tichy detail parts, Athearn underframe, Modelers Choice decals, and Atlas trucks.



Every day NS delivers to and picks up cars from the mill and frequently they are ex Conrail cars. One day I noticed a ex Reading car on the outbound track. Dimensions were obtained and I started building. Evergreen sides and shapes, Detail Associates ends, Tichy detail parts, Decals from the Reading Historical Society, and Atlas trucks.



More to follow

Will Jamison

[sarge]

Awesome work Will

[CP_8530]

Great stuff! You've got some excellent scratchbuilding skills there!

[rdg5310]

Will, they are very nice! The Rdg gon looks dead on. If you were a real nice guy, you would share a construction article here on the board with us! ;D Also, very nice weathering on all 3. Looking forward to seeing some more.

[benmaxwell]

Thank you for all the kind comments, since this is primarily a diesel orientated list I wasn't sure how the cars would be received.
I have started a construction article on the cars however it is unfinished. I have also done resin casts of the car sides but have had problems with shrinkage. The sides have shrunk between three and six inches in length. The rubber used in the mold is the problem and I am going to try a different type.

These are shots of of the Reading gon before being painted. The various detail parts can be seen in relation to the Evergreen styrene.

[conrail40]

These certainly have my attention

[RunningExtra]

Will, they are well received here, excellent job on these, the unpainted model really shows your talent, please post more when you can.

[benmaxwell]

The Reading and Western Maryland both had gondolas of the same design built by Bethlehem steel. The Reading's were GHy class and Western Maryland's were class G39.
Again the car was built with Evergreen styrene, and commercial detail parts. Decals were Microscale and what I found in the decal box.



In doing these cars finding decals has been difficult but not impossible. The hardest part has been finding of all things the "GB" for the data. I did find a god supply with the Champ Conrail gondola set which has a large amount of lettering I can also use for PC cars.



The floor is regular Evergreen siding lightly scribed and weathered.

I have dimensions for other cars but no decals are available even through combination's so they remain unbuilt.


A really good resource for information on gondolas of NYC and P&LE railroads is Kahndogs "P&LE's Gondola cars". www.kahndog.com/books.htm

With this book and dimensions from the ex P&LE bulkhead gons we have running around the plant I was able to build the welded version of the GSC bulkhead car.



The car was done with Evergreen styrene, Tichy details, and Atlas trucks. The boards on the bulkhead are individual boards lightly weathered.

The NYC had regular service gondolas in the 130G class.

[icghogger]

Excellent Work, Ben! The bulkhead gon is the BOMB!!

[diesel]

ok, this is the second post and I'm sorry I didn't look here sooner. THIS stuff is GREAT! I think you did a great job on these. With this croud, you're inspiring others to follow in your footsteps... nice observations that these could be done easily because they're welded. You're so right, other types of seams are way hard to render. I haven't tried to scratch a car, but now I'm thinking I will try it out.

thanks, Dan

[stewarttrains98]

very awesome work. Very well detailed and awesome craftsmanship.

[marknycfan]

Well done, I love gons and these are excellent!

[KCSRailfan]

Great job man on these!

[brickbuilder711]

Great job! I have some gons to do myself that may be scratchbuilt. Nice detail

[kcs1967]

great job on the scratch building

[benmaxwell]

Mar 3, 2010 16:10:57 GMT -5 @modelmaker51 said:

What rubber molding compound did you use than was shrinking?

I was using the compound that came in the Aluminite kit, however I've since switched to Smooth On OOMOO-30. It's much easier to use, however it still has shrinkage issues. The latest master I've made is slightly over sized to compensate for shrinkage.