Post by CP_8530 on Sept 4, 2013 1:45:36 GMT -5
Here's one that I've been working on for a while, put aside for a year or two, and finished up just recently. There's a few rough parts, but overall I'm happy with it:
Maintenance of way stuff gets no love. Partially because 99% of the time, it's sitting tucked away in a yard or backshop out of view, waiting to head to a derailment or train wreck. My cheap stock crane kit needed a boom tender car, and all I had was a cheap Athearn kit (see: www.railroad-line.com/forum/data/tompm/2004105104812_caboose.jpg ) that didn't even look close to what CP had. So, some investigative work turned up a prototype to convert it into...
First, a few notes about MofW stock, specifically work train equipment: on a railway, it's usually converted from old, worn-out, or retired cars that would otherwise be scrapped. Except for more complex purpose-built things purchased from 3rd party manufacturers (snowplows and cranes), much is adapted in a railways' own shops from their own old flat cars, gondolas, box cars, and even old passenger cars. For their cranes, CP typically needed a boom car assigned to each, and made them using old flatcars. A boom car serves as an idler, making up for that length of boom that sticks out the end of a crane and allowing it to travel with other railway equipment without removing the boom. Often, the car has a shack built at one end for storing blocking, rigging, chains, outrigger supports, and even crew sleeping bunks.
Our old kit was a stock 40' Athearn boom tender flat, and most of CP's boom cars were converted from old 50' flatcars. Looking hard, a photo or two of old 40' cars were found that reasonably matched our model (see: www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_rolling/414476.jpg ) and the game was on. The final model was intended to be built as a reasonable conversion, and as such a few minor compromises were made to avoid having to make more work.
Initially, the kit was disassembled and most of the cast-on details were removed and patched. The roof coupola was removed and patched, the windows were filled in and patched, scribed to match the wooden sides, and new openings cut on each side. Custom window frames and glass was fitted. New grab irons were added all over, some from the parts bin and others made from metal wire. Cut levers were added at the ends, as well a ladder, roofwalk, and old style top brakewheel. The entire "shack" was also moved to the end of the platform, rotated 180 degrees, and raised up about a half a scale foot with styrene also scribed to match. Most of the stake pockets were removed and some reapplied. The toolboxes were cut back to about 1/3 of their length, and new wooden siding made from styrene along the middle area. Shaved Kadee #5 couplers and TLT metal wheels in MDC Andrews trucks were fitted to the modified underframe.
Some of the basic conversion work is below (I didn't take too many photos of the whole build):
I did most of the painting a year or two back, before I became familiar with the airbrush, so it was all brush-painted on by hand. The paint was custom-mixed and thinned to go on smoothly, it was a mix of Tamiya red-brown and black, with Tamiya clear over everything.
The entire car then sat for a while undecalled, until I was in a decalling mood. Various decals from Microscale, SGS and Black Cat decals were used and combined to best match the prototype. Everything was then airbrushed with TLT Flat Glaze over the long weekend, to kill the glossy shine, and all the parts reassembled. Voila, a better CP match than any other car on the market!
Maintenance of way stuff gets no love. Partially because 99% of the time, it's sitting tucked away in a yard or backshop out of view, waiting to head to a derailment or train wreck. My cheap stock crane kit needed a boom tender car, and all I had was a cheap Athearn kit (see: www.railroad-line.com/forum/data/tompm/2004105104812_caboose.jpg ) that didn't even look close to what CP had. So, some investigative work turned up a prototype to convert it into...
First, a few notes about MofW stock, specifically work train equipment: on a railway, it's usually converted from old, worn-out, or retired cars that would otherwise be scrapped. Except for more complex purpose-built things purchased from 3rd party manufacturers (snowplows and cranes), much is adapted in a railways' own shops from their own old flat cars, gondolas, box cars, and even old passenger cars. For their cranes, CP typically needed a boom car assigned to each, and made them using old flatcars. A boom car serves as an idler, making up for that length of boom that sticks out the end of a crane and allowing it to travel with other railway equipment without removing the boom. Often, the car has a shack built at one end for storing blocking, rigging, chains, outrigger supports, and even crew sleeping bunks.
Our old kit was a stock 40' Athearn boom tender flat, and most of CP's boom cars were converted from old 50' flatcars. Looking hard, a photo or two of old 40' cars were found that reasonably matched our model (see: www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_rolling/414476.jpg ) and the game was on. The final model was intended to be built as a reasonable conversion, and as such a few minor compromises were made to avoid having to make more work.
Initially, the kit was disassembled and most of the cast-on details were removed and patched. The roof coupola was removed and patched, the windows were filled in and patched, scribed to match the wooden sides, and new openings cut on each side. Custom window frames and glass was fitted. New grab irons were added all over, some from the parts bin and others made from metal wire. Cut levers were added at the ends, as well a ladder, roofwalk, and old style top brakewheel. The entire "shack" was also moved to the end of the platform, rotated 180 degrees, and raised up about a half a scale foot with styrene also scribed to match. Most of the stake pockets were removed and some reapplied. The toolboxes were cut back to about 1/3 of their length, and new wooden siding made from styrene along the middle area. Shaved Kadee #5 couplers and TLT metal wheels in MDC Andrews trucks were fitted to the modified underframe.
Some of the basic conversion work is below (I didn't take too many photos of the whole build):
I did most of the painting a year or two back, before I became familiar with the airbrush, so it was all brush-painted on by hand. The paint was custom-mixed and thinned to go on smoothly, it was a mix of Tamiya red-brown and black, with Tamiya clear over everything.
The entire car then sat for a while undecalled, until I was in a decalling mood. Various decals from Microscale, SGS and Black Cat decals were used and combined to best match the prototype. Everything was then airbrushed with TLT Flat Glaze over the long weekend, to kill the glossy shine, and all the parts reassembled. Voila, a better CP match than any other car on the market!
