Boxing Cleverer (part 2 of the box car story)

It has to be said that I was very disappointed with the roof line of the first box cars. I don't knw how I let myself get away with it I really don't. Any way another couple of attempts at making new ends and working out the most effective of fitting the ends, sides and floors together. (Ends and sides sit ON the floor and the ends fit BETWEEN the sides) Another more reasonable representation of a boxcar emerged from the shops...

Better but still not perfect. I still have a ways to go with learning to apply tiny amounts of CA (superglue) to fit the ladders in place.

Also, this one might actually be a bit tall. Probably by the thickness of the floor (.5mm) Not much you might say. But in T scale that's over one foot and enough to knock the proportions out of whack.

But it looks much better than the last efforts and I have no qualms about using this one as a grounded car body in some kind of scene on a layout.

Boxing (not so) clever

So with the Gondola conquered to my liking I decided to turn my attention to a must have for any US railroad model. The Boxcar. My subject was a 40' model the drawing was found in a google book online. All the dimensions were there so it was an easy, if not somewhat tedious job to convert them to T scale and make a drawing using open office to help to see how to put everything together. The actual construction of the car isn't too difficult just have to be careful. The smallest piece of styrene cut for the mode was the ends which are about 6.5mm x 7.5mm so not tiny. If you've built in N scale you've likely handled smaller pieces of styrene. Here's the picture of the progress complete with some failures in the background. The car is 1 inch (25 mm) long

So there we go. The sides are made from 2.5mm v groove embossed styrene and the ends are .75mm metal siding embossed styrene, with some of the ribbing shaved away up in the eaves area. The ladder is from a ship models etching.

It looks OK. I'm very pleased with the effect created by the metal siding styrene for the ends. I couldn't hope for much better.

The thing that bugs me on this test model is the roof angle. Its too steep. It's difficult to cut a shallow angle when you're slicing through the ribbing of the embossing.

So its another good start. Boxcars can definitely be built in 1:450 scale. Just need to sort that roof out.

excitement

The T scale world is on fire now.
I have just received word that Hankyu 9000's are here in the US and for sale! I think I ordered mine from Japan though, so why haven't I heard anything from there?
On top of that turnouts will be here in April too.
Too much excitment.
Then TrainaidsA has secured some KiHa and Hankyu units in a kit form for scratchbuilders to play with. I'll take some of them then.
Way too much excitement.
Mr Harai of K.K. Eishindo was in the US recently as the guest of TrainaidsA and announced an intention to manufacture US outline loco's and rolling stock! Typical, just as I start making my own...
Way way too much excitement . I don't know how I sleep at night...

O Sole Mio...

That's what those Venetian gondoliers are alleged to always sing isn't it?

But what does that have to do with T scale modelling?

Well, I've built another gondola. This one is based on a picture of a 61' Algoma Central gon. It was chosen because I though that the end detail would be easier to model than the forming on the previous one I attempted.

I was pretty much right. It was a little tedious gluing the 6mm lengths of .5mm strip in place. But as with T scale its one of those tiny tasks that if you are in the mood its no problem otherwise it can be a struggle.

I certainly feel the effort is worth it. It looks right. I have considered making up decals for the end forming of other cars but that will look too flat I think. This still needs some work. So for now I'll be happy with these 2 gons and send them to the paint shop to complete