Mike Oates is a frequent operator at the J&B RR. He indicated that he would like to have a ventilated boxcar for his own layout, so I decided to build yet another. I have a few AMS flatcars that I bought at a special sales price last year. Wish I had bought more! I will use this as a base for this car, along with some Ozark Miniatures siding. They also have some printable fruit crates, but they only come 4 to a sheet of paper. I decided to make my own. A quick Google search yielded some great labels and I put together a sheet of them, along with a sheet of crates - 8 to a page.
I cut the ends to fit, along with some vent openings, along with slots for the couplers.
The sides were laid out and I drilled some holes to help make the cuts.
The little MicroLux scrollsaw does a great job of cutting the openings.
I framed the openings with some 1/8" angle pieces, and added brass rod for the vents. I was able to save the coupler mounts from the flatcar by cutting them off of the end.
I glued the labels on some blocks of wood and put them in place in the car.
I printed some wood siding from Paper Creek Models and glued it in place on the inside, including the roof.
I made the top door slider from a couple of pieces of brass. Once again, I’m trying to create the impression of a Hutchins All-Steel roof, using some styrene and NBW.
