I noted I don’t post a lot of “in progress” work so I thought I’d start with this project. Again I found the major manufacturers lacking what I wanted in Fn3. Not a big market I guess. I wanted several outside braced and composite box cars for my own railroad but no way to purchase them. Along comes a great deal on ebay for some Bachmann Spectrum flats…And it begins. I thought the flat makes an ideal base for an early box car, an added bonus is they come complete with most of the hardware…full under body detail, brake system, couplers, lift bars, brake wheels, sprung trucks, metal wheels…you get the idea. AS RECIEVED:
First I stripped off all the detail parts for use later on the box car. I sawed off the stake pockets and used a utility knife to remove the bolt details. Then I trimmed the deck boards even with the side of the car. This was followed with a vigorous sanding with heavy grit paper to roughen up the sides to accept glue (The car sides will go over this area so appearance is not critical but a good gluing surface is).
That’s all for now. My Evergreen plastics order should be here any day now…More to come!
Here is the car I am basing the build on…
