That’s about it guys , especially the crossed eye part . That’s when I cross my eyes and glue my finger to the part I just spent a hour to make. Thank God for sandpaper and Squadron green putty.
We didn’t know you were cross eyed Mike until Maynard and Devon told us.
After about a hour or so the eyes start to play tricks my friend .
Lou Luczu said:
You forgot the part about gluing your fingers together.
Gluing my fingers together isn’t so bad. It’s when I glue my fingers to the work surface, a tool or the model that it gets interesting.
I made a little more progress on my car . I finished the “A” end of the car and am now waiting for the parts from Charlie Roe . I have all the brake parts from a USA single platform stack car coming . The “A” end got the platform installed . I used some platform material from another stack car for that. I cut it 5’6" x 1’ and framed it on the front side with Evergreen HO scale 2 x 4 and the back side that will attach to the car with Evergreen #292 “L” angle. The platform brackets were made from a piece of .030 plastic . They were cut into a 1’ square and then notched out to become a “L” shaped bracket . Because of the angle of the large center braces I had to shim the top of the platform with Evergreen HO scale 2 x 2"s #8202 to make the platform level. To the right of the coupler I installed a air pipe made from Evergreen #213 solid plastic tube . The air valve is a small plastic tube from my scrap box , epoxied to the #213 and after it dried I drilled a small hole through the tube and glued in a piece of brass wire bent into a L shape to represent the valve handle. Anyhow that’s it for now , hopefully my brake parts get here today .Here’s the picture of the real car that I am using for reference. .(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0820.JPG)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0821.JPG)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0822.JPG).JPG)
It took a while for me to get my parts but they did get here so I could continue . I’m seeing the finish line sort of speak. I started by cannibalizing the brake stand . I used just the piece that the brake wheel attaches to . I epoxied the chain to it and then mounted it to the car with MEK . I then built the end platform and mounted it the same way as the “A” end . The chain goes through a hoop looking thing and a roller and then the end of the chain is epoxied , out of site under the car. With the brake end done I flipped the car over and started on the bottom. Here are some pictures of the brake parts that go under the car and are seen from the side. I took a piece of Evergreen #258 rectangular tubing and modified it by making the ends into a “C” channel , leaving the middle alone. In the middle of the untouched section I glued on #153 .060 strips about 6 inches long. I then added a lever arm that the chain will be attached to. I still have some more small parts to make and attach . I hope the photos explain it better . Oh , I forgot I also made the end corner steps out of aluminum strip and mounted them with epoxy and miniature screws. (http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0830.JPG)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0825.JPG)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0827.JPG)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/IMGA0826.JPG)
This is absolutely fascinating. Amazing attention to detail and top notch work. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Thanks Matt !
I can finally say I’ve finished assembling this car . Got all the brake parts mounted under the car and all the piping and brackets too. Tomorrow i’ll pick up the paint and get some color on it. I wish I could explain what I did under the car but there were just too many little parts like rods with holes drilled in them and small .015 plastic hoops that the brake rods pass through. So anyhow I thought i’d post some pictures as of today of the finished car. I’ll take a couple more pictures tonite when my camera battery charges back up. Thanks for following my progress. (http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0832.jpg)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0833.jpg)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0834.jpg)
Great work Mike.
Shane
Well done Mike.
I wish I could explain what I did under the car but there were just too many little parts like rods with holes drilled in them and small .015 plastic hoops that the brake rods pass through.
Right at the finish you hide the details (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Hollywood, yea. You know how it is. When you get close to the finish line you go all out…and taking pictures, and writing commentary, somehow seams to get neglected.
Batteries charged , took a few more pictures . I built the bottom with the major parts mounted on the car as I see them in the pictures from a side view. With that said it doesn’t accurately represent the brake system if the car is viewed upside down but I don’t care. I’ll be happy if most of the parts are still on the car by September . Stuff happens . This car will probably see a lot of miles on it in the next few months.(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0838.jpg) (http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0840.jpg)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0841.jpg)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0843.jpg)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0845.jpg)
That’s it Dave , when I was nearing the end I lost track of what I was using and a few times had to redo locations of things . Keeping a step by step record went right out the window. Hope the pictures help a little.
Mike it was fine before. You gave enough info during the build the only other thing you could have done is built it for us. Oh wait, you did build it.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Are you planning to trash it with weathering???
Is it real, or scale? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Nice work.
this is incredible workmanship
keep it up!
Thanks Dave and John for the comments . Yes Sean i’m gonna weather it . I really enjoy that part of the project. I painted it today and when it was done and I put it on the shelf next to my centerbeam car and I noticed I used a different shade of yellow on it. It was really much brighter of a yellow. When I went down to the workshop I saw I used Badger Model Flex 16-54 Railbox yellow and not 16-168 Trailer Train yellow . Oh well , I was in a hurry to see it painted. I guess it will be a good base for the right color . Its kind of hard to see the difference in shade in these photo’s but its really noticeable if you were to see it in person…(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0849.jpg)(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/todus2/gondola%20load/imga0850.jpg)
Mike,
I’m coming to the party kinda late here but, …Great build, beautiful workmanship.
Excellent documentation of the build, and a great outcome.