Does anyone know of any model railroad companies who makes the B & O wagontop boxcars? If so, is it a brass model?
In N scale, Fine N Scale Models makes resin kits for the wagon-top boxcars.
Do you know if there’s any in HO?
Was thinking the same thing myself after seeing the article about the “Wagontop” cabooses in MR a while ago - does anyone know who makes kits for these cars in HO?
Cannonball Car shops used to make one.
Dave H.
Hello “traingeek,”
Resin kits for HO wagon-top boxcars have been made by:
Central Hobby Supply, 102 Walter Dr., Syracuse, NY 13206
(315) 437-6630
Web: http://www.centralhobby.com
and
Sunshine Models, P. O. Box 4997, Springfield, MO 65808-4997
You can contact those manufacturers to ask about current availability.
So long,
Andy
Hey, thanks to everyone for their infromation. I’ve come across a couple good sites now and are very pleased with the results. A couple of these would look great running behind a couple of CB&Q sd9’s. If you have any more infromation, please feel free to share, and thanks once again to all of you who helped me.
There was an article by Eric Stevens on scratchbuilding the B&O wagontop boxcar in Model Railroader in May 1953. It is an easy car to scratchbuild – if you are willing to forego rivet detail, as Stevens did. I built one at that time in TT gauge (I still have it).
John
I should have dug farther back into my collection of old mags. In the December 1938 issue of Model Railroader there is an article by Frank Taylor on scratch-building a B&O wagontop boxcar in brass.
If your magazine collection doesn’t go back that far, the Taylor article was reprinted in a 1941 Kalmbach book entitled “20 Model Railroad Projects.” The Stevens article in my previous post was reprinted in a 1954 Kalmbach book entitled “Build Your Own Model Cars and Locos.” Both books as well as the old magazines are available from various dealers in old railroad publications (I get mine from RailPub) and often can be found at model rr fleamarkets.
If you’re patient, you might find yourself rewarded with a very nice wagontop boxcar in plastic. I know one of the very good manufacturers is considering it.
Dave Owens
Manufacturers of brass wagontop boxcars would be Trains Inc., Oriental and others.
Plastic kit with brass detail would be Redball available from mrrwarehouse.com.
Resin kits are available from Funaro and Camerlingo (fandckits.com), Central Hobby Supply and Sunshine Models.
The redball is a craftsman style kit as are the resin.
The FandC is a one peice body.
I have Redball, Cannonball, Trains and FandC in my roster.
Cabooses of this flavor are at Pacific Mountain Scale Shops.
Regards, Mark M.
F&C makes some excellent HO models of the cars. Here’s their lnk:
The cars are resin castings and have one-piece bodies. They offer them in several versions and have a quantity discount. I have 4 and when the last one gets assembled I’ll be going back for more.
Roger
The July 2005 issue of RMC has an excellent article on building both the Sunshine and the F&C versions of the B&O wagontop boxcar. Lots of photos, both of the models and the prototype, plus background info on the prototype. This is part of the ongoing series “Essential Freight Cars”, by Ted Culotta. In my opinion, this is one of the best features ever offered in any modelling magazine, especially if you model the time period between the '30s and the '50s.
Wayne
I have always felt that I had a problem with the lack of wagontops in ready made RTR Plastic such as Atlas or Proto to name a few. I have seen those in O scale and would love to see one manufactored for HO.
Maybe soon.
If not, I may save the pennies and pay a hundred dollars or so for a finished and painted model either in brass or already built.
I’ve heard a nasty rumor that within the next two years, we will see a plastic wagontop come out of one of the high-end manufacturers (Red Caboose, Intermountain, Proto 2000, etc). With yesterday’s announcement of a plastic SP stock car, and last year’s ATSF stock cars, anything’s possible.
I’ll be picking up ONE of the F&C wagontops, and filling out my fleet (I’d like three) once the plastic version comes out.
Funaro & Camerlengo (sp) had resin wagon top kits for sale at the Amherst show in Springfield, MA 2 weeks ago. Had both smooth sides and a car that looked like the local hot rod shop had had at it… vertical rows of louvers on the sides. A couple of the kits had been painted out lettered for the B&O, and looked terrific.
I bought 3 from Funaro and Camerlingo at Timonium. They look to be great kits. - Nevin