I was re-reading an old MR magazine about the Grand (yes, without the E) Road, and the author mentioned that he scratchbuilt most of his intermodel cars because the ones currently available were too limited in type and price. That has changed now, but since I’m on such a budget, I was thinking it would make more sense for me to scratchbuild mine instead of buying them.
Does anyone have any sites that could provide plans, tips, etc?
Thanks in advance,
Depends on how much detail and how accurate you want them to be.
By the time you buy trucks, couplers, paint, decals, details (airbrakes, hitches, grabirons, etc) plus the raw materials, you could end up spending almost as much money and way more time than if you bought them. I cast my own 1900 era cars out of resin. By the time I figure in the costs for RTV, resin, tools, trucks, paint, decals, air brakes, etc. making a run of 10 or so cars ends up costing me about the same as a high end RTR model or a resin kit on sale.
You have a trade off in cost, time, and detail. When one goes up, you can trade off one of the other two. If you increase the detail you want, you either have to increase your cost to buy details or increase your time to scratchbuild them. If you don’t have much time then you have to sacrifice detail or increase cost.
The 89 ft flush deck flats or the smooth sided well cars would be the easiest to make out of sheet plastic.
Dave H.
Well, I’m basing this on the fact that I have several of the things I need, couplers, trucks, sheet styrene, coupler boxes, plenty of spare underframes that can be spliced together to be long enough, and time EDIT: Plus a huge scrap box. I do know that some of the modern intermodel cars aren’t that expensive (I got an Athearn 5-unit Impack set for $5 undecorated on sale) but I’d like to be able to say “I made that” It gives you a feeling of satisfaction you can’t get with a RTR or kit.
Just my [2c]
I scratchbuilt 2 Maxi I well car sets for Maersk and TTX in 2004-05 and by the time I bought trucks, couplers, grabirons, weights (argh!) and 4 sets of Plano walkways to get the parts I needed I ended up just over $100 each. That compares almost dollar for dollar with the absolutely wonderful new Athearn RTR models. I’ve also done around 20 of the A-line sets, super d’d Plano walkways, etc and they are about 3/4 of the price of the Intermountain RTR’s on the Double Stack and Thrall cars which are very nice. Always save extra parts, those Impack male/female ends saved my project!! Sorry no pic’s I’m living in storage until August.
While I can appreciate the desire to take on such a project, I have to ask you: Do you have the experience and knowledge to take on such a project so that you can produce a car that looks equal to what is available on the market today in appearance and detail? To me, building such a car is quite a daunting task and I know I’m not ready to try scratch building cars yet.
Just my [2c]
Don Z.
By any chance did you modify the A-Line stack cars to make the Maxi I’s? I have two decal sheets for the Maersk maxi I’s and two sets of the a-line cars, but I don’t have the instructions that show how to modify them. I don’t suppose that you may have said instructions available? Easier solution would be for me to buy the athearn maxi I’s, but I don’t want the decal sheets to go to waste. Any help would be cool, thanks.
Undertaking the project is the best way to gain that experience.
It’s a hobby–nothing serious wil be lost if you screw it up. give it a shot!
Don, I do know what you mean. I think I can produce something that I can run for the meantime, not a superdetailed contest winner, but a basic flatcar (I’m going to try to copy the flats that CSX uses to haul containerized trash out of Boston Beacon Park Yard, they looks shorter than 89’ and therefore would like my curves better) that can be a stand-in for the expensive models till I get the funds to buy the actual models. Plus it’ll build my modeling skill, and I’ve discovered that I enjoy scratchbuilding equipment, so it’ll be a fun project as well.
I don’t think I’ll add many detail parts for now, just trucks, couplers, and a basic underframe. I have several weights in my junk bin, along with an assortment of spare parts from the Impack kit like brake gear.
I’m just going to start and see where it goes. Nothing will be lost if it comes out bad, just some old Athearn underframes from unusable cars, coupler boxes, and a bit of sheet styrene (which I got at Lowe’s for about $2.50 for a 3’ by 2’ piece.
I guess I’ll ask again; does anyone have any basic drawings of intermodel flats? Mine won’t be a model of any specific car, just a generic flatcar. Thanks for all your advice!
Let me suggest a slightly different twist to your project. A number of years ago the NS converted a number of 50’ boxcars to piggyback service. In simplified terms, they basically cut the ‘box’ off the car and added the necessary tiedowns and kingpin post to the deck. The NS was short on intermodal cars, but long on 50’ boxcars so they used what they had on hand.
Do a little research about these cars. if you new what you were looking for they were easy to spot in a passing train. They can hold up to a 48’ trailer probably and are individual cars, not articulated cars. This might also be better for the curves you have on your layout. A little imagination with an old 50’ boxcar might yield some nice results and a unique, but prototypical car.
Tyler,
Maybe your best bet is to scratchbuild a general service 40 or 50 foot flatcar to gain the needed experience, then move on to something a little more challenging, such as the NS car. Then maybe you can move on to the intermodal cars you desire. I know you have some kitbashing experience, but taking it slow and easy won’t hurt you.
Remember, no matter what anyone says, there are plenty of veteran modelers who have gone through the process and have met with significant frustration when their projcts don’t turn out as they expect, and never build anything else after that. Take it slow, and move from one to the next; that will breed success and superior model building skills as you move along.
Good Luck.
JKTrains; Thanks for the suggestion. I remember reading about that, but forgot about it when trying to figure out what to build. I think I may try that.
I was thinking my car would be more of a general service car anyway, the reason I picked an intermodel car was because it seemed to be easier for a beginning scratchbuilder, as they are normally pretty simple, none of those tiedown strap/vertical stake holders on the side and such details. I know I have almost no scratchbuilding expiriance, and I just thought that a flatcar is the easiest piece of rolling stock to do.
I was thinking a simple 50 footer like JKtrains suggested, one that could mainly haul containers and be in general service when needed, or something like that.
Here’s something to consider
I know there’s been articles written on a Twin-Stack kitbash to a Maxi-I (saw off the bulkheads, etc) and A-line shows one on their website. Mine were entirely scratchbuilt out of Evergreen plastic based on a 2-part article in Model Railroading (RIP) from sometime around 1999-2003 (Mag’s also in storage). I started with 080 sides laminated with 020 punched with a hole punch. The bottoms I made a grid out of strips of 040 for all 10 and cut them apart, putting in the angle pcs later. The ends I made of various sized strips in line and sawed each section in a miter saw, then filled them with either Plastic Lead or similar weight product (see “aargh”). All other stuff added on, I used wire for the piping and parts from A-line, Plano, Athearn Impack, Walthers Well cars, etc.
The Maersk set is done with plastic walkways, painted and decaled.
The TTX will have etched walkways and still hasn’t been painted.
There are some photos of the process of making them and I will be glad to share them once I unpack!!! In the future I want to make NCS 48’ 3-car sets and a model of that SP orange well car with the sloped ends.
Incidentally, a lot of my projects do start with a set of decals with nothing to put it on…
Looks good! I’d probably make mine as a similer conversion (as compared to one of the actual cars) and take off most of that lip on the edges of the deck, and make it more, well, flat. I’ll probably just take some old 40’ Athearn underframes, splice them together, then add a deck and some details. I’ll try that if I get any free time today…
HO modern modeler,
That’s sounded like a lot of work that you had to do to make your models! If you ever get the chance, I hope you would post some pics since I’d love to see how they came out. While I’d probably not undertake such a task, at least not in the near future, I would go as far as to modify my a-line kits to get a maxi I. I did see the Maxi I’s at the a-line website, but it’s a pre-production model of the athearn model. Then again, I’ll can just probably be “unprototypical” and just use the decals on the twin stacks just the same.
Thanks for your 4 months of patience!This is the completed Maersk Maxi I car:
and the TTX car just prior to “primering”. will post completed pics when done. Hopefully you can see all the shtuff I detailed on these from this picture. Remember I started on these in 2003.
Years ago I built several sets of the Southern Pacific/ACF double stack cars for 35 and 40 foot containers. This was a project based on an article in Model Railroader October 1983 issue. I built six of the five unit cars, one three unit car, and a single unit car. I equipped two of the five unit cars with operating FREDs, the circuit and battery hidden under the lower container in that unit.
Commercial parts were MDC freight trucks, Kadee couplers, Cal-Scale brake sets, and of course the containers themselves. I cast the sides in resin and made the bodies up from sheet styrene.
HO modern modeler,
That Maxi I project of yours came out very well, great job on it. I purchased the magazine, Intermodal Modeler’s Guide vol. 2 and it has a how to project on converting the A-Line twin stack into a maxi I. The work involved is quite extensive, so seeing your final product, I can appreciate the work you put into it. Maybe you can run your maxi I’s with my GP60M (although my blue is kind of off).
Tom Diehl,
Great work on those SP/ACF units. You have yourself some very unique models there.
Hats off to both you gentlemen. [tup][tup]
I am interested in casting my own stack-packs. What did you use for the mold? Was it re-useable?
Yes, it is reusable, in fact, it’s probably laying around down in the basement somewhere, along with the masters. I built the masters from sheet and strip styrene, then glued them to a masonite base. I built a low dam around them, sprayed the area with mold release, and poured in an RTV molding compound. The resin I used turned out to be brittle, but I understand there’s much better casting materials available today (I made these back in the 80’s). There’s basically three different sides to the entire car, the left and right sides of the end units, and the side for the mid units. Of course you need a LOT more of the mid units to make a 5-unit car (six sides for mid units, and two of each side for the end units).
A more recent series of articles on resin casting was published in Railroad Model Craftsman in the April, May, and June 2001 issues. This may contain more up-to-date materials than I used.