After botching up the paint job on a Micro-Trains HOn3 reefer car - the same paint came out yellow and bright orange, despite being shaken both times - I was left with a chassis that needed a freight car on top of it. Given I’m modeling a mining operation, I figured a D&RGW 9-series gondola would be the way to go. The design was easy enough - the M-T 9-series gondolas use the same chassis.
Here’s what I started with:
The sheets of balsa wood are from my mother-in-law - name/title signs from a recent art show of hers. I used a balsa stripper to cut the floorboards and side panel:
The next step was to do the walls. The end walls were cut to length, but the side walls were measured & trimmed once the end walls were installed. The photo below shows the walls ready to go in:
Once the walls were up, it was just a question of adding detailing. The corner plates are thin styrene, folded over. The bracing is from scale stripwood. The end grab irons and uncoupling levers were bent from brass wire left over from a Precision Scale Co. tank car kit. This used up all that was left, so I had to use a sewing pin for the side grab irons. The brake wheel and the bits holding it were from the M-T kit;
And to think we just had a huge, intense discussion about a week ago at how RTR was taking over the market and scratch-building was ‘dead’, LOL!
That is looking VERY nice.[bow] Keep us posted (with pictures) as you progress. If you had to lose a refrigerator car, at least you’re ending up with a very HANDSOME Rio Grande gondola.
Might want to put nut-bolt-washer (NBW) castings on the side posts. Try a thinner plastic on the corners (.010" or .005") Archer Transfers have "decals’ that have 3D rivet heads on them, they would be good for bolt heads on the corners. I only mention this because you have done such a good job on the wood parts, I think you can really hit a grand slam with a few more details.
Look at Clover House for dry transfers or Art Griffin for decals. Looking forward to your next car.
Thanks for all the feedback. I’ve replaced the reefer with one of the pre-painted data-only ones that are out. Here’s a photo of the finished gondola:
Tom,
That’s one of the reasons I decided to get into HOn3 in the first place. Having everything ready-to-run in N scale made it too easy to build up a working fleet. It also gives a sense of satisfaction I wasn’t really getting with the N scale modelling.
Dave,
Thanks for the advice about the rivet decals [:)]. My main focus at the moment is building up the fleet of cars to run my layout - I’ll keep the rivets in mind for when I get to the detailing stage.
The gondola’s probably going to be my only scratchbuild - I’ve got 9 kits to go before my fleet will be complete. Here’s the previous freight car I assembled, a Precision Scale tank car kit:
I had to improvise a bit with this kit, too - the plastic casting for the valve on top broke, so I replaced it with a track nail.
No problem, looks good. I model the 1900-1905 era so do a lot of wood cars too. A source for thin plastic is the tops of packaging, thin and tough and clear. You can draw a rivet pattern or other complex pattern on paper, then tape the clear plastic over it and emboss or scribe any rivets or lines on the plastic. Also consider photo paper for “steel” plate. It folds easily, is thin, but has a smooth surface.
