Built Up Vintage Kits - Rolling Stock

Thanks Bob, I do appreciate the comment. It's too bad more kit builders don't post here. There have to be a fair number still building. The build emphasis seems to have shifted to scenery on layouts and away from rolling stock. Are all those old Walthers, All Nation and LaBelle kits just languishing on shelves somewhere?

Enough editorializing. My next project is a gondola kit from Liberty Models of Independence, Missouri. I had never heard of this kit maker and have never before seen one of their kits. It was a $9.95 ebay buy, and I was the sole bidder. The sides were silk screened for the Mid Continent Region of the NMRA in 1971.

The ebay pictures weren't very helpful, and I took a chance on the kit. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. Construction is very scale-like. It has brass castings for the brake gear, some photo etch for brake levers and hollow stake pocket castings (plastic). It's like a Labelle kit, but better.

The NMRA markings will be replaced with something else. So far, the sides have been sanded along with the floor and end pieces. I used a few brushed coats of Dull Coat as a sealer. The plan is to just build it as is, out of the box. It will run on a pair of Protocraft arch bar trucks.

Jim

UP 50ft box converted to wood chip service from prototype , I use an old Athearn Kit  the thin walls make for realism especially on the ends . Custom made decals , better doors brass cast grab irons

Old Atlas F unit , custom decals , stainless panels using gold leaf glue and cheap tin foil from Dollar Store, done years ago . I even had a friend make Flywheels for the motor  , coasts like a dream . LED lites with large capacitors . I did this 10 yrs ago 

That is one ingenious box car conversion! Thanks for posting it and the F unit. Nice work. Jim

Some SERIOUSLY nice work in this thread!!  You guys are knocking it out of the park!

Andre

I tackled a Thomas tank car from the late 40's in an article here http://oscale.uberflip.com/i/8...ber-2017/46?m4=%2F47

Lot's of modifications to modernize it which also got me into some trouble but that what makes it fun!

Amazing work guy's!

I've scratchbuilt a couple cars, and build LaBelle passenger cars, Ye Olde Huff n Puff boxcars, Intermountain, and a couple Athearn kits. Have a wood caboose to build, though I don't remember the manufacturer. I've posted pictures on the forum, but there is so little interest, I quit. Was considering doing a LaBelle passenger car step-by-step, but with so little interest, the time it takes to post photo's just isn't worth it.

The hobby has moved away from model building, which is fine, but it's a very enjoyable part to me.

This post has inspired me to work on another Labelle Kit. This is the second old time craftsman kit I've ever built, so I have a long ways to go, but eventually, I'll get there. This is the Labelle 50 foot Racine wagon and Carriage car kit.

The biggest problem I've had so far was that nothing was the same size. I wonder if this kit was put together using leftovers? The Wood blocks for the end were different sizes, the floor and roof had differently milled edges, there was not enough scribed siding to complete both car sides, and the roof scribed siding was of different thicknesses.

It was nothing like the first Labelle kit, whic was the 34 foot soo line boxcar. 

What I ended up doing was using new scribed siding that I cut from some Northeast Lumber sheets, tapered the roof as best I could, and did a LOT of sanding to make the wood end blocks match. The end result is a little uneven, but I think passable.

I used replacement stirrups from SCD to replace the stirrups and upgraded the brake wheel. I still for the life of me can't figure out where the stupid piece that the brake rod goes into actually goes, so I guessed. I don't think I got it right.

On the underside, I used a flexible .020 jewelers wire to string the brake rigging. I like it because you can thread it like real thread, but you do have to be careful with it. It will bend after you've put it in place.

I did not like the way the end turned out. Since this was a carriage boxcar, the end was basically a set of doors that could swing open and the carriage be driven out. At first I put them on the wrong side, After I put them on the proper side, where I mounted the brake wheel and stuff, the door would never have been able to open, and quite honestly, I did not like how it looked, so I got rid of them and turned it into a regular 50 foot boxcar. 

So far I've completed the build, and primed the car. The pictures are below. I will post more after final painting, decaling and weathering.

All of that is seriously nice work.  Especially impressed with the tin foil on the F-7!

I see you encountered many of the same problems with your tank car as I did with my All Nation car. It's a nice build to read Dan, with some good tips. For some reason the page advance wouldn't work with my computer (Mac) and I had to refresh each page before it would advance. Just slowed me a bit. I plan to go back and start at page 1 and read everything.

That 50 LaBelle box car is coming along nicely. Post pictures when you have it painted and decaled. Way back in the 1970s I built a number of LaBelle HO kits and was happy with the way they went together. When I recently built the vegetable refrigerator car I ran into some of the same issues Adferraro faced. My end blocks were different widths with one matching the floor and the other wider. The roof parts were way over scale and just didn't look right in O scale. I had to change them. When we choose to build this old stuff we are soon reminded  that they came from a different time when everything was less precise, less accurate, but maybe more satisfying when we finally struggled through to the end.

Jim

Here are some more pictures of the Labelle Boxcar build, after painting and decaling. This is my first time since I was a child using waterslide decals (used to build model planes) and the first time using Walthers Solvaset to snuggle the decals down. I think it turned out ok.

For the paint, I used Scalecoat paint from Minuteman models. I really like the paint a lot. This is "Boxcar Red #2". It comes out real smooth, glossy and durable. For the underside, I wanted to try out Rustoleum Camouflage black. It's super flat and has kind of a dusty gritty look to it that I like.

I praised the Liberty Gondola kit a bit prematurely I think. The scale construction is there, but the accuracy of the parts is not. The under frame consists of inner and outer sills running the length of the car. The end beams, bolsters and needle bolsters are all notched to slot into the sills. The problem is that none of the notches lined up; all had to be opened up and widened so the sills would lay straight and parallel to the car length.

The floor planking is shown on the plan as wider than the frame and notched for the stakes. As supplied it was exactly as wide as the frame and cut just a little bit off. It works OK, but is probably not prototypically  correct. The car ends were too narrow; new parts were made of styrene.  And, I wonder if the actual car would have had cap rails as wide as provided.

Complaints aside, it is going together. This kit is no different than most of these older kits. They just require a bit of persuasion here and there. I think the plastic stake pockets, queen posts and turnbuckles may be Grandt Line castings.

Jim

I finished the Labelle 50 Foot Boxcar build and added the archbar trucks. Here's a final picture of it under regular room led lighting and in front of a backdrop. Ignore the three rail track.

On to my next kit.....

The LaBelle boxcar turned out great.

My gondola kit is now finished. Pictures posted.

Beautiful!

Jim, your on a roll with these absolutely beautiful models you generate from almost impossible vintage wood kits. Every one of them so far is a beauty!

Bob

My next kit build is an All Nation undecorated 40 foot wood reefer. This is going to be one of a number of milk can cars lettered for my railroad's milk train. 

This is my first time building an All Nation kit, so my first observation:

1.) This kit seems like it's going to be an easier build than the Labelle kit. In particular, the scribed roof is already glued to the wood roof boards, the scribed siding is already attached to plywood sides, and the end blocks are already milled with scribed siding.

2.) There are a lot fewer pieces involved. But some pieces are missing. Below is a picture of the basic components. Pretty simple right?

First thing I realized upon closer inspection was that the bolsters were missing. I'm assuming that the bolsters were cast metal type, the instructions make reference to holes in the bolsters, and the pictures imply a cast metal type. I also have a coupe built freight cars that look like all nations, with a cast type bolster, so I ordered a pair from Scale City Designs. Those are pictured in the picture above.

With those in hand I proceeded to assemble the basic outline. I started by gluing the end blocks to the floor. However, with the end blocks being milled, over the years, they had started to curl "outwards" along the lines where the siding was milled into the block. Already I can see the advantage of a solid block with siding glued to it as opposed to the milled block. I did the best I could but I couldn't quite get them completely flat. 

That's when I made by first real error in judgement. The instructions called for me to glue the roof on next, and the car sides pretty much last. I decided to disregard that and glue the sides on next.

At this point, I realized I should have sanded the bottom flat, I figured I could get away without it, but ended up regretting it. Also, the car sides were longer than the floor. I don't know if that was normal with these kits, but I ended up with severe overhang on each end that had to be sanded down.

Once I sanded them down, a lot of the milled siding was taken out, so I used a scribing tool to rescribe the lost areas. I'm not the greatest scribe unfortunately, but under a couple coats of paint I think it'll do.

Having completed the bottom and side assembly, next I added weight to the car using 1/4 ounce tire weights, I also installed the bolsters and trucks, and loaded it up with all the detail bits and couplers to get an accurate weight so that I could bring it up to NMRA standards. Since this is going to be a milk can car, I used a set of GSC express trucks from American Scale Models.

Next I moved on to the roof. How hard could it be to put two small pieces of wood on right? Well, much harder than I thought. The two pieces would not seat in the center so I had to sand down where they would join to get them seated properly. Now I'm not sure if I screwed up the sanding somehow, (I used the piece of sandpaper laid on the table and drew the wood across it method ) but I ended up with some pretty big holes in the center of the roof where they met.

To be continued.......

Continuing on from my previous post, I was left with this after gluing on the roof:

Time to break out the wood putty! I used JB weld wood putty epoxy stuff to fill in the gaps. Since this area will be under the roofwalk, I wasn't too worried.

After that I installed the wood centersill under the car, and couldn't figure out which way I should glue it. With the T section down or up. I chose down, and apparently I chose poorly. Oh well, I'll make it work. I also installed the crossbeams at this time. Which I sanded down and tapered so that the edge of the crossbeam was flush with the side sill of the car.

Then I moved onto adding the roof walk and the little bracers for it. The kit came with a piece of stripwood to use for them, but I wanted to try out the cast metal roof braces that SCD offers. They are grooved in the center so you don't have to sand the roof. I affixed them with 5 minute epoxy.

Then came the roofwalk itself. The piece all nation supplied was a plastic piece that I didn't really like, so I made a new one out of the appropriate sized stripwood, and attached that to the roof supports using epoxy. I also added on the roofwalk end supports using epoxy and then cut the roofwalk to match the end roof support.

Next I added the end sills. All nation included cast metal sills with scale coupler pockets. I took a dremel to the coupler pocket and cut most of it off in order to fit kadee couplers. Then I glued them to the car using epoxy.

lastly I added on the Brake Wheel and platform (not stock), as well as the ladders, grabs and stirrups. I also added on the roof ice hatches. At this point, all that is left is to add the stirrups under where the reefer door will be and add the underside brake detail.

To be continued.....

I have completed installing the underside details of the milk car I am building. I used Cast AB brake detail parts from SCD (I think) and cast anglecocks and gladhands from Wiseman Model Services. For the piping I used a diagram I found in the book "Freight Cars of the Forties and Fifties."

I'm going to call this the "essence" of an underbody. I didn't quite get it right, but there are pipes, they are mostly in the right area, and they connect to things.

Now on to the paintshop!

I have been enjoying this thread.  Saturday I bought this Coke Gon from a friend.  He had built it up but not finished it.  In the last couple of days I was able to add some details.  I added under body brake gear and steps and grab irons. 

Another update on my can car build.

I finished painting the car pullman green. I used Scalecoat I paint sprayed from a spraycan for this.

I then let it dry a week. After I was sure the paint was nice and dry. I used a Silhoutte Stencil Cutter to cut out the custom lettering for the car. Since this would not be interchanged, I wasn't too worried about the dimensional data. Then I applied the Stencil and masking tape, and used an airbrush to apply thinned white Scalecoat I paint.

On Side A below, you will see that there was some fuzziness and overspray. I had the pressure up a little too much and I also didn't firmly burnish the stencil down as well as I should. I was afraid I might take the paint off when it came time to remove it. But that fortunately wasn't an issue. The paint is nice and hard. The lettering isn't perfect, but with a little touch up I think it will do.

on Side B below, I reduced the air pressure down to around 25 PSI and burnished the stencil pretty hard. I think this side came out just about perfect. I just need to make sure I apply them straight next time. One is a little crooked. All in all though, I am happy with how this stage came out for the most part. 

Next up, painting the underside black and weathering! I am getting closer to finishing this up!

Am working on labelle sleeper, next is the diner!

Sweet! Please post more pics of the build. Those are on the agenda for me and I would be happy to see construction pictures!

Just received an All-Nation 36' reefer today. The above posts by Adferraro will be very helpful.

Been working on my last 2 Ye Olde Huff-n-Puff boxcars. They're 3-rail, so forgive the trucks if you can.

The finished cars, minus door hardware:

Really like your scenery.  Nice box cars.

Even though my trains run on 3 rails.....as a ex HO scaler I act kinda like a 2 railer. I just got two 1960's era wood craftsman kits.  One is a Lyken Valley Models 86ft PRR Hy-cube box. The other a Lyken 'Big John' covered hopper kit. The two kits, mint condition, cost me a total of $13. I've scratch built a bunch of On30 (it's 2 rail!!) cars and a good number of O scale cars....built 2 rail 'style' but re-engineered tp run on O72 3 rail track.

These kits look pretty nice for the era  but I have never heard of the company. Any opinions on them?? I have not gone through them thoroughly yet...but the metal parts are wrapped in vintage 1966 newspapers!!! 

Thanks for any info. 

After a building break (two years!) I’m back at vintage kits and have completed an All-Nation boxcar kit. I bought this incomplete Monon boxcar in 2003 and started building it then. The basic body, roof and underbody were there, but everything else was missing. My original plan was to use some Microscale Santa Fe decals, so the Monon painted sides were stripped and the box assembled. This kit had the aluminum sides. I got as far as making one Superior door before putting it aside.

I picked it up again last month and added some basic underbody detail, wood roof walk, bent grab irons and some scrounged All-Nation ladders. The second door was built along with bogus latches. The underside, trucks, roof and ends are Floquil grimy black. The sides are Scalecoat I enamel white with some black added to get gray. Trucks are 2 rail Atlas. I tried pastel chalks for weathering but the effect completely disappeared when I sprayed the Testors flat. I also used some thin washes in a few spots.

When I built my Deep Rock tank car I ruined the large Protocraft Deep Rock decals when trying to apply them. They folded over themselves and were impossible to fix. Walthers decals were used in their place. Not wanting to make the same mistake again I planned to be extra careful with the Protocraft Union Portland Cement decals I selected to use. Following the instructions exactly I managed to weld the large Union Cement decal to the first side – wrinkled and crooked. Attempts to move and fix were unsuccessful. I ruined the paint trying to get it off and was forced to repaint that panel. Nixing the called-for Microsol and using saliva in its place allowed me to place the remaining decals and position them when on the car. The Protocraft decals are beautiful but I’m not adept enough to handle the big ones.

So, the car was finished without the red Union Cement decals that should be on the left panels. It loses some of the wow factor, but it’s OK for my basement shelf.

Jim

Good to see this topic again!

Beginning a Walthers baggage car. 

This is a Gloor-Craft Milwaukee door and a half auto boxcar. It's pretty much out of the box, with some minor details added. Paint on sides and ends is Scalecoat I boxcar red #2; the roof, underbody and trucks are lightened black Model Master enamel. Trucks are the plastic San Juan vulcan bettendorfs.

The kit supplied decals were by Walthers and were very old. They broke apart when placed in water. After coating with Microscale liquid decal film they held together, and responded pretty well to Micro- Sol.

Four magnets placed in the roof align with the four white rectangle steel bars simulating wall cabinets. Strong enough to hold the roof in place but not strong enough to lift the car.

American Standard 60' heavyweight baggage car kit built by Terry Nelms of Lebanon, Tennessee.  Three rail trucks added to run on our layout.

John in Lansing, ILL

Main Line kit - all that's left from the kit are the 4 side sections that were pre-printed and the 2 pieces of wood that made up the roof.

All of the above - works of art!  

Not my build, but some amazing work on some Walthers cars I acquired nearly 10 years ago.  The observation is especially well done as it has fabric on the seats, stained paneling down the hall and door knobs to all the compartments.  My awful photos don't do this car justice.  The chair cars are well done too.  THe coaches and baggage cars were a bit rougher for some reason.

Simpson Gon kit....

Kit supplies this:

to build this:

Martin, very nice!

Dan Weinhold

Ambroid Erie-Susquehanna 50 Ton 3 Bay Hopper: Posted here, but it didn't turn out as well as I hoped. My first mistake was to seal the wood with nitrate dope mixed with automotive flattener. Then I primed with Tamiya lacquer primer. While the process sealed the wood, it meant that most glues including C.A. didn't stick well, so parts kept falling off. Second mistake was the Grandt Line .043 rivets; they're not straight (my fault) and show all the excess glue blobs. Not much sticks to the metal ends and body ribs. I resorted to 5 minute epoxy.  Add dirt on the surface when painting and impenetrable decal film. As a finale, I dropped my airbrush needle when cleaning and bent the tip. It was sure a challenge, and I am relieved to have it finished.

It is pretty much out of the box except for the rivets and 1/8 brass angle corners. I used the old Walthers kit decals.

It sits on Atlas 2 rail Andrews trucks. I did build the HO version of this way back when and have always liked the looks of the car. Despite my complaints, I do enjoy building these old kits and will start another soon.

Jim

Now that is gorgeous.  Did not think that was possible with an Ambroid kit.

Back in 1960 Ambroid released a 1 of 5000 HO scale double kit of an N&W wood hopper and Milw composite gondola. Each car was subsequently released individually under the Northeastern brand. I built the 1 of 5000 kits back in the 20th century. Plans for the kits are available on the internet.

This car is scratch built in O scale from scaled up plans. It is individual board construction except for the sloped bottoms which are scribed sheet. It was a challenging build because of the many parts. Trucks are 2 rail Atlas Andrews; paint is Model Master enamel over pre-stained boards. The staining was done with a mix of brown and black alcohol based leather stain. I can't seem to solve my decal silvering problems - which show up all to clearly when the car is photographed. Decals are largely from the K4 N&W hopper set purchased on ebay. Their decals are quite nice; I'm the one with the application problem.

I'm working on a couple of new freight car builds. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get a chance.