Need advice for restoring a prewar 814R- and making it into an operating milk car

Will, the roofs aren't soldered just fit really tight! It looks like one brake wheel is already off so that's the end you'll want to raise first. Most likely paint is going to chip, go slow, you obviously don't want to deform the roof. That particular car doesn't look that bad just needs a deep cleaning but if revamping to an operating car then paint loss/roof removal makes sense. Brass tabs usually hold up ok but recommend twisting when reinstalled. The body tabs - are another story- good luck but recommend twisting also. 

Thanks, John, that's generally what I thought about the roof. I know twisting is recommended for tabs, but it makes my nervous. If I wasn't going to make it an operating car, I definitely wouldn't take it apart. I may give it a cosmetic makeover first and think about it. Odd about the brakewheel. It is there- just hidden in the photo I guess.

It does look good next to the milk platform though, doesn't it? Better than the postwar 3472, really.

@Will posted:

Thanks, John, that's generally what I thought about the roof. I know twisting is recommended for tabs, but it makes my nervous. If I wasn't going to make it an operating car, I definitely wouldn't take it apart. I may give it a cosmetic makeover first and think about it. Odd about the brakewheel. It is there- just hidden in the photo I guess.

It does look good next to the milk platform though, doesn't it? Better than the postwar 3472, really.

Wow, I like it just the way it is! It would be cool though to make an operating car 

You've probably already seen it, but there was a thread a couple of months back where a forum member made a functioning standard gauge milk car.  The thread contained some things he had to figure out regarding fitting the postwar mechanism into a standard gauge car.  The end result was very well done.

Yes, I saw the posts on making a standard gauge operating car by Johnnie Walker and I will benefit from his experience. There are few things I'd like to do differently. I'll go ahead and change the title of this thread and post about that now and hopefully get some feedback.

Here are the specific changes that I have to make with my ideas and questions. You can see from the photos that the 814R body is almost the exact length of the 3472 body and the height from the door sill to the roof line is also about the same. So this should work.

1. Fitting the mechanism from a 3472 into the prewar car should be straightforward. It would have to be blocked up to the height of the door.

2. I would prefer to cut a hatch, rather than make a removable roof like JohnnyWalker. In the O gauge car, the mechanism should sit pretty close to the roof. I could cut a hatch with a Dremel and cut off wheel, but would it be clean enough or would I need to make a new hatch? And how to hinge it. Can I solder to the roof, or will I have to use epoxy? Any brilliant ideas?

3. JW used doors from a postwar car. I would want to retain the original doors. The trick then becomes how to fit springs in them so they close. Or maybe they don't need to. But part of the fun of the accessory is seeing the man pop out. Ideas?

4. To make the door level with the milk platform, I have to either put the milk platform deck on top of the structure (not in the slots) or separate the platform from the track holding part so I can adjust the height independently of the track. I would probably opt for the latter.

5. Getting power to the mechanism. I thought of fitting sliding shoes to the 814R trucks, but that probably is not necessary. Since this will be on a dedicated, non-working siding, I could just wire it up permanently. But I'd like to be able to run it, so I think some sort of contacts under the chassis that engage some contacts in the track. Similar to what JW did. But maybe just simple studs on the car and short bars on the track.

Anyone who wants to ponder this and make suggestions- that would be most welcome.