Scratchbuilding a New Haven 36' Double Sheathed Boxcar

I’ll be following your build. There’s a couple of Rutland cars I’d like to build. I’ve done a stock car and an outside braced single sheathed box car. Tried just to get them close to the photos I could find. Nice that you have the plans. I used parts I had accumulated from kits and just freelanced some of it to be closer to the prototype. My one twist in my builds. I want cars that operate and navigate the layout well. Car bodies are all wood. Both of them use Atlas chassis’. Sort of a hybrid approach.

I attended an O scale convention years ago in Worcester. Pretty sure they had a special convention run of a NH 36ft. Car in Resin.

I've seen photos of your Rutland car on here before Dave, and it is very well done. All the single and double sheathed cars readily available in O have steel ends when wood sheathed ends were just as (if not more) common, so your Rutland build and my build here should really stand out.

I think you are also correct on the convention cars - these prototypes were done in resin by a company called East Wind Models. I have been looking for one of these kits on-and-off for about five years now, and I think in that time only one has come up on ebay for well north of $100. I decided I'd rather just make my own at this point, and besides, what better material to make a wood boxcar out of than actual wood?

~Chris

Over the last few days I have added the sheathing to the car.

The end sheathing in my last post was attached first. Then 4 oz of weight were added to the interior of the car, centered over each end.

The side sheathing was rough cut and added to the sides. I'm using sheets from Northeastern Scale Lumber. Each side has three pieces. I sand the ends of each sheet to make the joints as inconspicuous as possible on the exterior.

The side sheathing was then sanded flush to the top and bottom, matching the angle roof profile.

Up next is the bracing for the ends, and then the roof sheets.

~Chris

Thanks for the link to the fright diagrams

Good luck with the build

There are a ton of cool diagrams there, steamers, diesels, MOW, converted diners to work trains. Very cool http://www.alphabetroute.com/nynhh/rosters.php

Over the weekend I applied the end bracing. Pieces representing metal sheets for the corner posts, top sheet, and bottom sheet were first applied using .020" thick wood strips. The pattern of the end beams were also added using the same strips, to keep the application surface for the end beams level.

End beams were made out of 1/16" angle pieces for the diagonals, and 3/32" Zee pieces for the verticals. Corner pieces for the polling pockets were added using more .020" strip wood.

~Chris

I couldn't find any commercial polling pocket castings that I liked, so I decided to roll my own. I cut about 1/8" long pieces off a small wooden dowel, and glued them to the corner pieces - any shorter a length and the dowel began to disintegrate. After the glue was secure, I sanded them down to about 1/16" high. The rounded inside of the pocket was created by drilling a small pilot hole, and then using the tips of increasingly larger drill bits until I neared a size I liked. Sanding of the inside of the pocket was with the tip of a round Dremel polishing tool, and then a coat of sanding sealer was applied.

~Chris

Great start, I'm following.

I’m following as well. Looking to build a few unique wooden cars. Some great modeling here and I like the thinking outside the box way of doing things when parts aren’t available.

Tom and Dave, thank you both. Build threads are always my favorite to follow on forums, so I would be remiss if I didn't share my own. The most I could ask for is to inspire someone to build something of their own.

I applied the roof sheets to the car last night (1/16" thick wood sheet), and let the glue set over night. Like the side sheathing, I purposefully cut it rough extending too far out from the sides. I then used a piece of 1/16" scrap sheet, taped to the side of the car, as a spacer and sanded the edge flat and parallel to the car side. I neglected to take a photo before doing this, so I staged the one below to show the concept.

After sanding the roof sheets, I applied the roof trim. On the sides is a scale 2x4, running the length of the car between the corner posts. The end trim was made of 1/16" square stock, sanded flush to the sheets with the sanding block. I had to notch out the Zee bars to fit the end trim.

Next up is some wood filler to cover the seam along the crest of the roof and in the trim pieces, and a coat of sanding sealer.

~Chris

The roof (sans roofwalk) has been completed.

I started by filling in the crest of the roof with wood filler, sanding smooth, and then coating in the usual sanding sealer and 00 steel wool. I cut a strip of paper the length of the roof and laid out the location of the roof panel seams on it, and used it as a guide to mark up the roof itself with a square edge.

The seams themselves were applied in two layers - a 1/8" wide .020" thick strip as the base, with a 1/16" wide .020" strip centered above it. The strips were cut to overhang the sides, and then sanded flush. The photo below shows one seam completed.

Each seam was then beveled from the roof edge in 1/8". The seams were then coated with sanding sealer.

I always find the roofwalks on boxcars to be easily marred during construction, so I do them last. I'll work on the underframe next instead.

~Chris

Underframe is in. Bolsters and centersill are pre-shaped parts. The sidesills and outer cross beams are scale 2x4s. The inner cross beams were made from some wood scrap I had lying around. I narrowed the bolster so the 2x4s fit over the sides, and sanded the angle on the top of the bolster flush. I also sanded the top of the bolster down even with the centersill, to lower the ride height with a pair of Weaver 3-rail trucks.

The white metal brake cylinders and brake levers are from Scale City Designs. The piping is from a roll of phos. bronze wire. I only represented the brake rigging that would be visible while the car was right-side up, and cut it back and kept it simple to avoid interfering with the 3-rail trucks again.

~Chris

I worked on the sides next. I started by framing out the door and applying the lefthand door stop and running channel. The door frame is made from leftover 1/8" stripwood from the end bracing and roof seams, the lefthand door stop from 1/16" angle, and the running channel from more of the same angle on top of the 2x4 fascia strip and a 1/16" brace below.

I got these beautiful 8' high by 6' wide Youngstown doors from American Scale Models. I had laid out the door channel such that the door was hung loosely from its rollers while the glue to the door frame set, giving it a little tilt from top to bottom like a real hung door.

Next up were two end braces, sealed and sanded along with the door frame and running channel.

Grab irons are from Tichy Train Group, the right hand door stops and lower door guides from Precision Scale Co, and the strip brass leftover from an Ambroid kit.

Now this is starting to look like a boxcar.

~Chris

Great project! JohnA

Beautiful work. I hope you sign and date it on the bottom.

One of my favorite cars was built by a sailor in 1944 according to his signature and date on the bottom. Even though I do/did not know him, that signature makes the car very special to me.

Thanks John and Roy. I do initial and date my cars - began doing that at the beginning of the pandemic as I was building/painting so many I wanted to keep track.

I detailed the ends last weekend. Ladders are precision scale, trimmed and mounted on posts of Phos. Bronze wire. The Ajax handbrake is also precision scale, with a piece of scale chain attached. The rest of the brake rod is more Phos. Bronze wire. The foot board is made out of some scrap wood and brass strip.

Running board supports were made from 1/16" square stock laid over the battens. Peaks were sanded flat with the large sanding block I used on the roof sheets. The roof walks themselves will be painted separately and added later, as it's hard to paint beneath them.

Last detail is the end steps. Scale City Designs provided the closest design to the ones I needed - I needed to add another step.

Heavy construction has ended, onto paint.

~Chris

@C.Vigs posted:

Thanks John and Roy. I do initial and date my cars - began doing that at the beginning of the pandemic as I was building/painting so many I wanted to keep track.

I detailed the ends last weekend. Ladders are precision scale, trimmed and mounted on posts of Phos. Bronze wire. The Ajax handbrake is also precision scale, with a piece of scale chain attached. The rest of the brake rod is more Phos. Bronze wire. The foot board is made out of some scrap wood and brass strip.

Running board supports were made from 1/16" square stock laid over the battens. Peaks were sanded flat with the large sanding block I used on the roof sheets. The roof walks themselves will be painted separately and added later, as it's hard to paint beneath them.

Last detail is the end steps. Scale City Designs provided the closest design to the ones I needed - I needed to add another step.

Heavy construction has ended, onto paint.

~Chris

I'm loving your posts. I want to build a wood model from my area and I appreciate you listing of source material. Beautiful work, Thank you.

Your fine detail here is amazing!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Quick update for today. I applied primer and two light coats of Scalecoat I, Boxcar Red #2 - just enough to get decals to set well. I then applied Archer rivet decals to the side straps and end corner posts. A few more coats of paint will follow on top of the rivet decals.

~Chris

What a great series and tutorial. It’s been decades since I last built a Central Valley or Ambroid kit and I’ve been thinking about doing itv again soon. You’ve inspired me. This ought to be an article OGR. GREAT WORK!

Thanks Rubin - that is the exact reaction I want out of this thread. If you begin a build please share it! New-in-box Ambroid kits have been available online for about $20 each lately.

I've finished painting at this point, with the exception of some touch up that may be necessary after decals. Here is an Atlas O model of a 1937 AAR Boxcar vs my build. The New Haven went right from these wooden 36' cars to 1937 AAR cars and later PS-1s. This not only shows a color comparison, but the significant size difference as well.

As can been seen from the above photo, I've also applied the roofwalks, and temporarily applied trucks to test its ride height and quality. Trucks are Weaver diecast Bettendorf models, which appear to be correct for the prototypes. Other photos below.

The last details were also applied yesterday - the roof walk support pieces, again out of spare brass strip. I'm going to begin decaling soon, then check for some light paint touch up, flat coat, and done!

~Chris

It took all week, but decals are done. Monday was one side, Tuesday the other, Wednesday the ends, and Thursday to today was spent applying Mircosol to get everything to sit nicely in the wood grooves. I let the decals settle at least 12 hours before applying the first coat of Microsol - don't know if this is necessary, but I've never had an issue doing this either. I tried scoring the decals along the grooves on one side with my Xacto knife, and this worked OK for all the lettering except the long "New Haven" text, which fell apart and needed to be replaced. The other side I only applied Microsol, and after a few coats (over the course of a few days) went back with my Xacto knife and only scoured the areas that showed silvering before applying one final coat. This worked much better and will be my preferred method going forward.

One note with the knife - to avoid cutting into the wood / scratching the paint, I let the tip of the knife rest in the grooves, and the handle very loose in my hand, so the only downward force on the blade was the knifes own weight. I then guided it along the grooves. This avoided all marks on the painted car.

Decals are from Protocraft, artwork by Ted Culotta, and printed by Microscale. Microscale printed decals are excellent quality, however their own O scale production is very limited. I was very lucky that Protocraft already had decals for this prototype available, and in fact finding these decals was the last push I needed to begin this project in the first place. I mentioned I needed to re-do the "New Haven" on one side of the car - for these single-car decal sheets, I always order an extra sheet just in case. This has saved me a ton of aggravation, and I've never had to put a project on hold for replacement decals.

~Chris

Exceptional modeling! Well done! JohnA

Thanks John!

Done.

I finished by applying two coats of Krylon flat clear, one with the car right-side-up and one upside-down, to ensure all glossy areas were covered. The coat seals the decals in place and provides most of the dullness. I then applied the trucks and checked that everything was level. A final coat of Tamiya TS-80 flat clear dulls the model down the rest of the way, including the trucks, and brings it all together. The Tamiya flat clear is expensive and can sometimes eat decals, but provides a much duller finish than just the Krylon paint, thus my two-stage approach here which minimizes the amount needed and protects the decals for the same effect.

Another comparison to the 1937 AAR boxcar:

Lastly, personal progress. The passenger car on the right is the first model I ever built, about 15 years ago now. It's crude and sloppy by my standards now. Don't be afraid to begin a project because you don't think it'll be as fantastic as that store bought model, or some of the great work that we see online. Model building is a skill that requires development, and the enjoyment is just as much in developing that skill as it is the finished product.

~Chris

Chris, Excellent how to thread. Modeling the Rutland. I have a few unique cars in mind seeing there’s very little available. Ones a double door boxcar and the other a converted milk car that started out as a baggage car. I to buy extra decal sets. I’ve really improved in this area the more I do. Protocraft offers a Rutland set that seems to work for a variety of Rolling stock. Even for renumbering the new Lionel hoppers.

One question. Early on you used Sanding Sealer on the body. I’ve heard of this being done. Not sure why. The few wood builds I’ve done. I just painted with Scalecoat 1.

Thanks Dave!

I was a member of the RPI model railroad club while at college (the New England, Berkshire, & Western Railroad), which was heavily based off the Rutland. One of the cars that I liked a lot that was a Rutland prototype were short wood sided gondolas - they looked like they might have been flatcar conversions. We used them primarily for moving locomotive ash from the terminals on the layout. While I was buying detail parts for this build I got some gondola stakes & stake pocket castings, and I'm considering having that prototype be my next project.

As for the sanding sealer, it all depends on how much of the wood grain you want shown on the model. Each coat of sanding sealer is also followed by brushing the surface smooth with 00 steel wool. For the wood sheathed sides, I only applied one very light coat, as I wanted most of the grain and irregularities in the wood to show but needed to remove some "fuzz" from the surface. For parts that are supposed to be metal (such as the end bracing and side sills) I applied 2 or 3 coats to completely remove the grain. On the roof walks, where I wanted a lot of grain to be visible, I didn't use any sealer and just applied Scalecoat I on the bare wood. If you go to the top-down picture on my post from 12/28, you can see the difference between the roof walks (full grain) and the roof of the car (minimal grain).

~Chris

I visited the RPI layout many years ago one summer. Following the layout over the years in MR you know it’s a large layout. Your still overwhelmed with the size when you see it in person. As nice as the layout was. The trains had been idle for a while and didn’t run to well. Lots of track cleaning and pushing went on.

I have a kit stashed away of a wooden gondola to build. In the mean time the Weaver gon. . Is of the close enough. Added some grab irons, a better brake wheel and some Scale City stirrups. I bought some dry transfers for lettering. They offered a few Rutland sets. Don’t believe they are available anymore.

Again, Great build on that New Haven car.

Chris,

The more I look at your finished car the more I admire your work. Have you ever considered going to Kadee couplers? The Lionel size wheel flanges and couplers don’t do justice to your superb modeling and paint work. As I rebuild next year I’m hoping to convert my freight cars and AtlasO locos, but we’ll see. Anyway, truly beautiful work!

Thanks Rubin!

I have considered Kadees and I may switch over once I build a new layout, but my current one is cursed with some 0-36 curves in the back corners so I live with the lobster claws for now.

~Chris