Something simple - Espee Models F-70-6/7 flat car, Part One

The basic car with stake pockets

Every now and then, it can be nice to work on something that requires little effort or challenge, yet produces results that are on par with the other projects that are progressing in parallel. About a week ago, I ordered one of the Espee Models Southern Pacific F-70-6/7 flat car kits (ex-Red Caboose), and it arrived this past Monday. I didn't plan to do anything with it, but as we all do, I opened it up to take a peek. Well, it couldn't hurt to glue the weight into the underbody cavity. I set it aside to dry...

Tuesday night, I picked it up and before I knew what had happened, it was as you see it here... and it didn't take long to get there. However, I hit a bump in the road. I'm short one sprue of stake pockets, so my critical path to completion is blocked until I receive the sprue. However, all is not lost as I scanned the side where I already glued the stake pockets and am hard at work on decal artwork (which I will be happy to share as decals from Speedwitch once they're printed.)

The underbody

Back to the model, it's a finely rendered injection molded "flat" kit with separate sides, ends, underframe, and deck, plus details like brake parts, stake pockets, corners, etc. There are no instructions specific to this car, but there are downloadable instructions on the Espee Models' site for the TOFC variant of the F-70-7. I will chronicle my build here so that anyone interested can follow along, as I believe the photos I present here will nicely augment what is provided by Espee Models. However, I won't give a blow-by-blow, but will rather highlight things that I feel bear stressing or places where I deviate. What I show thus far is all "out-of-the-box" (or bag, as it is). I won't be adding brake piping to this model, but I will add the brake rods as they are the only part of the brake gear on the underframe that will actually be visible when the model is viewed from the side. I will also replace styrene details with metal ones where appropriate to improve durability and, in some cases, improve fidelity of detail.
That's all for now. More to follow...

B end - Note the corner braces. They are different on the right and left... well-engineered!

The view from the top with weight in place