Southern gondola, part two

A long time ago, I posted about some tips to build the Speedwitch Southern gondola kit. I have done some additional work on the brake gear and want to show how I tackled things. I tend to deviate from the instructions, even on my own kits, and this car is no exception. The details follow. First, I do not have a brake arrangement for this car. I do for a similar series of Southern low-side gons built at about the same time. I used that along with prototype photos to arrive at what you see here. I cannot declare that it is 100% accurate, but it works for me.

I added the main three components: cylinder, reservoirs, and AB valve (pre-drill these first if you will be adding wire to simulate the piping). The cylinder uses a resin bracket and was attached to the face of the center sill. The AB valve was attached to a "platform" that spans the two cross members. The reservoirs were secured with brackets created from 1x4 and 1x12 strips that simulate the steel parts to which the reservoir lugs were bolted. I added nut-bolt-washer (NBW) and rivets (from an Athearn snow plow, although Archer rivets would do, as well.)

With the main components in place, I used 0.010" wire to represent the piping between the AB valve and the cylinder and reservoirs. This required some bending, fitting, and cutting to get things right, followed by securing the wire in place with ACC. I use fine, round-nose beading pliers to make these bends. With the main piping in place, I added the dirt collector to the AB valve, after first drilling it to accept the pipe from it to the train pipe. This pipe is larger, simulated with 0.015" wire, meaning the corresponding hole in the dirt collector needed to be larger. My technique is to first drill a hole with a no. 79 bit and then "open" the hole with a no. 77 bit. As I did not model the actual train pipe, the 0.015" wire runs from the dirt collector to the floor of the car, as shown.

With the piping in place, I added the brake levers and rods. The levers were created from 1x8 strip styrene, trimmed to shape using a single edge razor blade. The main lever rests in the clevis (part no. 29 on the Tichy AB brake set) extending from the cylinder. The clevis opening is actually about 0.020" wide so I always add a little .010x.030 shim at the end of the lever so that it nestles snugly into the clevis. For the bracket for the dead lever, I used a piece of leftover flat brass from an etched metal parts set. I created a u-shaped end to accept the brake lever and added two bends to allow the lever to be offset from the center sills once the bracket was glued to the face of the center sill.

With the levers in place, I added the brake rods. My technique is to add a Tichy turnbuckle to the end of a piece of 0.012" wire. One end of the turnbuckle is removed so that the resulting piece looks like a clevis. I slide these clevises over the 1x8 styrene levers and mark the wire to create bends and measure distances for cuts as I go. The turnbuckles "hold" the wire in place over the levers, allowing me to make my measurements for bends and cuts. I use a black Sharpie to mark where to bend or cut the wire. Once all the bends are made, the rods and turnbuckles are secured with ACC. Note that my brake rods are secured into the bolsters. Also, for these bends, I use a pair of beading pliers with "flat" jaws that result in sharp bends. More round, "radiused" bends look right for piping, but for the brake rod wire, a sharp bend works much better.

That's it. The next post about this car will show the finished model. The photo included here is of a finished model I built years ago, although it is the same car from the same kit. Also, a shameless plug: there are six of these kits left and once they're gone, this one will be closed out for good. So if you'd like one, navigate to the Speedwitch site and get one before they're gone.