My presentation from the St. Louis RPM

This past weekend, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present at the St. Louis RPM, at the convention center in Collinsville, Illinois. If you have not had the chance to attend, the only way I can describe the event is a supersized RPM times two. The attendance figures are approx. 1,000 and the sheer number of vendors and display models is mind boggling. It is an experience all who attend RPMs (and even those who do not) should enjoy at least once. 

My presentation was the Pennsylvania Railroad's early welded box and automobile cars, an evolving project as my models come to fruition. The file can be found at the Speedwitch files page, linked here.

Over the next couple days, I will also post about an interesting model kit from the meet and some photos of display models. Please check back

PRR Early Welded Box & Auto Cars from PRRT&HS Annual Meeting

 

I attended the PRRT&HS's annual meeting in Gettysburg, PA this past weekend and had the pleasure of presenting a clinic, as well. I discussed the Pennsy's early welded box and auto cars, an interesting topic given the PRR's fairly large scale efforts at welding for freight car construction. It's also personally on point as I have been working on upgrading a Sunshine X41B box car and also preparing kits of the X43A and X45 for release. I will keep updating progress on the X41B here and the release of the X43A and X45 kits will be announced in all the usual places. 

Here is a link to my presentation file in pdf format. Thanks to the PRRT&HS for allowing me to participate.

Pennsylvania Railroad X41B - Brake Equipment

Siding near Maclay St., Harrisburg, PA, Oct. 19, 1947, Bob Charles Collection, NMRA

While it has been mostly a few minutes here and there as opposed to a long productive session, I have managed to add the AB brake equipment to the Sunshine Models X41B box car that I updated several weeks ago. The location of the equipment was based primarily upon photos from the sides of cars, as I didn't have a brake arrangement (and while it is available from the Pennsylvania State Archives, I did not feel it necessary as I could obtain the majority of what I needed from photos.) 

I included the photo above to illustrate a couple points. The waviness of the welded panels is rendered extremely well in this photo. The other interesting detail is that this car was not equipped with a Royal Type F brake regulator. From this, I would assume that some groups of cars received them and others did not. Note that this car is assigned to grain service.

To simulate the equipment, I used the following:

• Tichy AB brake set
• Tichy phosphor bronze wire (0.010", 0.012", 0.015", and 0.020")
• Royal Type F brake regulator from Shapeways (no longer available through Shapeways given its demise; Kadee has a nice part from their PS-1 underframe)
• Pipe "tee" from Tom Madden part
• mounting brackets, etc., created from excess etched metal "frets"
• A-Line 40 links/inch chain

I have included more photos than is probably necessary, but I wanted to provide plenty of different views to so the details are visible from many angles to help those following along

The bracket for the cylinder was created from spare fret material from a sheet of etchings

The mounting brackets for the reservoirs are from the same fret material, trimmed and bent as shown. For all of these, I used Barge cement thinned with MEK as the main adhesive, followed by some ACC to firm things

The main brake components were also installed with the Barge cement mix followed by ACC, except for the Royal Type F brake regulator, which was attached with only ACC.

The pipes between the brake components were simulated with 0.012" wire, except for the pipe between the dirt collector and trainline tee, which is 0.015" wire. All the parts were pre-drilled prior to installation on the underframe, to accept the wire

The photos tell most of the story. The clevises and brake levers are etched parts that are actually held together with a piece of 0.010" wire that passes through holes in each, simulating the prototype. There are still some rivets and nut-bolt-washer castings that will be added after the model has been gritblasted to prep for painting. One detail I omitted (that could have been added fairly easily but would now be extremely difficult) is the "handle" that should be on the brake lever in the Royal adjuster, extending out to the right in the photo directly above. The photo below (from a different prototype and oriented as if inside a car body looking down) illustrates how the "handle" would appear.

Up next are the ladders, grabs, steps, and end details....

Pennsylvania X41B Underframe

 

The (mostly) finished underframe, as described in the following text with photos

In my last post, I discussed my recent clinic for the Philadelphia Chapter of the PRRT&HS. Part of that presentation was about modeling PRR welded box and auto cars and specifically, the work begun on a Sunshine X41B. This post continues that. The focus of this post is the underframe, which is scratchbuilt and relies heavily upon etchings. The images herein provide a mostly step-by-step look at how I replicated the X41B underframe, continuing what had been presented in the clinic. Note that the X41C underframe, shown via photograph in the clinic file, was quite similar, with the difference being that the X41C substituted pressed steel crossties (which can be seen herein and will be noted as such) in place of the two center crossbearers located under the door posts on the X41B, meaning the B had four crossbearers while the C had two.

The image above (all images can be seen in a larger format by clicking on them) was recorded after all the stringers between the bolsters and the four main pairs crossbearers were added. The flanges of the center sills, 0.010" x 0.060" strip styrene were also attached, completing the center sill sections between the bolsters. Note that the crossbearer sections that are located where there are separate side sill support tabs extend past the edge of the floor. This is because these will tie directly into the channel shape of the etched tab sections.

These two images provide other views at the same stage as the photo referenced previously. One interesting (and cool to this freight car geek) thing is the difference in "height" of the stringers between the crossbearers (five scale inches) versus the stringers between the crossbearers and bolsters (three scale inches.) The difference is quite pronounced and shown to good advantage in the photo below. Note that the floor had not been glued into the body (yet!) at the time of these photos.

The floor had a slight bow to it from end to end. In addition, it was necessary to tack the floor into the body, yet leave the areas away from the center of the car "free" in order to ensure proper orientation of the crossbearers and their corresponding side sill support tabs. I carefully secured the center portion of the floor into the carbody with ACC, in the area highlighted in the graphic shown above. This served to secure the floor into the body, yet allowed some "play" to adjust the alignment of the floor relative to the carbody when securing the outer crossbearers and their tab segments.

The preceding three images illustrate how the crossbearers and the tab side sill support sections are integrated and attached. The beauty of the etchings is that they are thin enough in profile to accurately mimic the prototype and yet are still quite durable. Again, note that the ends of these crossbearers extend past the bottom of the side to nest into the channel of the tab.

The crossties were created by drawing the basic shapes with fold lines in the appropriate spots for etching. These came out exactly as planned, nesting into the center sill flanges and clearing the stringers. The ones between the side sill support section in the center of the car required some shortening to fit. The ones at the tab sections nest into the channel "behind" the tab sections. The photos above and below illustrate the crossties.

The side sill support tabs that have been replaced with etched parts are visible in this side view of the model

The lower bolster cover plates feature "knockouts" in the exact shape of the prototype. They were bent slightly to match the shape of the scratchbuilt bolsters.

The image above shows the underframe after the addition of the bottom bolster cover plates, as highlighted in the previous photo

The two preceding photos highlight the addition of the bottom crossbearer cover plates. While I etched pieces for the segments that span the center sills, I opted to use 0.005" styrene as I found it generally easier to work with and the shape is a rectangle, as opposed to the complex shape of the outer portions of these unusual plates, where etching made the work of matching the shape far easier.

The channel section crossties had a small rectangular steel brace that was welded to the crossties and the center sill. This is simulated with an etched piece, as illustrated in the two photos above.

The stringers between the bolsters and end sills incorporated trapezoidal-shaped plate that was welded to the ends of the stringer and to the end sills, tightening things up a little more. These are simulated with etchings, as shown in the two accompanying photos.

While there are still a couple of things before the underframe is completed, including truck mounting and simulated bolt heads on the stringers, as well as the brake equipment, the basic structure is complete. The next post will pick up to cover brake equipment and other details. Stay tuned...

Pennsylvania X41B - one more Sunshine kit started

 

PRR X41B 119058, Fayetteville, NC, Dec. 24, 1951, Col. Chet McCoid photo, Bob's Photo, Collection of J. P. Barger

I recently presented a clinic at the June 22 meeting of the Philadelphia chapter of the PRRT&HS about PRR Early Welded Box & Auto Cars and Models. It seemed that the talk might be a good opportunity to expand the one I did for Hindsight to include some modeling content. I have a couple X41 family kits produced by Sunshine Models sitting in my stash. Frankly, I wasn't certain I would ever even build them. However, the clinic seems a great opportunity to add one to my fleet. Regarding the kits, the body parts are nice representations of the X41 family of cars. However, I have been quite certain that the underframes in the Sunshine kits are not correct for the X41 subclasses and wanted to do a little digging to uncover what would be needed to correct that issue. I also know that the details could use an upgrade and a few improvements.

With the aid of the PRRT&HS, I have been able to determine that not only is the Sunshine underframe not correct, it's really not even close. All this means that in addition to some detail upgrades, I have reason to scratchbuild a new underframe, always good clinic fodder.

Here is a list of a few things to be done as part of this build of an X41B (single door car):

• scratchbuild underframe (that's a LOT for a single bullet point, but I will chronicle that in greater detail)
• upgrade and correct grab irons and ladders (etching will feature heavily in this)
• fix door post brace detail (the castings had some rather soft, "blobby" detail that has to be fixed)
• add trust plate detail (this has a solution with a wow factor it, at least in my opinion)
• decal artwork for a circle keystone revenue car
• determine truck, running board, and hand brake combinations for a car with improved Youngstown doors

Thus far, I have assembled the body and created the basic guts of the underframe (floor and center sill section.) There is one thing with the body assembly that I chose to ignore (ignorance can be bliss.) On the prototype, the roof eaves wrap over the side plate (the top of the side and a custom sloped/angled shape unique to the PRR X40 and X41 families of cars, as far as I know.) On the model, the roof is ever slightly too narrow to achieve this. Honestly, most people wouldn't have even noticed had I not pointed that detail out for you on the model. The Branchline Murphy rectangular panel roof is slightly wider, so it would be a better option... the only hitch being that you'd have to cut and splice two forty-foot ones to make a fifty-foot version. 

This image illustrates the "blobby" door post bracing (top) and door hardware (bottom.) I am unsure if it's a poor casting or the result of a damaged mold, but it needs to be improved

If you're interested in following along, I urge you to review the clinic pdf file. Over the next couple days, I will post the first of several updates, starting with a thorough writeup of the underframe construction. Watch for that in the coming days.