NMRA AP Entries - Certificate Achieved!

I have embarked on the NMRA AP (Achievement Program). To date, I have received certificates for scenery, structures, author, volunteer, and cars. I was motivated to go this route because a couple of NJ Division Members indicated that I had most of the work done. It was just a matter of completing the paperwork. Here are the cars I recently had evaluated for the Equipment - Cars certificate.

This is Adams Express was scratch-built. The trucks are a unique feature known as a "swing truck". It was designed to handle tight curves. This model is based on two period photos. The one below the model was taken in 1863 or 1864 in the Nashville yards. The other is in Chattanooga. This latter photo was the basis for the walls, doors, and roof, which was tin.

This is a modified platform car kit by Mantua. In addition to the artillery, by Musket Miniatures, I added Alexander link & pin couplers, the device attached to the car which is known as a draw head.

Open top cattle car. This is scratch-built on a Mantua frame. The walls and doors are board-by-board construction.

Conductor's car. Scratch built from two images. These could also be called a Way car and were used primarily for the conductor

A BTS (Better Than Scratch) kit, flat cars were one of many different railroad cars used to transport military personnel. Worst situations was when wounded troops were transported in cattle cars, recently occupied by cattle.

Adams Express Group Build Project

 About one month ago, Bernie Kempinski posted a suggestion / challenge for a group build of a box / freight car. The purpose is to generate activity and motivation for those who have wanted or perhaps have stalled on a project. It also can inform members and viewers as to the possibilities to increase your railroad fleet. I chose to scratch build the Adams Express car. As far as we know, there are only two ACW era photos. Interesting in that there are three different types reveled in these images shown below...

This first image, taken in Nashville, has long side openings and an exterior door. The truck side frames are unique in that they are braced with two vertical beams to accommodate heavy loads. One can assume that the color was on the lighter side since the lettering and numbers are dark. A cool modeling detail is the calk marks on the sides. Although they could be considered graffiti today, these were either instructions or notations for the handlers.

This next image shows two Adams cars photographed in Chattanooga, circa 1864...

On the left, a distinct difference from the above is that the door runs on the inside and has a curved roof versus peaked. And seeing white lettering, most likely the color is quite dark. Looking at a photo I took at the Sacramento Museum, it could be a bluish green, seen below this photo.

Back to the Nashville photo, the Adams car to the right has other differences which include a shorter height, a boarded up window and what appears to be an even lighter color with dark lettering.  

Here is a sequence of photos of my partially completed version of the car in the Chattanooga photo...

Siding is Northwestern scale lumber, 1/8" scribed siding, but the planks are too wide. I would use the more prototypical 1/16" for others. The roof is card stock and scored to illustrate a metal roof. I will add Panamint HOT82sACW 3D printed trucks and InterMountain metal wheels. I used metal crate castings for weights and have one door open to see in. Look close and there is a waybill attached to one of the crates. On the other end is a 1/4 oz. weight to bring the total weight to about 46 grams. Alexander link and pin couplers are also attached. Grab irons are Detail West .019 brass wire. Grandt Line  #5101 nut/bolt castings also add to the detail. Turnbuckles are by Tichy. Queen posts I believe are Grandt Line. I found these in a drawer, to my joyful surprise, but were loose so the manufacturer is a guess. Lastly will be to create decals or cut individual letters... oh boy.

Passenger Car - Adding Passengers

This post is a follow up from the previous by taking the 'Passenger Car Detailing' to its next step. The ease of this process is that unless the car is lit, passengers only require the slightest of color. The original cars come with a card showing silhouettes of passengers. I prefer creating a 3D quality to enhance the models... and, I just may install lights in the cars down the line. 
At first I thought I would need to have figures be of the period. However, after a test using 20th century folk I could not tell the difference. This contributes to the 'ease factor'. I have many Prieser figures left over for other kits where a few choice positions were transformed into period-looking people. All those leftover seated figures are now being conscripted for the cars! 
I prime them while on the sprue. I then use the Pic-n-Stick Q-tip looking tool to hold as I paint them if not on a sprue. These are fabulous. One box has about 30 and they can be reused many times. 

As you see in this photo below, there are 3-4 basic colors. No detail painting as mentioned since most of the view will be silhouette-ish. 

 

Next is to attach the passengers to their seats. These 'Pikestuff' seats can be found at train shows, as well as seated passengers, versus buying retail. I find most hobbyists have leftover seated people that they want to unload. 
You'll notice below I have the benches spaced because I don't want to waste seats and I want to position them randomly. The piece of styrene under the seat base is so the bench is even with the weight that runs through the car center and keeps the bench level. By the way, the lady in front came painted. Another find at a show.

 

Next is to add louvers. As I mentioned in the prior post, my friend Brian Kammerrer, who also painted the backdrops, sent me this sheet based on my description. 

 I cut various lengths and install with Aileen's Tacky Glue.

 This is a larger section to cover three windows.

And the final step is to enclose the passengers, then send them off to their next adventure... as am I!

Detailing W&A Passenger Cars

The Tyco or Mantua 1860 passenger car is a shortened version of the prototype measuring in at about 34'.

It requires 3 cars to create two into their period length, about 42'. Below is a view of the splicing. Tricky part is lining up the widows which is visible at the seem.

Here is the side view. The seem stands out which now requires some sanding and in some cases some fill. Fortunately the latter was not required. The idea is to cut the sections about 2-3" scale inches longer then sand them for the final fit. I believe my friend Gerry Daub used a Zona razor saw.

The challenge with this project was to slice off the molded hand rails since the car was already painted. Tedious  but worth it for the results. Moving ever so slow and gently pivoting the blade left to right making incremental headway to avoid chipping the paint, there are eight hand rails in all to remove.

The molded handrail removed:

 Drilling with a #77 bit for .019" brass wire:

These curved pliers have one tip slightly larger than the other for a larger bend or smaller bend as is your preference.

The results:

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Once painted, although not the clearest photo, a much improved prototypical look. You will notice, looking closely, louvers in the windows. Saw these after watching Disney's Great Locomotive Chase for the 100th time.

WEATHERING WITH CHALKS

Lately I have been experimenting more with powders and chalks to weather rolling stock. Reading various reviews on chalks I see mixed reactions to the quality of the look that these materials produce. After applying the powders I am a convert. The only watch-out is to not overdo the amount being applied. However, if that does occur it is easy enough to apply other colors to reduce the area that was overdone. Here are a few examples...

The top "house" / box car, a laser wood kit by BTS, is painted the dark slate blue color known for the W&A. The walls have been altered as was the case on many lines. When troops were being hauled about, the lack of air flow caused the fellas to tear out the walls. There are some reports that entire cars were reduced to the frame.

First application is a gray tone for the basic fading. I may use two or three different tones. Last is the reddish brown. This simulates the GA red dirt.
I have found Doc Brown's weathering powders to work very well. He offers about 6 shades of brown and 6 primary-like colors.

I also use Prismacolor pastels. As you can see with Prisma, there are a wide variety of grays. In this grouping there is a dark color that nearly matches my dark slate blue, which is a Tamiya color called Field Blue. When I overdue a color I can hit it with colors close to the base color in order to soften the hue. The lighter grays give that additional weathered look of faded paint and wood versus using a pure white. 
Here's a few other cars weathered with these powders and chalks.