I got out my paint and palette to mix another batch of white for the cement silo car [Zementsilowagen] - to try and make it a tinge pink-ish purple-ish something not so blue-ish. But I got sidetracked and played around with mixing red and yellow for the next car, which is anticipated to be a boxcar [Güterwagen], Gb 5091. The bottom red/pink color is pretty good, and the yellow not too bad, either. I’ll make some attempts as I go along. I don’t need them mixed up yet because they will dry out before I get to them. But I figure since it took so many tries last time to get the red/pink/brown/purple boxcar body car color mixed correctly, that I might as well work on it every now and then. I’m pleased with the first attempt.
Friday, August 24th, 2007
Starting a new car is like enjoying a breath of fresh air. I plan to take photos of the finished cement silo car and post them tomorrow, pending the sun-shining brightly to aid my photography. So meanwhile, I’m starting the next car.
I’m going to try a number of tweaks and adjustments to the boxcar. I want to make the under-carriage a little more detailed. I took some close-up photos of these type boxcars while I was in Graubünden, Switzerland. The RhB has been modifying these boxcars into wagons to haul containers, so there aren’t many still around. I lucked out and got to photograph a few of them. Thus, now I have a better understanding of how the under-carriage is designed. Plus my skills have improved since the last boxcar. […]
Saturday, August 25th, 2007
I’ve started piecing the under-carriage together using basswood. I’ve worked out in my mind how I will make the under-carriage this time to incorporate my new knowledge from visiting the RhB last April. I think it will work, but it is forcing me to consider things that I have not thought about in a long time - like how long the screw to hold the coupler in place is - and thus how thick the front porch wood must be to accommodate it. The new design will have to more closely coordinated with the construction of the boxcar sides, also. Should be challenging yet fun - and I had better take good notes!
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
I’m constructing the under-carriage from pieces of basswood. It’s looks a little reminiscent of the logcar under-carriage because I added the flange things. On the previous boxcars, I skipped making these since they don’t show. The boxcars always have a Bristol board floor put in them, which effectively does this job. I’m adding this with wood this time so that I can make the little beams that come out (like on the logcar) - but these meet with the long skinny vertical pieces that hang down on the boxcar sides. I had suspected this was how the real boxcars were constructed, and I got a good peek at them in Switzerland, and verified that it is correct. I haven’t made the little beams yet - I think it may be better to wait until I have the boxcar sides ready, then do the beams to ensure that they meet the vertical side pieces. […]
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
I assembled on wheel hub, and have started the other wheel hub. As you can see from the photo, that the wheel hub is just barely big enough to allow the wheel to turn at the top. You can also see that these are different wheels. These wheels are made by BEMO in Germany. Since they are dark colored, I’m contemplating not painting them…but I probably will end up painting them. I do want the yellow marks on the wheels because the railroad does that in reality (or did back in the 1970’s, which it the time period that I am modeling). I also like how the paint is matte finish. The bare metal is a little shiny. On the other hand, if the wheels aren’t painted, then they won’t have the paint chipping off when run over track. *sigh* […]
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
I mixed a large batch of pink/red paint for the boxcar. It came out close. Since I mixed a big batch, I may use it anyway. It’s so hard to decide if the color matches - photos and printers all give different shades of a color. And my test paint strip looks lighter or darker depending on the light and the angle. The color I mixed is Holbein acryla-gouache titanium white, jet black, crimson, burnt umber, and Naples yellow. I plan to mix some a dirt color for it that is just a little browner and darker. Also need a dark color for the two dark siding boards. […]
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
I painted the under-carriage the gray-purple color that I mixed Sunday. I decided to paint the wheels. I mixed Holbein acryla gouache paint color yellow and raw sienna to make the yellow marks on the wheels. I also added the couplers. You will notice that I cut off the metal curved pieces that hang down from the couplers. I installed them and trimmed them off rather than not installing them because I wasn’t sure that they are useless. I wonder if they help hold the coupler together somehow. I think the wheels hub height will work perfectly, but before I glue the wheels on, I need to add those flange pieces like the cement silo car had. I painted some Bristol board pieces to use for them, but I want them to dry overnight under the weight of some books before I cut and glue them to ensure that they are flat.
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Step 1: Find a large piece of Bristol board and tape it to your workspace.
Step 2: Tape down a piece of wax paper that is just short of the 2×4’s in width/length.
Step 3: Tape down the 2×4’s.
Step 4: Paint the 2×4’s liberally - you want to make sure you get a good coat of paint on them and not miss any places. You also want to make sure you paint the edges. Let the paint dry.
Step 5: Use a flat piece of metal such as a paint knife to work the 2×4’s loose of the wax paper.
Step 6: Remove the tape and free the 2×4’s.
Step 7: Use 600 grit sand paper to lightly sand all surfaces of the 2×4’s.
Step 8: Use soft tissue, such as Kleenex, to remove any sanding dust.
The photo was taken after Step 5.
Friday, August 31st, 2007
I added the flanges along the underside of the under-carriage - you can see the edge of it sticking out in the photo. There is one on the other side, too. I made them using Bristol board that I painted. I find that if I paint both sides at one time, the Bristol board doesn’t warp nor curl. For things like this, I use extra precaution and smush them under a pile of heavy books overnight.
I also added the decking. I need the decking on now because I am making the Bristol board supports for the boxcar’s sides - and these supports need to be carefully fitted to the size of the under-carriage. Since the decking is supposed to stick out a little at the sides, I need it on now. The decking is made from scale lumber 2×8’s, painted with the same purple-ish-gray that I used on the under-carriage. I watered it down considerably, since I wanted a translucent coat. I also did a coat of watered-down Holbein acryla-gouache jet black. I did this to make the boards look old and dirty.
So the under-carriage is ready to have the wheels attached. They are ready and waiting. I will probably glue them on after I finish fitting the side pieces. I did a test measurement, and I think the coupler height change will be perfect. The end result should be the journals being shorter and thus correctly proportioned.
Saturday, September 1st, 2007
I’ve been working on cutting out the Bristol boards sides that will support the boxcar’s siding. I want to make sure that they fit correctly to the under-carriage before I glue the siding on them. Like last time, I am making the sides separately and will use folded pieces of Bristol board to assemble them as a box at the end to give the side good structural support. I think one side is smidge short, but will probably be ok. I think if a side is too long, it would cause worse trouble. Being a smidge of a millimeter to short can be adjusted, but being a smidge of a millimeter too long cannot be fixed later. So I’m going to go with it a smidge short. I also glued to layers of Bristol board together for th long sides to add support and stiffness to the long sides, and like last time, they are bowing outward. Grrr. It turned out to be ok in the end last time, so I suppose it will be ok this time, but I would like to know what causes it and how to prevent it instead.
Saturday, September 1st, 2007
I finished cutting and gluing the Bristol board supports for the siding. I also painted the remaining siding pieces - the odd-colored 2×4’s, the 2×6’s for the ends, and the 2×24’s for the curved parts. I made all four side supports two-layered. The two layers have the paper grain oriented vertically for one layer and oriented horizontally for the other layer. I painted them with Holbein acryla-gouache paint color jet black. As you can see, it has dried to nice flat black finish. So, I am ready to cut, fit, and glue on the siding.
You can see from the picture how I laid out the siding supports on the drawings. I made the supports a little short on widths because the addition of the siding will add some thickness, and I don’t want to add that much to the size of the car. I plan to cut the siding so that it runs a little past the ends. Hopefully, this will help with the corners while reducing the proportion problems that have plagued previous boxcars that I have made. We will see if this works.
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
You can see in the photo that the siding for the two long sides is ready to be glued onto the supports. The supports are lying flat nicely since I painted them. I glued the siding down after this photo was taken. I used the Liquitex matte medium this time, whereas in the past, I used wood carpenter’s glue for this. I decided to use the matte medium because it dries clear instead of yellow, and because it dries to a matte finish. The wood carpenter’s glue dries a little shiny. In gluing the siding, I discovered that the matte medium dries faster and leaves less time to maneuver the siding into position. I’m a little upset now. The siding over-all seems to not have enough height - and one side glued high and one side glued low. Grrrr. I may re-do it.
I used 2×4 scale lumber for the siding. It is a smidge too small, but the 2×6 scale lumber is too big. So, I added a couple pieces to make up for the being a little small. Things that are too small look better at the end of the project than things that are too big.
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
Ignoring the terrible coloring of this photo - yeech! - the actual color is somewhere between this photo and the previous post’s photo. I took a break and got some groceries and had a yummy lunch, and decided to try surgery to fix the sides. The photo shows the sides after surgery - I scraped off the top siding piece on the side that was off-set low and I scraped off the bottom piece on the side that was off-set high. I need to sand down the scraped area and repaint them black. Then I will glue down replacement siding piece - but they will be 2×6’s instead of 2×4’s. Since you won’t see both long sides at the same time, it should work ok.
I think I will try painting a wash coat over the dusty pink. Painting very watered-down Holbein acryla-gouache jet black over the decking boards worked very well to age them appearance-wise. I’m also wondering about a wash coat that is this pink with a little more yellow in it, applied somewhat splotchy.
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
I glued down the replacement siding pieces. So the sides are not exactly the same. Maybe somebody would notice, maybe not. In one sense, I think it’s terrible - but then I think, the two short ends really do have some 2×6 boards, so I don’t think anybody will look at the sides and point out the 2×6’s there as being outstandingly odd. If nothing else, it makes a perfect “mistake”. People tell me I should have a mistake in my work, so this boxcar does.
I also painted on some dirt - watered-down black paint - but I think I got it too thin. I also added a watered-down layer of the pink with some more of the Naples yellow color mixed in. It should have made the pink look orange, but it just sort of added a dusty layer of faintly yellow dirt. I think I should use a more powerful yellow in the future. I will add another layer of watered-down black once I get the vertical pieces on - but make it read a little better.
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
Here you can see the beginning of the doors and windows for the boxcar [Güterwagen]. I did this the same way as the previous boxcar, I mixed up the basic paint color and then used a paint knife to smear it onto Bristol board. This time I tried to get a thinner coat since last time I got a thick coat and the paint bubbled and cracked. I used the Holbein acryla-gouache, same as last time, but this time I mixed the colors Naples yellow and titanium white. My efforts to get a thinner coat have paid off - there is no bubbling nor cracking. The color came out quite even toned. It is a little lighter tone at the edges where it is a really thin coat, but that can be not used. Though, the variation in tone is interesting. I may try to add a little dirt that is lighter in tone in addition to the slightly darker dirt.
I made three pieces so that I can play with one - try a few new dirt and paint tricks - and then paint the two other pieces for use. I want to have enough so that I can make extra doors and windows in case something goes wrong, I’ll have a spare.
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
I glued the wheels on, but I think the deck is too low in relation to the wheels. I popped the wheels off and am going to add another layer of thin basswood. The wheels were harder to pop off than I had expected. I glued them with carpenter’s wood glue, and it gives a good hold. I think the glue holds better with the acryla-gouache paint than it did with the acrylic paint. I suspect this is because the acryla-gouache paint is more porous when dry than the acrylic paint - the same reason that the ink stamps work better on the acryla-gouache paint than on the acrylic paint. One wheel hub came apart in popping it off, so it needs extra repair. Hopefully all these wheel hub repairs don’t make the car wobble when done.
Sunday, September 9th, 2007
I’m still working on painting the doors. I’ve been playing around with how light or dark the base yellow should be, and fiddling with how to best apply the paint. I played around with adding the dirt by adding lots of water an smearing it around, then wiping it off - which makes an interesting effect - but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. Finally, I tried smearing a second coat (the dirt) over the base coat again using the painting knife, but that resulted in the metal of the painting knife making gray/silver marks on the paint. So, I decided to try plastic for the second coat. You can buy plastic paint knives, but I don’t have one handy and didn’t feel like going all the way into the City to buy one - so I dug around in my closet and found some old credit cards (ok, I’m too lazy to cut them up when they expire) - and a couple of them worked perfectly!
I like the overall effect. The paint blended and I was able to control the thickness of the coat. I added a little water to the dirt layer to make the paint flow easier. I plan to add some gray dirt - mix in a little water and stipple on like I did the rust flecks on the cement silo. There will also be dirt in the form of smeared chalk on the rivets once they are on. So doors will be a little “dirtier” than they are now.
I re-used the stamp from the previous boxcar. It doesn’t stamp perfectly clear, but that is probably ok, and due to its tiny size, probably not going to get better with having a new stamp made. I used the Color Box black stamp ink that I used for the cement silo car. I have various shades of brown stamps ink, but none of them stamp very dark. And I need make a new door cutting guide because the doors need to a millimeter different size than the previous boxcar doors.
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
I cut out the doors and put the rivets on them this morning. I did it the same way as before. I used a sharp 8H pencil to make the rivets. I lay the doors on an old paperback (”A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax” by Dorothy Gilman) because the pages are soft enough to allow the rivets to be pressed into the doors. If I lay the doors on a hard surface to rivet them, it doesn’t work. If I lay the doors on something really soft, it doesn’t work, either. The pages of the old book have just the right amount of give yet they are supportive.
I accidentally have discovered that the ink in this book is not really dry. In the past I have rubbed black chalk on the rivets to make the more visible - you will notice in the picture that the door to the left has rivets but you can’t really see them. But if I rub Bristol board with rivets on the pages of the book text, it has the same effect. I haven’t decided if I will do that or dig out the chalk.
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
I decided to go with chalk for ‘dirt’ on the rivets. I used a mix of Rembrandt soft pastels colors black and burnt umber. I used an x-acto knife to gently scrape some chalk loose so that I could mix the colors. The photo shows the doors after the chalk was applied. I tried to get it just on the rivets, but I got a little sloppy in a few places. No harm, though. A few smidges of extra dirt won’t harm the doors’ appearance. The dirt on the rivets makes them read nicely.
I glued the doors to a piece of basswood to give them some thickness. They lose some thickness visually after the vertical pieces are glued next to them, and if the doors look too thin, they just aren’t believable as metal train doors. Next, I will trim the doors out of the wood and paint their sides yellow to match the front of the doors.
Saturday, September 15th, 2007
I’ve lightly tapped down the doors (the tape is underneath the doors and thus not visible) to hold them in position. I need them as guides while I glue down the vertical pieces. But I want to remove the doors while I paint a wash coat of black paint to get “dirt” in the corners and edges of the vertical pieces. Then I will glue the doors down permanently. The vertical pieces need to be trimmed to their correct lengths, and have the ends painted pink before I glue them down. The vertical pieces are cut out of scale lumber basswood - 2×4’s for the thin ones and 4×4’s for the fatter ones. I’m going to try a 2×4 and 2×6 combo at the left edge of the door - this in an effort to mimic a detail that I noticed when I was there visiting and saw one in real life.
I’ve taped the sides to foam core with copies of the drawings underneath the sides. I used foam core because I wanted something sturdy and stiff. I’m hoping this will help prevent the sides from curving like the did last time. I will add some extra tape after I get the wash coat of paint on and dried. Currently, the sides are fairly flat and not too curved. They’ve been sitting under a pile a weighty books for awhile now - so it amazes me that they are not flat!
I traced the vertical pieces location on the drawings in pencil and extended the lines so that the are visible above and below the sides, thus they become guides for me to use to glue the vertical pieces in the correct locations. I plan to do some measuring to ensure that the vertical pieces get spaced the same on each side. Hopefully that will correct the trouble with the windows not all being the same size.
Sunday, September 16th, 2007
After careful measuring, I glued the vertical pieces down on the long sides. I also glued down the doors. And have decided to put off doing the dirt wash with watered-down black paint. I already did a wash of black paint - but it was so watered-down it didn’t read - despite that I keep having visions of all the siding boards popping loose if I do another wash, so I am postponing it indefinately. The vertical pieces are basswood painted to match the siding. I glued them down with wood carpenter’s glue.
You can tell from the picture that the long sides are warping just like they did on the previous boxcar. Oh well. It turned out ok last time, so hopefully, it will turn out ok this time, too. *sigh* Meanwhile, onward with more siding detail pieces.
Monday, September 17th, 2007
I removed the long sides and taped them down on new (scraps lying around the studio) pieces of foam core. I tried to make a brace for each to help prevent it from warping further. I wanted to hold it completely flat, but that seemed iffy since the brace is not located at the center. There are few places where the brace can go across the siding. Most of the space between the vertical pieces have something that goes there. I don’t want to put the brace across the doors because I’m afraid that might damage any rivets that get smashed underneath it. So, I made the brace a little loose. Hopefully, the brace will prevent further warping even though it does not correct the existing amount of warping. Last time, the siding glued straight in the end despite having more warp than this siding has now.
I made the brace using Bristol board and basswood. I mostly cut the pieces from scraps. The piece of basswood that runs across the siding has been sanded on the side that touches the siding. I rounded the edges and then glued a piece of regular paper over it. Hopefully this will prevent the brace from damaging the siding’s paint.
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
I made a guide for the windows using Bristol board. I cut out two sizes - the 7×6 is for drawing the cut lines, and the 6×5 is for drawing the outer brown box. After drawing the outer brown box, I use the clear plastic triangle to draw the inside box and the diagonal lines. This works pretty good. I plan to draw a bunch of windows, then pick the four best. The brown lines are drawn using a Prismacolor colored pencil, the color is burnt umber. This is the same pencil hat I used last time. I have decided this time to skip the cream colored pencil as it matches the yellow and seems to just make an unwanted indention in the Bristol board.
The yellow painted Bristol board that I am drawing the windows on is the scraps from making the doors. One of the amazing things about making these train cars, is that the scraps that you first think are too small for any further use, are really still big enough!
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
I may try drawing a few more windows, but out of these, there are four that are acceptable. There’s just that little compulsion to try a little bit harder and possibly squeak out a smidge more improvement. The next step is to get them cut out, of course. The secret to drawing the diagonals and the box seems to be keeping the pencil really sharp and getting the parallel lines really close together. Applying a little less pressure with the pencil also seems to help.
Friday, September 21st, 2007
I went ahead and cut out the five best windows from last night, and glued four of them into position. They are the best windows on a boxcar, ever, but of course, they still have flaws. They are all the same size, so that problem is solved. And they look more believable than previously, so that is good,too. But two of the windows look like they have lighter brown lines. There are a few more wooden pieces to cut and fit, then I will add make the info plaque and install the hardware for the doors and windows.
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007
The window and door hardware is now installed. I used brass rod for the hardware, except for the door latch, which is a flat brass piece. I painted hardware that is on the red/pink background with the same red/pink paint, the dry-brush painted dirt onto it. The dirt is Holbein acryla-gouache jet black mixed into the red/pink paint. For the hardware on the door, I painted them a light gray (Holbein acryla-gouache titanium white mixed with neutral gray #4), the dry-brush added a little of the base yellow paint.
All the hardware is glued with the Liquitex matte medium. The door latches are glued directly to the door. But the other hardware is held in place by drilling little holes and inserting the brass rods into the holes. I added glue just to make sure the hardware stays in place. I find it easiest to fit the brass rods if I drill the top hole, the shape and cut the piece out of the brass rod, then use the piece to measure where to drill the bottom hole. All holes are drilled with a hand-held pin vise.
Monday, September 24th, 2007
These plaques give quite a bit of info about the train car and its destination. The info includes the car number, the destination, and other info such as the maximum load weight. For this boxcar, I downloaded the picture of the car from the internet and used Photoshop to edit it - I selected just the text and symbols, then pasted them onto a solid color background. I selected the background color using the color picker tool to select it from the photo. Then I printed it small enough to fit the space on the model (this took a few attempts to get right). I printed it on matte photo paper. It is a little hard to read, but it looks authentic. I made a guide similar to the door guide to cut out the plaques.
Next I need to make the destination part of the plaque. The destination plaque in the large photo on the left side of the photo published here, is a modern destination plaque that I photographed last April while visiting the RhB. They have made a few changes to their plaques in recent years.
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
I started on the front railing. I’ve drilled the holes, and stuck brass rods into them. The brass rods are 0.77mm diameter (1/32″). I painted them with the paint that I’ve been using on the undercarriage. In the picture you can see how I measure to cut the rods to the correct length. I have a special pair of wire cutters that cut close to a “K” shape. The top doesn’t quite come out flat but it is close. By the time I get done adding glue and paint, you won’t be able to tell that the tops are not quite flat.
Thursday, September 27th, 2007
The front railing and the front steps are on. I made the outer part of the railing out of brass, painted to match the under-carriage. The front steps have brass supports, and the actual steps are basswood - the same as the deck. They are also painted the same color as the decking - the under-carriage gray mixed with water - I think they came out too light colored, though. I may do another coat on them to darken them up. I drilled the holes that the brass supports are set into, at a slight angle. From looking at the pictures of real boxcar steps, the supports are angled slightly.
I used the contact cement to glue the front steps and the railing together. It dries a little shiny, but except for where the front railing meets the deck, the glue is painted over. I probably should have used the Liquitex matte medium there. Oh well. The contact cement remains slightly flexible when dry, so it works very well with the metal. I have found that the matte medium and the wood carpenter’s glue dry to be more drittle and thus the joints can snap if bumped.
Next are the brakes and the wheel journals, then I will begin the final assembly of the car. I feel like this car is coming together very quickly. Maybe it’s just me - it has been almost five weeks since I started it. This car will also complete the five cars that I had planned to do this year. I made five cars last year, so I figured I would make five cars this year. So, I am going to do a bonus car next - something different for those readers who are bored with cute little freight cars - the next car will be a model of an old Brooklyn Union passenger car from 1904. I’ve been invited to make a model that has something to do with Brooklyn for a gallery exhibit at the end of this year. I’ve thought about modeling old subway train cars before, and this is the perfect excuse. After that, I will resume making RhB train cars - passenger cars!
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
I adjusted the size of the brakes a little. The were 8mm long last time, and I made the 6mm long this time. I think I should have made the 7mm long. I will add a little piece to the top to lower the placement of the brakes on the wheels. This actually might be better - it should get the long sides at a 45 degree angle better. I also made the wooden parts of the brakes out of 4×8’s scale lumber instead of 8×8’s. This way the brakes can fit the the wheel without hitting the flange. This should result in the brakes looking better - instead of them looking like they are way off the wheel.
You can in the photo, the brake on the left is ready to be painted. The others still need to be glued together. The long skinny pieces are Bristol board, same as always, painted to match the under-carriage. The half-moon shaped pieces are basswood scale lumber, cut into triangles, then shaped with jewelers files to get the half-moon shape.
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
I’m still procrastinating on the boxcar’s brakes, so I started on the wheel journals. Interestingly, it was the brakes and wheel journals where I bogged down on the previous car. Here you can see, I’m repeating the process that I ended up using for the cement silo car’s journals. I printed the drawing I made in AutoCAD onto Bristol board, and I printed it twice. I have cut the centers out of one print. And I have done the preliminary painting on both. The black is Holbein acryla-gouache jet black paint, and the gray is the same under-carriage paint. By painting these pieces now, I can avoid masking them to paint later. I try to paint everything in advance because it ends up being easier and neater.
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
I glued the two pieces of the wheel journals together. And I drilled the holes. Next I will cut them out and make any adjustments needed to make them fit properly. I did cut out a test one, and it was fine. I think the reason they didn’t fit the wheels properly last time was that I didn’t get the holes drilled exactly in the same location on each journal. I don’t think I did much better this time, but at least I am prepared for them to have this variation. I also have seven of them to work with - and I only need four of them to fit!
Since I reduced the height of the wheels in relationship tot he edge of the under-carriage, they are more square in shape over-all and look more like they should. So far, I am pleased.