Saturday, September 29th, 2007
The next car is going to be a model of an old Brooklyn Union train car. I visited the NYC Transit Museum in Brooklyn today and took photos of the actual car in its current condition. The car has had a number of modifications over the 100+ years of it’s life. I plan to model it as it appeared in the past more so than today. The main difference today is that the roof is lowered. It also has modern wheels and journals. I have two old pictures that I will base my historic appearance on. I also have a scale drawing of the car giving the original dimensions. Since the old pictures are in black and white, I will use the current color as the color for the model. The car appears to be a very dark color in the old photos.
I played around and mixed up a test color. The photo shows two photos that I took today of the museum car. You can see my test color piece on the right hand side of the photo. I think I need to make my color just a smidge lighter. It is Holbein acryla-gouache colors burnt umber, crimson, ultramarine deep, and titanium white.
Sunday, September 30th, 2007
I started fiddling around with the roof for the Brooklyn Union car. I’m using balsa for the roof, and am shaping it with a big metal file. When I finish shaping it, I can fine tune the shape with 600 grit sandpaper. Sanding balsa makes a mess - lots of dust! Since balsa is a soft wood, anything can mar its surface, including fingernails. I forgot to trim mine before starting, and had to stop and clip them.
The black and white photo in the photo is from a book about the NYC subway. It shows the Brooklyn Union car 1293 in the year 1964. Both cars are the same type and style, so I will be using it as a guide. These cars were originally made to be run on elevated tracks in Brooklyn. They were later overhauled to be run on underground tracks - best I’ve gathered - the roof was lowered. According to the book, the celestory windows were to allow light and air into the train cars, but these windows were sealed shut and painted over. When the roof was lowered, the windows were removed. I’m going to model the car based on the 1964 photo, which has the windows extant but painted over.
Monday, October 1st, 2007
I spent some time doing research and found some old photos of these cars. I also learned that they are referred to affectionately as “gate cars”. Majority of the old photos were in black and white, so they are not useful for colors. They will be useful for details while building the model. I did find two old photos that were in color - but they are terrible color - in one the sky is green - so that doesn’t help much. The other color photo was better, but not much. Both show a red car, more or less, and the entire car (including the roof) is the same color. I rather like the current color scheme where the car is a dark maroon and the roof is a lighter color. I haven’t decided what to do about this yet. I emailed somebody who knows a lot about the old subway cars, so here’s to hoping for some help. Otherwise, I’ll just make a wild guess!
Meanwhile, I worked on the balsa wood roof. Yes, it looks much like the previous post’s photo of the roof, but if you look closely, you will notice that I refined it. The lower side parts of the roof are sanded down to a nice slope now. And the ends have been shaped properly, too. Notice the nice curves coming to a point along (when viewed from the side).
I used 320 grit sand paper to sand the sides. I used the big file to shape the end slopes. Then I sanded the entire piece with 600 grit sand paper to make the wood smooth. I noticed when working with the balsa wood in the past, that it feels nice and smooth, and looks nice and smooth, but when you paint it, you find lots of pits and pocks. I’m wondering about getting 1200 grit sand paper, and sanding it extra smooth.
Monday, October 1st, 2007
The roof top part has a trim piece that I want to add. I’m making it out of 4×4 scale lumber made out of basswood. I hope that doesn’t cause problems doing sanding. But there isn’t any scale lumber made out of balsa wood. I soaked two 4×4’s in water and bent one end of each. This is too make it fit to the curve at the end of the roof. I taped them to foam core to dry overnight. Then I will trim them to length and bend the other end.
You can see on the right-hand side of the photo, the long strips of sand paper that I used to sand the roof. I really enjoy ’sculpting’ things out of wood.
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
I also spent some time this evening mixing colors for the interior of the gate car. I don’t plan to model the interior in detail, but I would like to give some basic details and colors. I spent some time browsing through the photos posted of BMT Gate El Cars and downloaded some photos to help me out. The webmaster of that site was also helpful and informed me that the exterior of the gate cars was “brown” back in the old days. There were only two color photos of exteriors, and they both appear to be faded or something - they look a little off color-wise. But they hint at a brown exterior. Using the same colors that I had used to mix my earlier maroon for the exterior, I made a brown that looks similar to the historic photo, and that I like.
For the interior colors, I am using a photo of a gate car that is owned by the Shore Line Transit Museum. I mixed a peach/pink color for the ceiling using Holbein acryla-gouache colors titanium white and burnt sienna. For the seats, I mixed Holbein colors titanium white, Naples yellow, and burnt umber. For the painted woodwork, I mixed Holbein colors Naples yellow, ultramarine deep, and neutral gray #4. And I decided to use the earlier color that I mixed for the exterior, for the floor.
The seats will be shaped out of balsa wood, and will help structurally to hold the model together. Sneaky, eh?
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
I thought this was going to be simple. But it is not. I’ve received information from the webmaster at the Shore Line Transit Museum in Connecticut - they have a BU gate care, number 1227 - and the webmaster says that the current colors on car 1273 at the NYC Transit Museum is basically historically correct. So, I’m back to thinking that I will paint my car to match that car - the dark maroon color. From what I gather, the BU 1200 series gate cars went through quite a few appearance transformations during their lives. I guess it should be a simple matter to decide that I am modeling them as they originally appeared in 1904. I want to sleep on it, as they say, before making a final decision.
Meanwhile, I’m out of burnt umber paint and won’t be getting more until Monday. Thus, I have two more nights to sleep on it.
Thursday, October 11th, 2007
I soaked and bent some 4×4 scale lumber for the roof trim - along the long top edge. I did this a number of times. Since I am bending the wood with the grain instead of across the grain, it took longer soak times, and more force. I taped the bent pieces to foam core to dry. In the photo, you can see on of the bent pieces still taped down. I made three pieces, even though I only needed two. I like to have a spare in case I mess up.
I need to sand along the edge where the trim pieces are glued to the roof. I did a test mock-up and it worked ok. I was worried that it might not sand nicely since the roof is balsa wood and the trim is basswood, and the basswood is not as soft as the balsa.
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
I have decided to paint the gate car to match the current paint colors. I downloaded a picture taken of the gate car outside in the sun, and have decided to use the appearance of the colors in that photo instead of the exterior photos I took at the Transit Museum. The colors appear brighter, lighter, and cheerier outside. The interior is still undecided.
The roof of the gate cars in their current condition is not quite as it was originally. The roofs were lowered to enable the cars to fit through the modern tunnels (these cars originally ran outside). I’m not sure I got the proportions right on my model roof in terms of height. I went ahead and painted it as if it still had the clerestory windows - that’s the black strip. And I painted the rest of the roof the salmon color.
In all of my previous scale-model work, I’ve painted things that are different colors prior to the pieces being glued together. Here, that did not seem possible. I painted the black first, the painted the salmon, and used a piece of Bristol board as a mask. It worked pretty good; only a few flaws. The salmon didn’t quite cover the black paint in a few places where it had got out of bounds, but I think that can be considered “dirt”. *wink* *wink*
Sunday, October 14th, 2007
I started the under-carriage for the gate car. I’m making it out of basswood, which will be painted. I’m still missing wheels, so I can only progress so far, but I wanted to start it so that I can use it to make sure that I make the sides correctly. I bought couplers and need to determine if they will work, but alas, I need the wheels for that.
Monday, October 15th, 2007
I made one of the bench seats for the gate car. There are three more of these, then some regular type seats. The seat is made of both balsa and basswood. I used balsa for the seat “cushions”, which I shaped using a big metal file and 330 grit sandpaper. The supports for the seat cushions are made of basswood. It is glued together with wood carpenter’s glue. I think the bench seat turned out quite cute! It will be painted eventually.
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
I while back, I mixed the “traction red” that my informant told me was the best color. I decided to base my color on a photo of the gate car outside in the sun in it’s current color. I mixed Holbein crimson, burnt umber, and titanium white together. Compared to some colors that I mix, this one is simple and easy!
I mixed quite a bit of this paint, and stored it in the little vial in the photo - the lighting is awful because it looks like blood. It is really much redder looking. Maybe it’s because of Halloween being so near!
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
I painted the beginnings of the undercarriage Holbein jet black. I’m wondering if I should use the anthracite color by Studio Lascaux. The jet black seems too flat and too black. And every speck of dust glows like bright stars on a clear moonless night.
I put the couplers on. I used Kadee #35. These are quite different from the couplers that I have been using for the RhB cars. At first they looked complicated, but they turned out to be much easier to assemble. I picked these couplers because they could be made to fit under the carriage and only stick out a little bit. These cars don’t have a big gap between them like the RhB cars do. I also picked these couplers because they are short. I need to get the wheels somewhat close to the ends of the car. I snitched two screws from the other couplers, though. The screws that came with these couplers are too long. I added a thin wood shim and this made the other screws a perfect length. These screws are skinnier than the screws that came with these couplers, so there was some slop room to make micro-adjustments to how far out the couplers stick from under the carriage.
You will also notice that the wheels arrived today - yay!!!!! I was getting worried about them. They are a “weathered brass” finish, and look the right color to me so they will not need to be painted. They are also weighty, which is always good. I haven’t decided what to do about adding weight to this car - I’m contemplating sneaking some hidden coins into the underside somehow.
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
I made the wheel hubs for the gate car. They are made out of pieces of basswood. I probably should have painted them during construction and before I got the wheels involved. Oh well. I painted them since I took the photo. They turned out good enough. I painted them Holbein jet black to match the undercarriage.
I had wanted wheel sets with 1.5mm diameter axles, but the wheels I received have about 2.+ mm diameter axles. I had bought some styrene plastic half-round tubes that had an inside diameter just bigger than 1.5mm. I was going to embed the wheel axles into these - that way the wheels would turn nicely and I wouldn’t have to find wheels that allowed me to remove the wheels from the axle like I do with the wheels for the RhB cars. Since the gate car is standard gauge HO, which is common in the US. I guess I could hunt around and get larger diameter styrene half-round tubes, but then I’d have to wait longer to make the wheel hubs. I really want to get moving on this car. So the wheel axles are embedded in square hubs made entirely of basswood. Needless to say, the wheels don’t turn very well. This model is expected to just sit around on a shelf for show, so it doesn’t matter much.
And, in case anybody cares, today is my blog’s first birthday. I’ve been writing this blog for one year now. Whheee!!!!
Friday, October 19th, 2007
Part of the excitement of doing something new, is imaging how it will look when finished. I glued the wheels on and have been working on making more of the bench seats. I thought it would be fun to sort of see how the car will look when finished. The little vials of paint are close to the right floor to ceiling height - a millimeter tall maybe - so I propped the roof up on them, just for fun.
These cars are skinnier than most train cars and taller than most train cars. They look add at first as a result, but I’ve gotten used to looking at them in pictures now, and I’m beginning to really like the look.
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
I finished making the long bench seats for the gate car. There are more seats, however. Little short bench-type with higher backs that go in the center. For the backs and support parts of the seats, I made a green-gray color using Holbein Naples Yellow, ultramarine deep, and neutral gray #4. For the cushions part of the seats, I used mixed a dirty yellow using Holbein Naples yellow and burnt umber. I ran out of Naples yellow - no day is complete without running out of paint. The seats need to be sanded and given a second coat of paint.
I also painted the floor where it will be inside the car. I mixed a purple using Holbein burnt umber, crimson, ultramarine deep, and titanium white.
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
I’ve started the long sides for the gate car. I’ve decided to make each as a sandwich - three layers of Bristol board - but the middle layer is Bristol board for the bottom 5mm and then clear styrene plastic the rest of the way up to the roof. Then I can add the vertical wood pieces to the exterior, and mullions to the clear styrene to make the windows.
The interior layers of the walls are painted the same gray-green as the seats. The exterior layers are painted jet black. I didn’t want to risk white showing through any cracks between the slats. The middle layers are left white since they won’t show when complete.
Thursday, October 25th, 2007
I glued together more of the “sandwich” that is the long sides. I still need to add the layers at the top of the long wall - that is next - I painted some Bristol board pieces to use for that next. Then I’m going to start working on the wood siding. I’m planning to use scale lumber basswood 2×2’s for this. The walls are already thicker than I had thought they would be, so I’m concerned about them getting thicker with the wood.
I’m also poking along making the rest of the seats. And I need to start on the short sides, too.
My regular keyboard’s batteries died suddenly, so I’m using a mini (and hard to type with) keyboard because I don’t have any spare AAA batteries. *sigh*
Saturday, October 27th, 2007
I got the wood siding made and installed on the long sides for the gate car. I did both sides. They still require all the trimming and framing for diving up the plastic into windows. I think I should get started on the little short sides… The wood siding is scale lumber basswood 2×4’s - I thought about making the siding out of 2×2’s but decided that was not the right answer. The pictures look like 2×4’s. I painted the 2×4’s like I did for the RhB boxcar [Güterwagen] - taped them down and painted them. Then sanded them. I used the traction red paint that I had mixed with the Holbein acryla-gouache paint. The paint had come a little unmixed, and despite my remixing it, there is a little red shade variation through the siding pieces.
I chopped the 2×4’s up into pieces about 50mm long, then taped them down neatly to Bristol board. This allows me to get them spaced as I want and maintain control of the wood pieces. Then I cut them in half and glued each half to one long side. After the glue dried, I trimmed the pieces to the correct length. thus getting a perfect fit.
Since the sides were too thick, I removed two layers of the Bristol board from the inside along the bottom of the sides. This made them the correct thickness and makes them fit nicely to the undercarriage piece.
Saturday, October 27th, 2007
I spent a little time working on making the remaining seats. You can see in the picture that I got the seats made for the center on one side. They get end pieces, which I didn’t make yet, and they also get cushions on the seat backs. They are made the same way as the long benches - basswood for the support pieces, and balsa wood for the cushions. And they will get painted the same colors.
These are fun and easy to make - and they turn out so cute!
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
I added the remaining seats. They still need the back cushions and then they will be painted. They also have end trim pieces. They all came out a little different on the shaping of the seat cushion - sort of as if they had been in real use (and abuse) by real NYC’ers! I think the seats give the car a little sense of scale. They appear to fit nicely.
This Saturday is the sub-regional NMRA train show. I will be taking the gravel car and the cement silo car for judging. I will also be giving a clinic. So I have been busy getting paperwork done for the cars, and finishing prepping for my lecture. I’ve almost got everything ready, just a few more items to do. I’m excited to be giving a clinic, but at the same time, it’s a little stressful. I will be talking about my painting techniques.
Saturday, November 10th, 2007
My apologies for the week break. I’m back to work once again.
Today I worked on making the window mullions for the exterior of the long sides for the gate car. I have a few more pieces still remaining. These are made using the basswood Midwest scale lumber and painting them to match the rest of the wood exterior. I am gluing the wood pieces directly to the clear styrene that is the windows using wood carpenter’s glue. This is probably not the best glue, but it works as long as no tension is applied to the glue joint. You can see in the photo that one mullion has been knocked loose and is lying at an angle waiting to be re-glued.
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
I got the seats finished and glued into place. I also glued the long side walls into place. They warped a little, but I have a plan for solving that problem. So, next I will make the short end walls. I will make the same way as the long side walls despite the difficulties with the glue not sticking to the styrene very well. I may try some other glues to remedy that - though it’s not a crisis - the mullions stayed put during the handling necessary to glue the walls into position. […]
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
The roof is propped on top of the walls. I am beginning the short side walls now. As you can see, I’ve made a piece of track for the car to be displayed on. I decided to go with painting Studio Lascaux “anthracite” since subway tracks are generally very dark in appearance. I also decided to not add ballast as the subway tracks in NYC rarely have ballast. The track is 12 inches long, thus it extends a little beyond the photo on each side. The track is made of a bottom piece of 1/8″ thick balsa wood, which has a 1/8″ thick piece of cork laminated onto it. There is a second piece of cork underneath the track ties. The track ties are walnut. And the track is size code 70. The subway has small track, so code 70 seemed appropriate.
Saturday, November 24th, 2007
In the photo above, you can see the short end walls under construction. I made them the same way as the long side walls. These walls have more wall and less window, thus they seem to be less fragile than the long walls. Below is a picture with the end walls glued in place and the roof resting on top. The roof is not glued yet. I need to add some pieces to the corners to round them out and make them look smooth. […]
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
The car is essentially complete, but I am going to spend the next few days adding some details to it that should give it a more realistic look. I’m planning to add wheel journals, various underside pieces, lights on top, and a roof detail. The model also needs some touch-up paint here and there. The vertical poles at the ends of the car need trimming underneath. I drilled the holes through the underside to hold them in place. And I am trying to push them into the roof piece a little so that they will stay put. They need to be glued and touch-up painted. I’m contemplating trying to add a little of the railing using a method similar to how I made the ladder for the cement silo. We shall see.
The window mullions seem to be staying put despite them being wood glued to plastic with carpenter wood glue. The addition of the Liquitex matte medium and paint at the bootom of the mullions - to glue wood to wood - is working well. One mullion popped loose, but stayed nearly in place. So I added the Liquitex matte medium and paint to the top of the mullions - gluing wood to wood - and hopefully that will solve that problem. The roof glued down nicely. I glued the top of the wood trim to the underside of the wood roof and that has good strength to hold the sides straight without allowing them to bulge out.