I probably talk too much: If those are individual boards on the sides ... Maybe you should have stained/weathered them before construction - just saying. Your work just flat out is GREAT!
Preliminary paint shots. Don't worry, she'll be weathered and dirtied up quite a bit! I need to paint the bottom yet.
After finishing painting the car I noticed a flaw in the build which is part of the LaBelle design. The outside frame beams are made of two pieces of wood. You must align them and the seam will disappear. In short, I thought I got it, even with sanding sealer and sanding, but alas I missed. So to cover my boo-boo, I added 5" NBW's to the bottom piece. This makes the car look like it had that piece of wood put on the car as reinforcement since it is now carrying a heavier load capacity with ballast instead of sugar beats. Hence I have now masked my error with ingenious thinking. Shhhhh............Don't tell anyone!
This was very challenging to decal. I didn't have the decal sets made up for any ballast cars in terms of measurements. It took some trial and error, fitting, but it came out very nice. It will look so much better once it is weathered and the oxide stops yelling "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" LOL. This is the one side done, with a few coats of Solvaset. I'm stopping for the night. I'll pick up the other sides in the morning. This is going to look so good with ballast in it. I can't wait! Take note of the NBW's on the bottom to imply the reinforcement I talked about in the prior post. Totally plausible and it adds character to the car.
Well, Chalk up one ballast car for the S.A.&A.P. She's pretty much finished. The only thing I need to do is continue putting in a little Woodland Scenics Scenery Cement to hold the ballast in place. She's weathered, dusted, and ready for MOW service. I really enjoy the weathering powders, but I find that much of the affect disappears if you spray dust paint, or dull cote. I knew this would happen, so there is a learning curve at this point. I will just have to weather the snot out of it because the coatings will hide a lot of it. I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. I learned a lot from building this car. Each build is indeed a learning experience. The next one will be easier and better. Take a look see, and please give me your candid remarks.
That turned out nice. You did good. Forgive my ignorance about the door latch hardware along the sides, but are those for individual wood doors that can be opened to allow the ballast to pour out? I figured each would have it's own wooden door separate from the car siding. Just curious. That car looks awesome. Real clean modeling.
The door hardware is for the door that is the lower two boards between the stakes. The hinge separates the door from the top two boards. It creates an illusion for full side doors. The metal area is not the door area. It's just the bracing and hinge work. Thanks for the compliments!
Manny, keep up the exceptional modeling. It's hopefully inspiring some of us trolls to get back to our workbenches. Best Regards,
Re: Next project: S.A. & A.P. Pile Driver No. 1 - MOW Manny, your builds are solid, detail superb. Best of all, you are sharing the process with all of us.
Thank you Keith. I appreciate it. I really do. I really love my Frisco family. This ballast car will be a bit different from the last one. I don't want to give away the surprise, but I know y'all will be happy to see what I have planned. Again, thanks to you and all who compliment and participate in the builds.
Okay, I started construction on this one a little bit differently and so far, it is the right way to go. I began by building the end boards, and side boards. I purposely left some gaps to appear usage. I have some hacking to do with the Excel knife to remove some chunks of wood. Next, I changed the car a little bit. One the previous car, the end stakes are 16" in from the ends of the car. This time, I put the stakes at the very end, to vary the car a little. Since these cars are old sugar beet cars that have been moved to MOW service, rebuilds and variances have occurred. So far I have one side of the side dumps almost finished. I just need to add the locking mechanisms on the bottom. I'm going to drill holes for some grab irons, and then repeat on the other side. Once that is done, I can do the base of the car which is easy-peezy! Here are pics so far... More work to follow...
Finishing up on the car right now. I'll have pics in a few. One thing that did occur is that I made a mistake in the measurements of the car sides I pictured above. They were too long for the car body I built, so I had to do them over again. No biggie. I'll be putting them on eBay. I want to see what they'll do. Anyways, the car is almost finished and will go to the paint shop today. Pics in a few...