February 2018 - ROUNDHOUSE 13

This is the final part of my Gas Rail Car build project. Part 1 appeared in October 2017 and Part 2 was in the December 2017 Roundhouse.

Deck ConstructionFor the deck, I used scale lumber in-stead of styrene strips. I had stained the boards previously with a mix of Isopropyl Alcohol and a few drops of black India ink. I fixed the boards to the deck with Tacky Glue. Then I rolled a pounce wheel across the deck to simulate nail holes. I took care to line the holes with the sills underneath.

Water TankAlthough on the original photo there

was just a plain deck, the drawing showed a rail car version with a water tank and some kind of pump. This inspired me to build something similar and to make the vehicle a bit more interesting.

I built the tank as a box with .040” plain styrene and triangular braces in all four corners. Then I lined the tank with .020” sheet where I punched rivets using a pounce wheel.The water filler hatch consists of a short piece of 3/8” tubing and the lid is .010” styrene with two bits of styrene rod attached on the edge, for the hinges. I bent the handle on the hatch and the grab irons on the sides of the tank from .019” brass rod.

Water PumpThe water pump gave me some prob-lems, because I did not want to use a commercial casting. Then I remem-bered that I saw another modeller us-ing an HO tractor engine to represent a generator. A water pump consists of some kind of blower, powered by an engine. Auhagen manufactures a detail kit with exhaust blowers and piping conduits, which I used to im-agine a shop built water pump. From

M.A.C. Gas Rail CarAlain Kap MMRPart 3

NMRA Roundhouse February 2018.indd 13 07/01/2018 11:15

14 ROUNDHOUSE - February 2018

the HO tractor, I only kept the engine with the pulley to drive the blower on the pump. See the photos because they tell you more than a thousand words. I connected the piping to the blower and the tank. Then I built a cradle from styrene channel stock and installed the pump assembly to the rear of the deck. I added Grandt Line nut-bolt-washer castings to fix the cradle to the deck. I represented the blower belt with a small strip of paper painted leather brown.

Before I painted and weathered the tank and pump, I test fitted the parts extensively for a perfect fit.

I painted the vehicle a rusty looking

Commercial Parts List

Albion Alloys MBT12 1,2 mm brass tube (sander pipes)MBT16 1,6 mm brass tube (exhaust pipe)

Auhagen 80104 Pipe conduits (water pump)

Bachmann 46211 Bus w/high rails

Builders in Scale 250 Brass chain bits (coupler cut lever)

Details Associates 2506 Brass wire (grab irons and coupler cut levers)

Evergreen Styrene 123 .020 x .060” (foot boards)138 .030 x .188” (deck end boards)156 .060” x .125” Strip (sills)220 .035” rod (water hatch hinges)222 1/16” rod (swivel seat)223 3/32” tube (fuel filler)224 1/8” tube (radiator and sander cap)232 3/8” tube (fuel tank + water hatch)246 .030” quarter round (louvers)264 1/8” channel (pulley support on water pump)266 3/16” Channel (side sill)267 1/4” channel (pump cradle)291 .060” angle (drip rail on cab)295 5/32” angle (footboard supports)

Evergreen Styrene 8102 1x2 strip (hood trim)8106 1x6 strip (cab doors and sun shades)8203 2x3 strip (cab window trim)9010 .010” plain sheet (different caps and bits)9015 .015” plain sheet (inner and outer layers on cab, caps)9020 .020” plain sheet (core layers on cab and water tank)9040 .040” plain sheet (hood and engine tunnel)9060 .060” plain sheet (underframe deck) Grandt Line 27 Coupler Pockets53 Stake Pockets75 Tower semi-automatic coupler113 Coupler lift bar brackets Different sizes of nut-bolt-washers HO door hinges (toolbox hinges) On3 brake beams, shoes and cylinder

Miscellaneous Brass mesh (radiator grill)Brass tube (sandpipes and exhaust pipe)Life Like/Walthers HO tractor (water pump)Life Like/Walthers HO horn Clear acetate glazing (windows and lamps)Different bits and pieces of styrene from scrap boxSewing pin (cab doorknob)

Northeastern 31211 3x12 scale lumber (deck planks)

Plastruct 90625 3/8” square tube (toolbox)

Tuscan red. I used raw umber and burnt sienna weathering powders to dull the shine. I also flooded the tank top and the sides with Rust-All liquid rust and sprinkled rust colour-ed powders into the wet solution. When dry this gave the rust a bit of texture. I lettered the cab sides for “Cascade Mills” and a “Water” decal on the tank. Both came from pas-senger car decals I had left over.

This was a fun build allowing for a lot of improvisation. Remember when free-lancing, that everything you build must be logical, especially if you add items which are not clear-ly specified or shown on a picture, like I did with the water pump. This actually caused me the biggest headaches, to make it believable. The result proved me that I did it well. At the 2016 Convention in Meriden, the model scored 111 from 125 possible points. I received the maximum for detail and con-formity and 14 out of 15 for scratch building. That is why I tried to do as many parts as possible from scratch. For Construction, I was only 8 points shy of the maximum

of 40. Take care that all corners are square and the walls are straight. Avoid visible glue spots on the mod-el. These are the first things judges look at.

Well this is not a real systematic how-to modelling article, but I hope that the many pictures give you some guidance if you plan to build a similar locomotive.

Alain Kap MMR

NMRA Roundhouse February 2018.indd 14 07/01/2018 11:15