doctorwayne's 2013 Get Off Your Duff Challenge - Part 1

[doctorwayne]

This may be what I need to get out of the modelling doldrums. I'll start simple, with a couple of LifeLike refrigerator cars. These were picked up off the junk table at the LHS several years ago. I added a few details, then lettered them for my freelance road, and put them in service hauling ice from the main ice house in Lowbanks to the various smaller ice houses around the layout. While this was a common practice, most roads removed the ice bunkers from the ends of the car's interiors, and sealed or removed the ice hatches. Mine supposedly had the bunkers removed, but the ice hatches, their platforms and the moulded-on roofwalk remained. This challenge will address that situation.

Here are the cars heading for the shop:





With the old roofs removed, I added some bracing to support the new roofs and to straighten the car's sides. The braces are .060" sheet styrene, cut to match the profile of the car's end:



Next, new roofs were fabricated from .020" sheet styrene. The ribs are .020"x.030" styrene strip, while the roofwalk supports are .030"x.040" strip:



After the cement had fully hardened, I cut the two roofs apart, then scored down the centre line of each, cutting through both the roofwalk supports and the roof ribs. Each roof was then flexed along the score mark, bending slightly farther than necessary, then relaxed to match the slope in the roof. They were then cemented in place and set aside to dry.
Meanwhile, I took several strips of HO scale 2"x6" strips and dragged a razor saw over both sides of each, imparting a faux woodgrain effect.
When the roofs had fully dried, I flipped the cars upside down, then rubbed them over some 150 grit sandpaper until the roofwalk supports were level across their width. In the photo below, the car on the right has had the roofwalk supports sanded level, while the car on the left has yet to be done:




The 2"x6" strips were then cut to appropriate lengths and cemented in place, along with the roofwalk laterals:



The next step was to add the end supports, built-up from .010"x.030" brass and styrene strip, and the roofwalk corner grabs. These were fabricated from .012" brass wire:



These cars still need their roofs painted and weathered, plus some minor alterations to the lettering, but painting will have to wait until I have enough cars ready to make it worthwhile to heat the paint shop, which is in my detached garage. In the meantime, I'll be starting on part 2 of my Challenge.

Wayne