Aerojet
Active Member
Mean while back in the car shop -- Today everything is ready to run in model railroading, but there was a time when not everything was so. Take shake the box Athearn Blue Box kits. If you wanted a car, you bought the Athearn kit, took it home and finished the assembly yourself.
Wrong couplers? Put on the right ones. Wrong trucks? Same thing. Then there was the old Walther's kits.
Here you got a complete car, but in a ton of pieces. Everything has to be shaped and formed, then glued with Goo into place, painted and then final decorations before you put on the couplers and trucks. I guess it was too much work for the average computer savvy model railroader. It had to be "plug and play" - or it would not sell.
So what do you do when you are from the old school and still build rolling stock the hard way - one piece at a time? Worse what do you do when there is no more kits or parts available?
Start getting creative.
First step is trying to determine what you want to build then start looking for something to make it out of. Some parts are just about impossible to find anymore so now what?
Ask around or dig on evil bay for something close and start working in the car shop.
First up are the metal castings on the ends of cars. These used to be made of monel or woods metal. Try to find one today. Well there is a work around. You need to find the end either from a buddy who can lend you one, or out of an old kit, or if you are like me - out of the junk box. Then start making new ends with a plastic casting kit ...
Here you see the process. I got this kit from the hobby shop and went to work. First up make the rubber mold, then you mix up the resin and pour that into the mold. It will take a few days of letting things cure in between stages until you start making the parts. The finished part, well sort of, will come out of the mold in about a half hour. Let them fully harden overnight then start shaping them and making them look like the original part.
The final filing will make a very good part. Take your time. Got one? Make two - then three and so on.
For car sides and other things you need to lurk on evil bay looking for cars or parts you can cut up, cannibalize, or rework into what you want.
Trucks and couplers and other running gear has to come from your local hobby shop in the period you want. The rest is your imagination.
I said in another post I said am going to make more "Oscar and Piker" type cars, because I can. Here is the start of the new fleet of "mini cars". Two cast ends, and a cut up old trolley car and I am good to go. The floor and roof came from the car kit, the ends were made from existing car ends I had laying around. Slowly but surely I am making up what I need - a fleet of little passenger cars to have fun with.
Insides come from Palace Car Company and Red Hat. The rest comes from either the local hobby shop or what I have got down here in the bunker in the junk boxes I have saved over the years.
IF you are not making up cars like this, the method can be used to make any car you would like to. What have you seen which is not made by the current model making ready to run people? Want something special? Make your own!
Just showing how an old timer makes what is wanted.
IF you need any of these parts I can make some up. Let me know. Once you have the mold made you can make tons of the parts like you see here. Evil bay is the place for junk to be made into something else, or your local hobby shop $5.00 bin.
Your thoughts?
The Aerojet
Wrong couplers? Put on the right ones. Wrong trucks? Same thing. Then there was the old Walther's kits.
Here you got a complete car, but in a ton of pieces. Everything has to be shaped and formed, then glued with Goo into place, painted and then final decorations before you put on the couplers and trucks. I guess it was too much work for the average computer savvy model railroader. It had to be "plug and play" - or it would not sell.
So what do you do when you are from the old school and still build rolling stock the hard way - one piece at a time? Worse what do you do when there is no more kits or parts available?
Start getting creative.
First step is trying to determine what you want to build then start looking for something to make it out of. Some parts are just about impossible to find anymore so now what?
Ask around or dig on evil bay for something close and start working in the car shop.
First up are the metal castings on the ends of cars. These used to be made of monel or woods metal. Try to find one today. Well there is a work around. You need to find the end either from a buddy who can lend you one, or out of an old kit, or if you are like me - out of the junk box. Then start making new ends with a plastic casting kit ...
Here you see the process. I got this kit from the hobby shop and went to work. First up make the rubber mold, then you mix up the resin and pour that into the mold. It will take a few days of letting things cure in between stages until you start making the parts. The finished part, well sort of, will come out of the mold in about a half hour. Let them fully harden overnight then start shaping them and making them look like the original part.
The final filing will make a very good part. Take your time. Got one? Make two - then three and so on.
For car sides and other things you need to lurk on evil bay looking for cars or parts you can cut up, cannibalize, or rework into what you want.
Trucks and couplers and other running gear has to come from your local hobby shop in the period you want. The rest is your imagination.
I said in another post I said am going to make more "Oscar and Piker" type cars, because I can. Here is the start of the new fleet of "mini cars". Two cast ends, and a cut up old trolley car and I am good to go. The floor and roof came from the car kit, the ends were made from existing car ends I had laying around. Slowly but surely I am making up what I need - a fleet of little passenger cars to have fun with.
Insides come from Palace Car Company and Red Hat. The rest comes from either the local hobby shop or what I have got down here in the bunker in the junk boxes I have saved over the years.
IF you are not making up cars like this, the method can be used to make any car you would like to. What have you seen which is not made by the current model making ready to run people? Want something special? Make your own!
Just showing how an old timer makes what is wanted.
IF you need any of these parts I can make some up. Let me know. Once you have the mold made you can make tons of the parts like you see here. Evil bay is the place for junk to be made into something else, or your local hobby shop $5.00 bin.
Your thoughts?
The Aerojet
