# 1/6th scale car projects



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Here's a project that I've been working on for several years now, and a new project that I'm just starting, both in 1/6th scale. The first project is a 3 foot gauge combine car based on the Southern Pacific narrow gauge combines #400 and #401. It won't be an exact model of either, but will be based on them. I cut the parts for the frame about 5-6 years ago, and then they sat until last year when I finally assembled the frame. I was crazy enough to use mortice and tenon construction for the frame. 





This was as far as I got last year before it got too cold to work outside. This is the basic car frame, it's 5 feet long and 16 inches wide, a scale 30 feet by 8 feet. I need to build the end platforms and the draft gear beams next. This is the car that I was talking about when I was posting about the passenger truck plans.

Here's the wood for the new project, the Gilpin Tram caboose #400. I took a sort of educated guess on the dimensions of the wood based on comparing the few known dimensions with unknown ones. This won't be an exact copy of the caboose, there's not enough information available for that, but it will be close anyway. 



The wood is basswood that I've had sitting in the basement for a number of years. I cut to the sizes on the table saw. There are 4 pieces that are approximately scale 4" X 6" for the frame beams, 1 piece is a scale 4" X 10" for the bolsters, and there are 2 pieces that are approximately 3" X 8" for the upper and lower end pieces that take the place of the end beams on the car. These all need to be cut to length, but it's a start. It seems that I'm always working on multiple projects at the same time.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber 

This is the first time I've been able to actually see your photos posted on this site. 

Don't know what has changed, but it will be great watching your progress on this project.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

and a new project that I'm just starting,
I have to ask - how many projects are you working on right now? I guess I could count the threads . . .


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Amber 

What scales are you NOT working in? 

Someone gave me a STAPLETON family crest that said "omnes squamis / omnes latitudines" ["all scales / all gauges"] 

Sounds like you need one of these.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I just have too many "irons in the fire".  
Actually, I'm only working in 3 scales, 1/6th scale, 1/20.3 scale, and On30. The On30 stuff is at the bottom of the priority list this time of year. 
What railroad related projects do I have currently, let's see, there's these 2 cars, the raised bed for the railroad, the 3 1/20 scale log cars that need to be detailed (I have to either buy or build the log bunks), the D&RG 6000 series flat car that needs the details glued on (I even have the parts for that), the D&RG 3 board gondola that's been mostly finished for several years (I need to put the sides on it and finish the details), the 2 axle tender that I need to build to carry a battery for the Bachmann 0-4-0 that I just put RC into, The Eureka Mine Tram ore cars that are half built, and have been that way for probably 8-10 years, The Calumet and Hecla straight braced rock cars that I'm finally starting to work on, and those are the more or less active ones. That doesn't include any On30 projects. Oh yes, the live steam boiler that I need to make a burner for. 
I usually work on a project until I come to a place where I either need parts that I don't have, or I get stuck on how to do the next step, then I put it aside until I can solve that problem. Some of the older unfinished projects ar simply due to lack of motivation to finish that project. I'm kinda bad about motivation to finish things that are mostly done, I need to work on that too....


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I forgot one, the half finished 1/6th scale mine side dump car. I've been working on the hardware for that one.


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Cool project!


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

The wheels for the Gilpin Tram caboose are going to be the most expensive part of the project. The cheapest wheels that I could find that scale out to about 20 inches are about 7 dollars a piece, and they're just castings. They would have to be turned and I don't have that capability. The next cheapest that I found are 17 dollars each, but at least they're finished. With 8 wheels needed, it's going to be a while before I can buy them. The body is all wood, so that will be cheap enough. I can build the trucks if I can figure out what to use for the journal boxes. The rest is just thin bar stock and wood, along with the bolts to hold them together.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I've been busy with other projects like the garden so not much has gotten done on the railroad projects for the last month. I did finally get back to the Gilpin Tram caboose though. I managed to get the frame together. I cut the notches in the various pieces with the table saw with the blade set low. A router table would have been easier, but I don't have one. 
Here's the parts with the notches cut in them, ready to assemble. As you can see, I goofed on the one bolster, wrong measurements. 

 

Here is the assembled frame. 

 

 

 

I think the 2 center beams are spaced a bit too far apart, but I didn't have any measurements to go by so I took a guess at the placement. Deck boards will be the next step, that should be interesting. I will probably have to cut them from basswood sheet. The rest of the frame is basswood, cut from boards that I had bought years ago for carving projects that never happened.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I got the bolster placement measurements from the C&S folio drawing that I found online. The Gilpin Tram trucks had a 33 inch wheelbase according to that information, and there was 45 inches from the inner axle of 1 truck to the inner axle of the other truck. I went from there.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I got the deck on the caboose frame this week, but no pictures yet. I want to finish painting it before I take pictures. Primer red.


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Posted By Amber on 11 May 2012 08:26 PM 
Some of the older unfinished projects ar simply due to lack of motivation to finish that project. I'm kinda bad about motivation to finish things that are mostly done, I need to work on that too....  
Oh come on, you and I both know that never happens to any modelers of any genre ever in all of known space and time 

After that, the projects are pretty cool. And understand the work on it until, thing.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Are you saying that you have 1 or 2 neglected projects lurking somewhere in your work space?  
Another "issue" that I have is that I keep adding to the list of projects....


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Wow, I finally got some work done on the Gilpin Tram caboose, at least on the frame anyway. I got it painted so I took a couple pictures of the progress. 

 

 

As you can see, the wheels are not the correct ones for the car. Those are 4-1/4 inch wheels for the other bug car, they're roughly 26 or so inches in 2 inch scale. Also, the wheelsets were modified to 6 inch gauge, 3 ft gauge in 2 inch scale. 
The wheels for this car should be 20 scale inches, I may have found some wheels that are close to that size, about 3-1/3 inches in diameter. I'll have to build the trucks as soon as I can afford to buy the journal boxes. In the meantime, I need to build the body and add the end rails and bolt details. The prototype car used link and pin couplers, I don't know where I'll find those yet.


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## wlburge (Jan 2, 2012)

Amber,
Home Depot has the Ryobi router and table set for @$100. The drawbacks of the table is the fence is plastic and not square and the table measurements are not reliable.
I have one and still enjoy using it as I replaced the fence with an aluminum one from a table saw and I always measure from the front of the table to the fence at each end of the table.

Have a good one.

Bill


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