# I've been casting parts and now getting ready to assemble



## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Here's my finished cast parts ready to assemble.....can anyone guess the car?


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## Greg Stevens (Jan 3, 2008)

it's either a hi-cube or a reefer. Looks good.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Shorty appliance Hi Cube?


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Good eyes guys, 

Yup, a 40' P-S mini Hycube.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

It's getting there.....got the basic box worked out. You can see the 1/8" ABS structural bulkheads and side ledger pieces. The holes in the ends and roof are for allowing access to apply glue to the ends and roof pieces.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice, Brian. Looks like casting has become an another important part of the hobby. Well done.


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## Burl (Jan 2, 2008)

Man, that's looking nice! I may have to order a kit from you.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

It almost looks as if you bigulated the old HO HiTech kit. I had one years ago, for my DT&I stuff that I never built. There was a shipper on the DT&I that used them, cannot remember who right now, nor do I care to look. 

Great work regardless!


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Way cool! That's one aspect of the hobby I've yet to get into. 

Later, 

K


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Very nice casts! This is gonna become a very sharp model!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

The real ones had some sharp paint jobs too. CB&Q especially:


http://ho-scaletrains.net/id28.html


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks guys, 

I just came up for air....been busy in the basement....I'll post some pics a little later 

Burl, for me that's quite a compliment...you are responsible for my trying some of this stuff. 
I don't know about selling kits....I'm just trying to build a few of these cars for myself 

Garrett, "bigulated" ?.......that's funny. You are right about the available sharp paint jobs. 
I snatched these from the AtlasO website: 














































and AtlasO hasn't released this paint job yet: 










and although these railroads had 40' hycubes these aren't the correct prototype for these 2 roads: 



















back to the basement.......


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Here's yesterdays progress. 
These shots show how this car looks next to regular height cars. 
Enjoy,


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks good in its natural habitiat. Settle on a paint job yet? I wish I could remember which ones were on the DT&I a lot.... My "memory" (here we go....) was CB&Q or MILW.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Garrett, I'm leaning towards MILW (you can never have too many brown boxcars) although I've already printed IC and ICG decals (the only black lettered cars)


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Alright......all I can say is details, details, details! 

I've completed the body....at least I thought so till I looked at these pictures....then I noticed I need to add the door stop to the bottom door track.....always something. 
I need to do coupler cut levers and air hoses as well (which I consider underbody detail). 

I'm qiute pleased with the whole process....the casting was nerve racking/tedious at times. I've learned a lot during this project. I have even more respect for Burl now that I've done a car of my own. 

Here's where I wrapped things up for the night.....it may be a while til I get to painting it as it's currently 19 degrees here (it was 2 this morning) 

Enjoy!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

MILW, sounds good. Like the ACY covered hopper also. Any Ann Arbor malt hoppers in the works?


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Unless I missed it, what company casting materials are you using?? Is it white? 
Great job. 

I like the idea of ONE piece body parts. And reinforced.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks Marty, 

Yes, it's white resin. 
I started using Micro-Mark resin (CR-600) until thru research I discovered it's made by Smooth-On (SmoothCast 305) so I use a local supplier (since the weather is in single digits now and I don't want a mail-order sitting on the porch all day) plus it's cheaper by the gallon. 

A word of caution for you though....I've done some homework about these and have discovered it you want the highest thermal deformation characteristics then stick with Alumilite Regular (heat deformation at 250F) vs Smooth-On's 150F. A black car sitting in the sun will test the Smooth-On/Micro-Mark stuff....and I know you spend a lot of time outdoors.....my stuff will be indoors most of the time so I'm not as concerned about thermal deformation.


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## m ledley (Jan 18, 2009)

i noticed there's a bar code on a hopper in one of da pics...all one decal ??? mike


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By m ledley on 04 Jan 2010 10:43 AM 
i noticed there's a bar code on a hopper in one of da pics...all one decal ??? mike


Look like the Microscale ACI sets I have used in smaller scales? Sure nuff, found this:

http://www.cocry.com/Merchant2/merc...ode=MICROS

On a crashed hard drive, I have the "secret decoder ring" for the things if you really want to get accurate.


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## Burl (Jan 2, 2008)

I can one-up Garrett for that. I have a program that will generate the label & allow you to paste it into Illustrator - in 1:29, of course.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Mike, Garrett got it right.....I used the Microscale 1/29 decals for those ACIs 

Hey Garrett.....go to the 'Rolling Stock' section and tell me what you think of my ACY boxcar....I think you'll like it. 

Burl, Do you mean your program can make an accurate numbered label for the specific car ? I can do that but not with a program. 
Also......I wanted to show you how I made the door for this model.....it's kinda like your stamping....I tried something a little different. 










The white piece in the picture is a test piece of .01 styrene that I vacuum formed. I did up 3 of these for this door. It took a few tries before I got it right, but then I applied them to the door model and cast up the result. 
Since you had asked me how I made a door in a previous thread post and I was a bit dissappointed with myself for having not made it look a little more stamping like. I thought I had to try something different. Yet another example of Burl pushing me to do it better !


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Burl on 04 Jan 2010 12:07 PM 
I can one-up Garrett for that. I have a program that will generate the label & allow you to paste it into Illustrator - in 1:29, of course. 
OK, were you working on this during the time of the NERR ballast hopper project? Somehow, this rings a bell.


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## Burl (Jan 2, 2008)

I never would have thought of vacuum forming that. I keep saying I'm going to build a vacuum form setup one of these days. Maybe when I get my garage finished.

Here's the program I'm talking about:









Anyone that wants it can download it from here: http://burlrice.com/LS/ACI.exe
It should run on any version of Windows. Just make sure you have "paste remember layers" checked in Illustrator.


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By DTI356 on 01 Jan 2010 05:56 PM 

















Whoo-Hoo.. ICG in da house... Gotta love the home road... I vote for this paint job..


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## fsfazekas (Feb 19, 2008)

Brian - where are you getting the initial source for the masters you cast from...meaning plans/drawings, HO models, something else? The work itself is just fantastic!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dave F on 04 Jan 2010 07:44 PM 


Posted By DTI356 on 01 Jan 2010 05:56 PM 

















Whoo-Hoo.. ICG in da house... Gotta love the home road... I vote for this paint job.. 

While I lived no where neer the ICG as a kid, I remember this and the UP "map" cars from my childhood watching ConRail and Chessie freights at our first house in and later my elementary school. Good stuff.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Garrett, Have you looked at my ACY boxcar yet? 

Dave, Here's a jpeg of the VISIO dwg I created for the decals for the IC and ICG cars.......enjoy! 










Frank, The short answer is research, research, research. I've found it doesn't come to you. The longer answer is....A good place for info is a Yahoo group callled MFCL (modern freight car list). Some of the members are noted authors of many modeling/prototype articals about modern era railcars (1960 and newer). Doing some searching in thier old messages can provide a wealth of info. It worked for this project. I found which Model Railroader had an artical with a drawing, and some Mainline modeler issues with articals about these cars, and a Railway Age magazine with an artical about the real cars when they were first introduced. One guy had a list of all railroads that ordered these cars, thier number series and even some of the plants/railroads they were assigned to. All that info was gathered by searching the message archives. After all that I did my own drawings. There are HO and O scale models available to use for reference, but that's not my forte'. 

Burl, That's a very cool program....does it a lot quicker that me armed with a calculator and the RR list. My only criticism is that the first digit after the start should be selectable. I know that 0 is common on RR owned freight cars but on the DT&I I know the first digit on cabooses (and all non revenue cars) is an 8, and all engines had 9 in the first digit slot.


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice job Brian, very nice indeed. I may just steal those graphics...


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes sir very nice looking cars. I would vote the MILW RR. later RJD


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Good artwork, COTS, ACI and the infamous post 1978 Waverly, TN wheel dot. 

Yes, just spotted the ACY box.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

You know i would love to buy or trade castings of the many cool cars that are built on this site. 
I am not good at pactients and detailing, but I love to build. 
Or even if Shad could have a library sections with topics stored such as car bashes and kits, locos etc.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

The humidity broke long enough for me to get out to the garage ad put a coat of primer on it.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

In reply to Marty's idea. 

Having a library section would be great, but divided up into specific eras. 

As far as buying or trading kits, that could be a slippery slope. I like the spirit, but there are some legal ramifications. 

Take for instance Marty's casting his 50' Aristo gondola bash. Without Aristos permission he can't sell or trade them.....legally anyway. 

My Hycube box car is made from my scratchbuilt sides, doors, and roof, but the ends are bashed from a USA Trains 40' boxcar I hacked up and put 2 ends together to make the tall end you see here. I can't really sell those because USA owns the rights. I'd have to get thier permission and that would probably cost some licensing or something.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Well, the company photographer got out and snapped this shot of my boxcar......it's getting close. Just have to paint the white excess height bands at the upper ends. That's where the humidity is still killing me. Since my last post here 2 weeks ago we've had 2 days that were acceptable for painting. Hopefully I'll have a few coming up soon and I can get this done.


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## Burl (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice... the A/C units in the background are a nice touch too.


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## ConrailRay (Jan 2, 2008)

Brian, 

That's pretty awesome man!! Don't label it Conrail, otherwise you might pull me out of the live steam journey i'm on  

-Ray


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## CapeCodSteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Take a breath Ray, don't do it, be true to your steam roots, stay away from the dark side. With that beings said, should you feel the need to dance on the edge, get some good batteries.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Burl, 
Thanks, That building I made for my 'O' scale layout but it works well in 1/29 also! 

Ray, 
Thanks, ......but I didn't know Conrail had a Livesteam program


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Brian 
FYI I do have e-mails from way back from AC saying that I can pay to have their logos made and that what few things I may use or copy won't bother anything. Its all in helping the hobby.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Lesson: Don't read the train fora before your morning tea. I couldn't understand what you wanted castigated parts for.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Marty, 

That's great, for you anyway. Don't lose those emails. I completely agree with you that it helps the hobby. But, I was only saying if these particular companies decide they feel violated somehow then they have the ability to take action. What you say makes perfect common sense....unfortunately what happens in court doesn't always follow that.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Brian 
I hear ya, I'm in busness and I have to watch my back all the time. 
Same with insurance. I have letters on that show what is covered and whats not in the train shop.


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

Very nice work Brian. I wish I had the talent to do that. 

Mark


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## Mark L Horstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Excellent job, and an interesting prototype.


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

YEA !!!!!! 

It's FINISHED !!!!!!!! 










Thanks to everyone for thier kind comments


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## Ron Hill (Sep 25, 2008)

Brian, if you do offer kits, I would like t o purchase 2 of them for my Y&MVRR railroad. The Y&MVRR is a predecessor to the Illinois Central Railroad and I model it from first generation diesel up. 
Ron


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Great build Brian









The Hi-Cube turned out beautiful.


And Burl, thank you so much for posting the ACI data tag program. This is absolutely perfect for many many uses, especially for use on my Microsoft Train Sim (computer game) custom textures. All this time I've been drawing my own pixel by pixel


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

You are just so good with decals....Or is it the angle that hides the edges??


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## DTI356 (Jan 3, 2008)

Marty, 

I guess I'd like to think I'm good.....How you cut the decals helps disguise the edges as does using Solv-a-set. The glossier the surface you decal the better as well.


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