Scratchbuilding a B&M Milk Car - Part 2 (car body & brakes)

I think that it is important to learn new skills and grow as a modeler. With each new freight car I am scratchbuilding I am trying to develop new techniques and push myself. With my O scale caboose, it was just taking the first steps on something small and simple. The HO scale flatcars had more complicated frame and brake gear components and the parts were smaller. Here, there are three distinct areas that are going to be difficult to replicate and thus pose interesting challenges. First, the plug doors on the sides. Second, the ends. And finally, the roof. And despite there being commercial castings for all three elements I decided I would scratchbuild each.

The body is a simple box made from 0.040" thick styrene. After going in on a group purchase with some friends, I also have a large amount of thicker styrene sheets in my inventory but this seemed a good choice for the car. Following the plan, I laid out the sides and ends. It is also important at this phase to compare my measurements to the floor I already built, because if it was over or undersize then some adjustments might need to be made. Thankfully, I will still spot on. The corners of the cars were braced with styrene rod, as was the bottom. I left off top bracing at this time because I still need to figure out how I am going to build and attach the roof and I don't want anything to limit my options yet.

I should point out at this time that I didn't plan to start working on the body. I wanted to push forward with the frame and add the brake details and other things first. However, despite my best efforts to brace the inside of the frame to my dismay I discovered that it was still bowing too. I don't understand this phenomenon at all, but I couldn't let the floor continue to bend. So, I jumped ahead with building the carbody so that it would act as a straightener for the frame. After holding it securely all over and letting the joints fully cure, I also made sure to go ahead and add three interior bracing walls to support the middle of the sides of the car.

At this time I took measurements and I laid out all of the vertical lines which would later receive rivets, most likely via decals. There will be a lot of rivets to add! I also marked out the doors. A small machinist's square was pretty helpful. I need some better pictures of the door and sliding doorway hardware and guides before I can build them, so I am deferring them to later. Again, it would have been awesome had the museum still had this car out for display as I could have taken a million pictures and perhaps some measurements. As it is, there is only one known car to exist and as I later discovered even the brass models got some details wrong.

Picture by George Dutka (2015)

The ends came next. From some research I did I discovered that the ends are the "Dreadnaught" style ends. The term was supposed to conjure up images of Battleships and such, with the implication that the ends of the cars would as tough and strong as those ships. Maybe. Anyway, there are various styles of Dreadnaught ends (check out the Oct. 2014 Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine for an excellent article) and my car had ends similar to those found on express reefer cars. While referring to the brass models available I noticed that they weren't correct. They showed partial ribs on the ends between the main ribs where there should actually be just straight lines, which is prototypical for the double-door series car but not the single door cars. However, George Dutka came to the rescue and sent me some pictures which he also kindly allowed me to repost here... thanks George! Some interesting points are the rounded over corners, the grooves in the corners which form a squiggly pattern (technical term), and the intermediate ribs or bulges or whatever they are in between the six full size ribs. Modeling it will be a challenge.

I initially considered purchasing commercial end castings and modifying them to match the prototype but was counseled by another M.M.R. that this would not be a good decision. It would be better to make them myself. The ends started off as pieces of 0.020" styrene. I didn't want to fabricate the ends directly on the car because if I messed up I would need to shave and sand down the carbody itself. Instead, I wanted something I could glue on later once I had them how I wanted them. I laid out the locations of the horizontal ribs and also the prominent row of rivets. Again, I used a square to make sure everything lined up correctly.

Each of the ribs is a piece of styrene that I essentially divided into thirds lengthwise. Then, the outer thirds were chopped with my chisel blade until the profile was of a really squat octagon. The ends don't actually come to a point but they are very close thereto. Then, each piece was glued onto the car end pieces with MEK. After the solvent had evaporated and cured, I looked over what I had done and was pretty pleased with the results. At this moment, I pushed all the chips to the center of the table and went all in. I was concerned that the ends might warp, so I glued the ends to the carbody structure and made sure that it was securely attached.

Once that was done, I took a large flat file and removed material from all five ribs so that they tapered down in thickness as it reached the edge of the car. I did this with both ends and then I took small needle files and went between the ribs horizontally to knock down the sharp edges. My goal was to smooth over the pieces enough to look like a stamping. Finally, I took my files and rounded over and then notched the corners to match prototype pictures. Then, I added smaller pieces of styrene 0.020" rod between the ribs, as well as a plate on the bottom. The dust and chips were cleared and I flooded everything with MEK with a brush and that actually melted and fused it all together.

Unlike my O scale caboose which might just sit on a display shelf, I planned to run this car on my layout from time to time (even though by 1984 it was likely falling apart in real life) so I wanted to put weight inside it where it would be hidden. I build a couple of boxes from some scrap styrene I had to hold lead shot. I weighed 3 ounces of the stuff and mixed it up with some two-ton epoxy (the longer it takes to set, the stronger it is and the more I like it) and then poured it into the boxes. They were secured to the braces that run along the floor but don't touch the floor or the walls directly. That way, if I have to drill holes for wires or grabs or whatever I won't have to drill through epoxy/lead.

The above was spread out over a couple of days and by then the the Tichy brake castings set (#3013) arrived. Only a few of the pieces matched what I needed, but it gave me a start. The rest, including the tanks and brackets, were fabricated from styrene tube and channel stock. The connecting lines were bent from 0.015" brass and 0.020" styrene rod. I did the best I could based on the drawing, but the good thing is that once it is all painted black it will likely disappear in the shadows. I also built up the truck bolster area to provided greater clearance for the trucks to rotate. I may need to adjust the coupler box height as well.

From this point on, the car is a bit fragile and difficult to put right-side up. I may build a simple cradle to hold it. Next step: either the roof or the doors.