THE UNDERBODY

My personal philosophy of modelbuilding generally calls for ignoring underbody detail except for truss rods. I'll explain what I did but you may want to take a very different approach to constructing your own model.

I attacked the underframe with a rail nipping pliers, separated the portions containing the bolsters, and threw the center and end sections away. I retained Bachmann's bolster because its design is very good. I also retained the small transverse beam parallel to it because it holds down the truss rods. I did clip off a lot of outside end the underbody frame casting to make room for a coupler mounting plate. I also filed four grooves in each bolster to clear the truss rods.

I prefer working truss rods so I used .052-inch diameter brass rod and threaded the ends 0-80. I tapped brass turnbuckles 0-80 and used 0-80 nuts with 0-72 washers on the outer ends of each truss rod. The brass turnbuckles I have used tend to be of fairly soft metal. I usually have a lot of trouble tapping them. It takes so much torque to cut the threads, the turnbuckles tend to twist. I finally found using a #55 drill instead of a #56 enlarges the hole enough to reduce the torque but still leaves enough metal for a loose but workable thread.

You must drill four #49 or #50 clearance holes to allow the rods to pass through the end sills. I removed the cast-on nut from each corner brace and brought the outer rods through the center of the remaining "washer". I used the existing brake staff hole for one of the four inner rod holes, then drilled three others in the same relative position.

The original queenposts and needle beams are too close together for our model, so toss 'em. Make a pair of new ones from 1/4- by 3/8- by 4 inch long stripwood. I used Ozark Miniatures metal short queenposts. I fastened the queenposts to the needle beams with epoxy and used Goo to hold the beams to the car body. The tension on the truss rods helps to hold the assembly in place so you may use glue sparingly.

FABRICATING TRUSS RODS

If you want working truss rods, use the die to thread about 1/8-inch on one end of eight brass rods. Insert two into a turnbuckle and set them on the queenposts with the turnbuckle dead center. Grab one rod just on the outside end of one queenpost and, without moving the pliers, bend down the rod to what you think is the correct angle. Mark a line on the car where the rod would touch. At that point, bend up the rod so it turns horizontal again. Make a final upward bend where the rod just passes the bolster, just enough to direct the rod toward the clearance hole in the end sill. Bend the rod horizontal again at the car end, leave about 1/8-inch so you can thread on a nut, and cut off the excess.

Make one "master" rod and seven copies. Screw together the rods and turnbuckles, making four assemblies. Unscrew the bolsters and set the rods in place. If yours are the same as mine, they probably fit pretty roughly. Now is the time to tweak the angles for a really good fit. When you are satisfied, thread the outer ends and attach the bolster. Make sure it fits tightly to the floor and be certain the rods fit in the slots you cut for them.

Tighten the nuts on the rod ends carefully. Be sure to center the turnbuckles. The rods should be just tight enough to stay on the queenposts. Use a long nose pliers to adjust the rods very gently so they run straight and level between the queenposts.

I installed neither brake cylinder nor rigging because the "Do It Yourself Dave" philosophy is, "If it don't show, don't build it."

ADDING HARDWARE

Let's look at the ice hatches. Bachmann refers to each lid as an 8050 Top Door. Each is hinged so you can open it. But, according to Bachmann's drawing, one hinge half, the 8032 Hinge A attaching to the 8034 Top Door Frame, is slightly different from the corresponding part on the car doors (8041 Hinge B). Separate them and avoid mixing them up! The pointed end of the hinge has no part number but it is the same for both hatches and doors.

Be aware of one tricky area when you assemble the hatches and hinges. Some are right handed, others left handed. So separate the hatch hinges into two groups, depending on whether they open to the right or the left. On each hatch lid, use one right and one left. That way the hatch can't work loose and fall off. Then install the short grab iron on each lid and attach the lids to the top door frame, but wait before mounting the assemblies to the roof. Put a dab of glue on the underside where the hinge prongs poke through just to keep them in place.

Also wait before assembling the hinges and hardware of the car doors. Why? The hinges should remain black and we haven't painted the car yet.

I dislike Bachmann's brake staff and grab irons. I replaced the grabs with parts from a Phoenix boxcar detail kit (from Railway Garden, Ltd.). The new metal grab irons fit the reefer as well as they fit the boxcar. The brakewheel still fell short of my requirements so I mounted a Trackside Details plastic brakewheel (a dead ringer for its D&RGW prototype) on a .052-inch diameter brass rod. Note the rod should be quite a bit longer than the Phoenix brake staff. My rod rattled around a little but that stopped after I painted the model.

I did use the three Phoenix brackets to attach the brake staff but I moved them out to about 3/16-inch from the end grabs and positioned the bottom bracket as low as I could. Fill the original holes with plastic filler.

You may use either the Bachmann or the Phoenix stirrup steps; they look about the same.

PAINTING AND LETTERING

I often prefer spray paints from the hardware store for large scale models because they are less expensive than model paints. The main advantage of model paints is their finely-ground pigments. That is a necessity in the smaller scales; ordinary paint will obscure tiny details. But the detail on our model is large enough to make model paints optional.

I do prefer the colors of some model paints to anything else I have found, for example Floquil Grimy Black. Fortunately neither it nor any other solvent based paint I have tried will craze the plastic Bachmann uses. So, without using a primer coat of Floquil Barrier, I sprayed the underbody, door hardware, and the rectangular strip beneath the side doors with Grimy Black.

The roof and ends are boxcar red. For that I prefer Krylon Ruddy Brown Sandable Primer in a spray can.

The D&RGW painted its reefers with both an orange-yellow and a "reefer" yellow. The closest match I found for the orange-yellow was Krylon School Bus Yellow-and it was very close. Note the ends of the needle beams are the same color as the sides, not black.

The underside of the roof should be the same color as the corresponding body part (yellow along the sides; boxcar red on the ends). So, when you mask the roof to spray the red, be sure to avoid getting boxcar red along the sides because it's hard to cover with yellow.

First, paint the sides, doors, and the underside of the roof yellow. Then paint the body ends, roofwalks, and ice hatches boxcar red. I sprayed about half an inch of yellow into a clean, empty Floquil bottle, dipped in a brush, and hand painted the roof undersides with two coats. That was simpler than trying to mask the car for spray painting.

I lettered my car with dry transfers from Larry Larsen Graphics. Some of you eagle-eyed readers may notice I placed the word "REFRIGERATOR" incorrectly on the car with the "toilet seat" herald. It should be beneath the herald rather than over the "D&RGW". Oh, well.

FINISHING UP

After the paint has dried for a few days, add the doors and trucks. The drawing with the Bachmann kit shows how to assemble the doors but be careful to mount the hinges the opposite of how they appear in the drawing. If you follow the drawing, the doors will fall off the car when you open them. Attach the 8041 parts so the hinge section is underneath and supports the wedge-shaped section. Put a little black paint on the door beam pin and some glue on the back of the hinge prongs.

Spray the entire car with Testor's Dullcote to "weather" the car and to protect the dry transfers. If you really want to weather the car, do it now.

Finally, add the couplers (if you chose to body mount them).

Well, folks, you're done. I hope the article has shown how you may combine several fairly uncomplicated operations into a distinctive and presentable car. If you are able to apply the concepts to this or any other project, I'll feel the effort has been worthwhile. Enjoy.