In-ko-pah Railroad - Scratchbuilt railcar

[Ray Dunakin]

I've been wanting to build a railcar for my layout for a long time, based on a Ford Model T. I would have preferred to use a 1/24th scale plastic kit for this but haven't found one that was suitable, so I'm using an old 1/20th scale Hubley metal and plastic kit.

After some experimenting and considerable deliberation, I'm finally making major progress! I have a motor that should work just fine, and a couple alternative motors in case I want to try something with a different speed/gear ratio. On the advice of a gentleman on the "Free Rails" forum, I bought a Team Losi R/C car set, and will be using the electronics and battery from that to power and control the railcar.

The Hubley "Model T" metal kit parts have been cut down to just the stuff I want, which isn't very much. In fact I seriously considered ditching it and just scratchbuilding the whole thing, but the front fenders would have been a pain to make.

I built a custom chassis out of styrene and part of the metal kit. The rear wheels are in place, and the front wheels will be installed soon. Once that's done, I'll work up a motor mount and get the motor installed. I already made the driveshaft and a coupling to connect it to the motor.

I really getting excited about this project! I'll start posting some pics once I get a little farther with it.

[finescalerr]

As I recall those old Hubley kits were pretty good with nice detail. Tony Ferraro discovered them back in the early '90s and, if I recall correctly, sold them for awhile through his business, Little Railways. It will be interesting to see your improvements. -- Russ

[Les]

Ray
Sunstar make a 1/24 Ford T as a pickup or tourer. You could use the Hubbley 1/20 scale chassis to be a Ford TT chassis with 1/24 scale body parts. The Hubbly chassis would be close to a 1/24 TT chassis. I attach a photo of a Ford T railcar that is on a TT chassis
Les

[Ray Dunakin]

Les, thank for the suggestion about the TT. I was kind of thinking along those lines myself but wasn't sure.

Russ, I'm going to make this as "finescale" as I can but making a powered model presents some challenges that will require a few compromises.

Anyway, here are some photos and details, starting with the Hubley/Gabriel kit. It's a 1912 Ford Model T depot hack; most of the parts are zinc alloy castings but there are also some plastic parts. I bought it on ebay shortly after I started my layout, with the idea of someday converting it into a railcar. Originally I thought I would use the body more or less "as is", but since then I've decided I want something more unique. Also, the metal parts are quite heavy, so scratch-building most of the vehicle will reduce the weight.



The chassis unit out of the box, includes the running boards and fenders:


 

I cut off the running boards and the rear fenders. I also enlarged the motor opening and cut out another opening, to reduce weight:


 

To save myself some trouble trying to construct a drivetrain entirely from scratch, I'm using the rear wheel unit from a large scale Bachmann RGS railcar. This includes the differential and universal joint. The wheels are spoked, which is another plus. For the front wheels, I'm using a pair of replacement wheels from a Bachmann "gandy dancer" handcar. (I've been told that these are the same wheels used on the Bachmann 4-6-0's pilot truck.) 

I made axle bearings for the front wheels out of 6mm brass tube and some .020" thick brass strip. The tube is a pretty close fit, so I had to sand the axles down a little to ensure a it would roll freely. One mistake I made was cutting the tube to the width of the mounting plate -- now I have to find a couple washers to keep the wheels from rubbing against the sides of the frame. If I'd made the tubes just a little longer I could have avoided that.


 
BTW, I drilled the holes in the bearing's mounting plate by hand, using a pinvise. I dipped the tip of the drillbit in some light machine oil periodically to reduce wear on the drillbit.


Here's a shot of the front axle bearings mounted on the styrene frame:




The metal chassis unit presented a bit of a problem. I needed a wider chassis, to fit the rear wheel unit. I also wanted to lengthen the chassis. I could easily scratch-build one and forget about using the kit parts, but what about the front fenders? Those seemed too daunting to attempt at this time, so I wanted to use the fenders from the kit. To do that, I built a styrene frame that the metal chassis drops into. Here's a shot of the front wheels attached to the styrene frame:



I decided against trying to build any sort of suspension on the front end. The rear wheel unit includes simulated leaf springs. I'm not really fond of them because they're nearly flat, rather than arched, but they'll do. Cutting them off and building something different would have created another set of problems. Here's how I mounted the rear wheel unit on the styrene frame:


 

 

Here's the more-or-less complete frame with the wheels mounted and the metal chassis installed:


 

The radiator from the kit consists of three parts: a "brass" frame, a "brass" insert representing the core of the radiator, and a metal insert that goes into the rear of the radiator. The fake brass insert has the Ford logo embossed on it. This would be fitting for a new Model T straight out of the factory, but I'm building something that is much older and has been heavily rebuilt. A shiny brass logo on the radiator core would be out of place. So I sanded the core texture and logo off of the insert, and cut a piece of O-scale, photo-etched brass roofwalk material to fit into the radiator frame. The insert was then pushed in, followed by the metal rear insert, and it was all glued together. Here's how it came out:


 
And with a little black primer:


 

Here's how the chassis looks with the radiator and engine hood temporarily in place:


 

That's all I have for now. Next I'll work on getting the motor mounted, and decide how to handle the joint between the hood, which will be attached permanently, and the body, which will be removable. Then I can work on designing the body.

[Malachi Constant]

Neat project!  Off to a good start, too.  -- Dallas

[finescalerr]

What he said. -- Russ

[granitechops]

Like your thinking & the rationale behind it
go for it!

Turntables or Triangles??

[Ray Dunakin]

Turntables or Triangles??

Neither. On my layout the only thing I have room for is the magic Five-Fingered Crane.

[lab-dad]

Where did the differential come from?
-Marty

[Ray Dunakin]

Marty, the entire rear wheel unit, including the differential, is from Bachmann's large scale RGS railcar. They sell the units separately for replacements or scratch-building.

[Ray Dunakin]

Time for an update!

I made the motor mount from styrene scraps, and shaped a brass strip to hold the motor in place. I used some tiny screws (with mismatched heads) from my box of "junk". Here are top and bottom views of the motor installed in the vehicle:






Next I added the deck, made from .040" thick styrene sheet, with some fake cross members attached on the underside:






I decided to make this into a small railbus. The design combines some features from a couple different real-life vehicles. The open cab was inspired by a 1920 Model TT bus. The body is wide and covers the rear wheels, with sheet metal sides, slightly curved inward along the bottom. This was inspired by a Model T railbus used on the Tennessee, Kentucky & Northern.

I started building the rear half of the body out of styrene strips and sheet:




I also added a sort of "flange" to the hood, and cut a piece for the firewall. The firewall fits over the flange on the rear of the hood. The hood will be permanently attached to the chassis, and the rest of the body will be removable.




Here's a shot of the components temporarily in place on the chassis:




Next I added the side panels. I curved each panel by placing it on the extruded aluminum track of a sliding door, and pressed against it with a dowel. After those were attached, I started building up the front seat, floorboards, dashboard, windshield frame, and side window frames:



Here's how it looks so far. I put in the upper side panel on the driver's side, but haven't done the other side yet. At this point I'm trying to decide if I like the way it looks with the combined features (wide body/open cab). What do you think?

[Malachi Constant]

That's looking good!  You've done a nice job on the curved contours ... especially nice to see the body sides curve in toward the bottom as they should.  Also, neat job on getting all of the drive components to fit under the deck ... that will pay off well.  -- Dallas

[finescalerr]

You are very good with styrene. -- Russ

[mad gerald]

Ray,

... what the others said ... looks already the part the way it comes along ...  ... IMHO you should go on with combined features = wide body and open cab

Cheers

[Ray Dunakin]

I just posted a video to YouTube, showing the first test run of the railbus. I wanted to make sure everything worked before getting too far into the build. It runs very smoothly and quietly. Top speed isn't very fast but is acceptable, and it's probably pretty accurate for a heavily-loaded Model T.

http://youtu.be/FX1Yo4twbOU

I'll post some more details of the build soon.