A Mini Box,

I wanted to build for running with my Climax a small 4 wheel, almost British in design boxcar. I looked through my collection of plans that are included in the American Magazine &--8216;Garden Railways&--8217;, and found, a design there that could with some changes be used.

North East Narrow Gauge (web address www.nemodel.com) market a kit of parts for this style of vehicle &--8211; they did the plans, and it includes a set of sprung journals (we in the UK would call them axleguards and axle boxes). Their reference number for the kit is 265, and I believe it is $40, for a complete kit, less couplers.

The web address of the plans is &--8211;www.sidestreetbannerworks.com., at present the plans are generally in 1/20th scale. The plan I uses is plan 37, and dates from Feb 1999. This is based on the small boxcars that were used on the Ewa plantation in Hawaii.The vehicle is a scale 11 feet long, 7 feet wide and 9 feet 6 inches from rail level.

Here is a photo of the vehicle with a standard narrow gauge boxcar in front of the depot.




The body was made from 3mm plywood on a base of 1.5mm plasticard, that had been pre-scored with the crosswise planks for the floor . Assembled on a strip wood base for the chassis of the vehicle. The stiffening the (arc)roof the plan showed a single end to end piece; I thought this was not going to be enough so I added a pair of extra supports on each side of the door, cut from scrap; these can be seen in the photos






With an inner body now complete it was time to clad it with plasticard: I used some of the Slater&--8217;s 4 mm plank 1/2mm thick pieces. And to glue them on the clear glue &--8216;UHU&--8217; was used as this does not attack the styrene. The corners were given a piece of paper glued over the plasticard to replicate the corner posts. The planked plasticard is slightly different to the American (imperial measurements) planked siding, thus although the corners were close, with regard to the planking, this made it look better.

The upper edges are now covered with 1.5mm thick pieces to give greater strength here, and also it provides a greater gluing area for the roof, which will be fitted later. Another reason for these extra pieces are to allow for the side doors; these are also made from 1.5mm plasticard, score them for the planks, not forgetting that the top and bottom of the door have a horizontal plank there!

Add the door bumper from 3mm square strip just to the left hand side of the body, and I started to make the door furniture. The plan suggests that &--8216;flat wire&--8217; is used; I cannot find this in the UK, and from an Australian member of the web group &--8216;mylargescale.com&--8217; who also had the same difficulty (he thinks it should be flat brass wire &--8211; or strips perhaps) he uses aluminum strips, which are both cheaper and also much easier to cut! It does not do the blade of a heavy cutting knife any good though. The strips I made are from .030 (3/4 of a millimeter) thick aluminum, and this has been used throughout this boxcar.

Bend up and fix the upper door rails on position; I glued mine, using my favourite glue &--8211; tube &--8216;Evostick&--8217;, and they work well; for extra security the ends can be pinned with small brass pins. These can be bought form model shops that sell bits for model boat builders &--8211; mine have a reference number of 8106 and are made by &--8216;Artesania Latina&--8217;, and are 3/8" long with a domed head. Add the 4 corner straps, mime are from ½ mm plasticard

When making the long door rails, also make up the hanging brackets (that fit over the door rail), and the 3 &--8216;Z&--8217; shaped brackets that keep the bottom of the door in position and stop it &--8216;flapping about&--8217;. Fit the lower ones when the door slides freely on the upper track. I have added from scrap, a &--8216;door bumper&--8217; almost at the end of the side as well. If you have not pinned the brackets in position add some small 1/2mm thick plasticard discs to replicate the fixing bolts. Add to the ends, and at opposite sides the three rungs for roof access; these are made from 1mm thick plastic covered wire, fitting into pre drilled holes. When they are dry add above the rungs, some more plasticard discs with a 1mm cube centred on top of the discs, this is the fixings for the full size ones. The doors can also have their vertical handle fitted with the same discs fitted top & bottom. Add the ends of the &--8216;end to end&--8217; truss rods to the projecting end beams ; these are made from a 6mm disc of 1/2mm plasticard, with a 1.5mm thick 3mm square on top to represent the square fixing nut(early nuts were not hexagonal but hand cut and square). Later you can drill the nut for a tiny piece of rod to be glue in for the truss rod itself, use about 1.5mm diameter rod).

The body is now complete, and the roof can be started, but first paint the floor with a dirty khaki coloured paint; it is much easier to do now. Now to the roof; ensure that the upper edges of the sides are slightly sloping &--8211; to match the ends of the curved ends, and cut your roof. The roof should just overhang the door rails; ensure that the doors will still slide before fixing the first layer down; if not raise all the fixing points for the roof with plasticard.

My roof is made from 2 layers, the inner one is from 0.8mm plywood that I had in stock, use plenty of glue, and ensure that the inner framework is well covered, also the underside of the plywood where it will be finally fixed. The outer one is from .50 mm plasticard, glued to the plywood with UHU glue again when the inner one has been fixed and is dry. This is done as it is easier to &--8216;pre-curve&--8217; the thinner pieces. Allow it to dry completely, when dry gently take off the extreme and sharp corners with a file. I finish the sides of the roof with a strip of either plasticard or ply to cover the edges of both layers; ensure that the doors still slide when fitting it. The roof walk is made from a single piece of 1.5mm plasticard with six cleats fitted to the roof that it will be glued to; I have added some paper strips to show were the strips of canvas covered roof would have overlapped; these are easily added if you want using liquid cement to glue the paper strips onto the plasticard.

The vertical end brake staff is made from a piece of bicycle spoke, with an old Bachmann brake wheel for the top; get it ready but do not fix it in position yet, that can be done after painting. Add the platform for the brakeman from a piece of 2mm thick plasticard, with aluminum strip being used for the two brackets underneath, Also add a couple of handrails for the brakeman to pull himself on to the roof.

Here are a couple of photos of the finished except for painting boxcar









Now with the top finished, the underframe can be done; the outer beams are fitted, but a couple more will be required that the axleboxes etc., are glued to; this vehicle can use the sprung axleguard/box units from Ozark, (called pedestals by the way) or you can &--8216;make your own &--8216;unsprung&--8217; versions.

Cut the extra beams from wood, and mark them for the axleguards etc, I have used a wheelbase of 7 feet. The hornplates are double, with them being placed on each side of the wooden beams. I made mine from 1.5mm plasticard for the inside one, and 1mm for the outer one which is more cosmetic. The inner one is further secured with a couple of pins per hornplate. The outer ones are the same shape as I used on my Waycar (which has an article on building it on the web group site at www.mylargescale.com. The axleboxes are made with a piece to fit tightly inside the inner horn plates from plasticard (this is not part of the inner hornplate to allow for some adjustment when assembling it), and backed with some of my stock of solid PVC foam that fills the gap between them; fit them carefully and check that they match. Now for the bit that needs some concentration! &--8211; they need to be level in two planes, both end to ends and side to side; glue one in position and leave it to set thoroughly. Then find a piece of plate glass, and being to glue in the other side fitting the axle ends of the wheels in as you lower the second beam into position. I always use metal wheels as they give some weight, and do not accumulate dirt from the rails. Gently try it o the plate glass to ensure that the four wheels are all touching. Leave them to dry totally.

You now should have a free rolling vehicle &--8211; check it and make an adjustments if required, the main work has been done now, and before adding any more you need to have a free rolling vehicle. I now added the cosmetic front portion of the axlebox casting; mine is made from small blacks of my PVC solid foam, with a lid added from plasticard, with a couple of tiny bits of half tube each side to replicate the side bolts and a equally tint bit for the pivot bolt on top. Fill in the holes with a couple of layers of glue and add some tiny bits of rod to replicate the bolts projecting through. These are glued on to the front hornplates. I fitted a set of 4 brakeshoes to this vehicle and a cosmetic air brake cylinder, with end air pipes as well. This is so the braking system will match the climax loco; I am not sure if such a system would have been fitted, it is quite possible that the only brakes were hand brakes operated by the vertical brake staff.

But first add some weight to the vehicle by adding some lead sheet to the underside of the floor, gluing it in place with plenty of glue to counteract gravity.

The brake shoes are made from plasticard, and hang from vertical hangers gled to a block on the underside of the floor. Add a cross beam between them in the usual American fashion. For the brake cylinder I took one from an old Bachmann flatcar chassis that was now redundant, cut it out with the two fixing beams still attached. Glue this on top of the lead sheet weight in the centre of the vehicle so it can be seen from the side.

I have used a spare set of the Bachmann short (20ft) boxcar couplings; add them to the ends to the correct height, cutting out a small portion of the end beams were required. These still rather large coupling are very like the Kadee 830 style which may replace them eventually. They are fitted to project about 4mm To cover this projection I fitted an extra block of PVC foam board, add a couple of pins to each to represent the fixing bolts.


The air pipes are my usual design from electrical wire covering and a small piece of bicycle spoke ;fit them the right of the coupling block of the ends.

One item is still required and I leave it to the last as it can be a bit fragile; the American seem to join the hornplates together with a end to end steel bar that runs underneath them and is bolted under the ends. This is made from my 3/4mm thick 3mm wide aluminium strip; there are a couple of long pieces running end to end, and to add some strength to them I have added a coupe, of cross pieces that are inside the wheels; these were certainly fitted on the brakevans (or waycar/caboose). Cut and fit them and glue in position, then add some small (almost 2mm) diameter plastic discs to indicate the fixing bolts. All this can be seen on the photo below &--8211;



Finally I fitted a wire step under the side doors, made from my 1mm diameter plastic covered wire, with some plasticard fixing plates added to the sides; these can with care assist the door: add them so they are just at the level of the bottom of the door when it slides. Check with the door, leave them to set and add 2 bolt heads per plate.

Its now time to paint the vehicle, mine is to be red oxide with I think a grey roof.


©Peter Bunce 2005