1862 B&O R.R. Iron Box Cars

After near 6 weeks of minute and detailed scratch building, I grabbed a can of paint to shoot Oxide Red onto a pair of B&O Iron Box Cars that I have been scratch building. I wanted to get the color as close as possible to the car that sits in the B&O Museum in Baltimore.
There are two different designs for this style of car. One has an above car brake wheel while the other style has the brake wheel on the car end. I wanted to build both styles for display on the Colbert's Ferry & Chickasaw RR. Captured/Requisitioned equipment would have been my 'plausible explanation' for them showing up on the CSA Trans-Continental Route. My 'alternate history' view on the outcome of the War for Southern Independence, may very well end up with trade and exchange between the USA and CSA, thereby allowing Yankee rail equipment on Southern roads to be a possibility.

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Since this was posted way back a bit ago, I have dropped all plans to construct a model railroad. These rolling stock builds were already in the pipeline and were finished for the Colbert's Ferry & Chickasaw Railroad. Many of these will become proving grounds and test beds for my model skills

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The Box structure itself is made from laminated 80# Cougar Opaque Cover Stock. Rivet markings were done by laying a 16 tooth/inch lithographers perf-strip on the back of the sheet and, using a brayer, rolling over the card stock with the strip on the back side. Then a blank sheet of stock laminated to the back of the perf'd sheet to provide stiffness. Sides, Ends and Roof were all done in this manner on both cars.
My problem began when I ran out of my Ab-Fav chassis for scratch building ACW era cars...Caboose chassis with the end platforms removed. This makes for a 24 to 30 foot framework to build on top of, depending of course on the type of modern caboose is handy. I turned to a newcomer to my modeling materials, Meat Tray Foam. It has served me in building frameworks for card stock buildings, those being assembled using Elmers glue or a grade school glue stick. My understanding of the reaction of foam to solvent based paints and glues was sorely lacking.
Painting day: I was not prepared for the events that materialized before my wondering eyes that day. After hand bending every hand grab and painstakingly using a pin vice to locate as precisely as possible the positions of the grabs on the car I set the cars out for paint. I didn't use any glue to hold the grabs in place, counting on the paint to seal the grabs in place. I grabbed the only Oxide Red can of paint I had on hand, Automotive finish primer. At that very moment, Paint was Paint. Lacquer, Enamel, Epoxy, Didn't even cross my mind. "PUT ON PAINT" was the driving force. So I blew on a first light coat. It dried near instantly in the Florida heat. I was using small light coats so I could avoid filling in or burying the tiny rivet details. Second coat seemed fine as did the third. It was then that I noticed the melting of the ends of the cars. The light bulb went off and Solvent vs. Foam flashed home.

Salvage operations will begin soon. Separating the box from the chassis and replacement with a plastic car base is now the plan.
Perhaps fabricating a chassis so that I can pour/cast them en mass might help. For now I buy caboose lots on eBay and toss the body in the trash and keep the chassis.

Style 'A' had an 'above the car' brake wheel which according to the B&O records would have been the first cars delivered. Number 17001 was indeed the first of the series.

This is the 'B' end of my A Style car (to be lettered for the B&O and numbered 17065). Melt damage is visible

Style B, End car brake wheel. By deducing that this is a later delivered car and it would have a later car number. This car series ran from 17001 (photograph above) to 17305.

'B' end of Style 'B', - B&O car to be lettered for the B&O and numbered 17289.

Damage to ends and sides

All repaired. New Frames created with laminating polystyrene and cutting into shape. Tichey Arch Bar Trucks, Alexander Link & Pin couplers. RR Gothic white decals N scale Alphabet- each cut and fixed by hand. Truss rods are .020 music wire with Grandt Line Turnbuckles added in the center.
Paint was touched up by hand. I "decanted" paint from the Oxide Red spray can. This is what I use for small brush touch ups. 2 coats of Matte medium finishes off the project.

A couple more shots of the finished pieces.