Building a PRR/PC/CR G39 Ore Jennie - Scratch building with a laser, Part 2

Version 5.0 construction is mostly complete.  I may add cut levers and air hoses but debating these as they will be fragile and likely eventually break off.   These cars are being built to run, not for a contest.    I have a bit of cleanup - filing, sanding, etc., and then onto the paint shop.   Painting will be a whole other challenge, as I have to perfect the stencil lettering.  Plan B would be to have decals made up.   Before all this, I want to test out the car’s running characteristics, hopefully this weekend.   I have a slight concern that the bolster shape could be a problem and I might have to go back to a simpler design for better running.  It might be as simple as milling the bolster flat and drilling for the truck screws on a drill press.   I will be making improvements as needed as I build more of these.     

There were a few compromises made with the ladders as I had alluded to in an earlier post, but I’m happy with the result.  They are cut from .060 acrylic, and include the steps, and two or three temporary “rungs”.  The very thin temporary rungs are to maintain spacing while I bend and insert the individual .020 wire rungs, and are just cut out after all the wire is glued in.  The laser “drilled” all the holes.   The ladders should be fairly rugged for handling the cars, and surviving the occasional derailments at the club.    The brake gear is Grandtline with wire and styrene where needed.  The train air line is bent on a laser cut jig and the holes in the frame pieces have the holes pre-drilled from the laser - oval holes for where it passes through the main beam at an angle.  The beams and bolster frames are slid onto the bent air line and then the whole mess is carefully fitted into slots on the car bottom.  

Really,Really awesome job Jim!!!

Update on build -  I tested version 5.0 at Cherry Valley a few weeks ago and it ran nice and smooth.  No weight has been added yet, but plan on some sort of steel bar sandwiched between the car bottom and a secondary bottom from .020 styrene.  Besides concealing the weight, it hides the tabs from the under frame assembly that are visible.  

Road test.  After I left the club and was getting into my truck, I dropped the car from a height of about 3-4’ onto and asphalt pavement.  The only damage was the .020 x .125 rim trim separated for about a half an inch in either direction at the corner.  Quick fix with liquid cement.  The combination of the acrylic body and the .100 styrene ribs make for a solid car.  

Moving on, the car has been painted and I’m still trying to sort out stencils vs. decals.  I laser cut stencils out of Tamiya masking sheet.  They stick great and no doubt will produce crisp lettering, but they are tricky to apply because they are sticky, and the Penn Central worm logo is almost impossible to apply as the masked section between the worms is so thin and delicate.   Looking for low tack double sided tape for polybacker version of stencils, and also exploring decals, or maybe a mix of both.  

Version 6.0 assembly is underway.  Since the difference between V5 and V6 was only a slight (1mm) extension of the end frame, I’m moving forward with mass production, so to speak.   I am think I will build about 4-6 at a time.    Shown in tray above is V5.0 (black) and four of V6.0 in various stages of assembly.  White car on top is a G-38 ore jennie.

The G-38 was the predecessor to the G-39.  It was the same width and length, but was 18” shorter in height.  Also the end/ladder assemblies are a little simpler, and hopefully easier to model.   I realized looking at the contemporary photos from the PC era, and even Conrail, that a third or more of the ore train consists were typically the smaller G-38 cars.  I hadn’t intended on modeling this car, but for prototype fidelity I will have to make a dozen or more.  

The under-frame is the same on both cars, but the car sides and ribs needed to be modified and the ladders and some end details need to be drawn.   I will also have to create - either on laser or 3D printer small portholes on bottom half of car sides that were used to insert steam lances to thaw the ore.  

These are going to make one great looking train.

Dave

Update - The G-39 ore jennie is complete, including weathering.  I’m working on the ore load.    The first G-38 is almost complete.  I have a few grab irons and details for the brake system left.  Besides the lower height sides, the G-38 differs from the G-39 in that they were built with 32 portholes on the sides to insert steam lances to thaw frozen ore.   Later on, when taconite ore became the primary loads in these cars, these portholes became problematic for the PRR as the taconite pellets would leak out of portholes not closed properly or broken, especially on the high line through Philadelphia between the ore docks and the Zoo interlocking.   I’m guessing there were broken car windows, slip and falls on the marble like pellets, etc.   I laser cut these portholes and they were easier to apply to the car then it looks - a template also laser cut helped with the alignment.  I’ve updated the laser cutting tool paths to mark the sides of the G-38s to eliminate having to use the template.   

The next complete car will be a G-39A.     

Jim,

Really enjoying following your progress

Nice work!

Awesome!!!

A brief update on this project.   Photo shows the completed G-39 and G-38.  Penn Central regalia, weathered, etc.  

I’m not entirely happy with the load in the G-39 and intend on creating a slightly different one.   The “iron ore”  I used was Woodland Scenics.  It’s a bit uniform and maybe slightly too reddish, based on what I’ve seen.  The shape is off a bit too.   I might still use the Woodland Scenics and just apply a dark wash and some dry brushing to simulate a taconite load.  Some experimenting on this.....    

I have twenty-three additional G-38s and 39s under construction, now and will add another 25 or so to that.  Should keep me busy at the workbench for at least the rest of the fall and winter, probably longer.  

Looks great Jim,

now to get busy casting those sideframes!

Jim, I stumbled across this thread while working on my own ore car project. I’m absolutely drooling over your work, the cars are gorgeous. The brake system detailing is excellent. Your design execution in regard to ease of assembly is very impressive. I also quite like the look of the stenciled lettering, I’ve seen plenty of photos of freshly painted PC equipment with white overspray around the lettering.

I’m 3D printing my own versions of the three ore car prototypes. I’ve wanted to print these cars for years, but until now never had the resources to do it affordably. I drew all three of them many years ago when I was in high school, but they were designed for an FDM printer while I’ve gone the way of resin. My drawing skills have also come a long way since then, so I decided to start fresh with a clean slate.

I do have one question for you, what is the height between the rail head and the flat bottom of the car body? I model in three rail so I suspect mine will have to sit at least six inches higher that the prototype would to account for flanges.

Here is my mostly finished base model for the G39/G39A. I haven’t done much with the underside as I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be doing in regard to trucks/couplers yet. I may go with Kadee couplers since these are intended for unit train service. There is also a good bit of metal work yet to be completed at the bottom end of the ribs. The ribs on my model are 4” wide. I originally had them at 4.5” and I thought they were a little too fat looking.

Curious how your own project has gone since 2020. Would love to see 30+ of these being dragged around by a trio of 630s....

Hi Steven - your design looks great.   I had thought about 3d printing the whole body originally, but had two concerns - warping of the one piece print, and cleaning up all the layer lines (even with 6k or better resin prints  I’ll still have them)  with all the ribs and details.  So I went a different route.   I am going to design and use single resin 3d prints for the pusher bumpers, and I’m going to try to do also for some or all of the brake rigging, especially with the exposed cluster on the 39As.    

So what’s been going on since fall of 2020 with this project - not a whole lot unfortunately.    I have the two complete cars - a G39 and a G38, and around 37 under various stages of construction.   A few months ago I started working on them again, but it will be slowly.  A bit of good news with these is a few years ago I was able to convince K4 Decals to make correct decal sets for these in O Scale, and he made beautiful sets in PRR, PC, and CR for both the G38,39, 39a and other variants.   I was consumed in 2021 and 2022 with medical issues, the illness and death of my mother,  and overwhelming work load in my own business.  

I was doing some model railroading, but mostly involving HO Freemo modules that serve as both my son’s home layout, and one we occasionally take to shows.  As with most of my model railroading, I don’t use kits, and most of the HO structures are scratchbuilt modern industrial complexes, which take a lot of time to build.  I also started an O Scale N&W gondola project, and a Georgia Pacific pulpwood rack project.  (I’ll add a photo of the in progress N&W gon, as you can see the mix of laser cut acrylic, styrene, and both resin and filament 3d printed parts.