Labelle Craftsman kit build (boxcar)

Adam,

First of all I would seal the wood with a sealer using something like Aerogloss dope flat sealer. Keeps the wood from curling. Then sand, tack rag it, the use what ever paint you want.

Dick

Hi Dick,

I've been sealing the wood with Deft Spray lacquer sanding sealer.

Thanks,

Adam

Very nice Adam.  Love building things in wood though it's been years for me.

Martin B will soon be along to offer tips for 21st century assembly since he's a wood car era modeler and has "been there done that". 

For me it was always the problem of getting glue to last... but this was back in the Testor's tube cellulose glue and Walthers Goo days. 

I've got an update on the build. 

I've completed the assembly of the boxcar. It's now ready for painting.

overall I'm mostly happy with how it came out. I do need to work on my spacing and drilling holes. Especially for the grab irons. It's tougher than it looks, and mine came out crooked.

Up next is painting, then the decals, couplers and trucks.

A carefully made brass jig will cure your grab iron drilling problems.  And when you find a permanent adhesive, let me know.  I think Walthers Goo and Weldwood contact cement used to be better than they are now.

Nice work.  What kind of trucks are those?

I used titebond wood glue for all the wood gluing, and for all the detail parts I used Alene's Thick and tacky glue. It's a really great white glue. Way stronger than elmers.

The trucks are Archbars from Protocraft.

A beautiful model!  I suggest drilling ONE hole  for each  hand grab OVERSIZED. That will allow for some  vertical adjustment.  And of course you will need to cement them in with some gap filling glue.  I always use calipers to get the holes close.  Now I am developing an itch to build a Labelle kit.  I have not built one yet.

You can STILL redrill, and adjust those grabs.  -Salty Rails-

Good to see someone here actually building something again!

Not sure where this seal the wood thing came from - never bothered with that although very carefully gluing is critical to getting that scribed siding in place and gluing the edges is really important to limiting later opening up of the sides.  I usually wire brush the sides and ends (where possible) with a sift brass wire brush to get everything clean and the scribed valleys clear of debris.

Aligning grabs is annoying and tedious; a jig works if it's the right one for the car; I just get a mm ruler and after setting the spacing, measure over the distance for the grab - hemostats are lovely tools for holding and inserting grab irons into their mounting holes.

Was there no brake stirrup to mount the end of the brake shaft into then?

I'm still using Goo to mount the metal parts to my cars although I'll add a wee bit of medium viscosity CA on the metal part for the final mounting.  Very hard to re-position or remove after that unless you cut it off.

Wish there was a good source of those corner braces on the ends!

I have been working on the CBQ Drovers caboose. Interesting build.

I am a bit concerned about making the of the roof. Suggestions?

Dick

CBQer posted:

I have been working on the CBQ Drovers caboose. Interesting build.

I am a bit concerned about making the of the roof. Suggestions?

Dick

Pictures would be helpful - what kind of roof?  What's the concern?

The sliding door in the end of the car may have been used to allow interior car length lumber to be loaded.  At the side doors put a piece of lumber through the hole until the other end will clear the loading door.  Then push the last end in towards the other end of the car.  When the lumber is inside the car, the end which went through the small door in the end will drop.  Clever these loaders.     John in Lansing, ILL

mwb posted:

Good to see someone here actually building something again!

Not sure where this seal the wood thing came from - never bothered with that although very carefully gluing is critical to getting that scribed siding in place and gluing the edges is really important to limiting later opening up of the sides.  I usually wire brush the sides and ends (where possible) with a sift brass wire brush to get everything clean and the scribed valleys clear of debris.

Aligning grabs is annoying and tedious; a jig works if it's the right one for the car; I just get a mm ruler and after setting the spacing, measure over the distance for the grab - hemostats are lovely tools for holding and inserting grab irons into their mounting holes.

Was there no brake stirrup to mount the end of the brake shaft into then?

I'm still using Goo to mount the metal parts to my cars although I'll add a wee bit of medium viscosity CA on the metal part for the final mounting.  Very hard to re-position or remove after that unless you cut it off.

Wish there was a good source of those corner braces on the ends!

Yeah, there was no brake stirrup that I could find. So I improvised.

Doesn't Labelle sell the corner braces directly? I was going to order some spares and some queenposts as well. I killed several of them and had to raid another labelle kit to finish this one.

I've moved on from common adhesives and use a gel CA in all assemblies other than soldering.  Seems to work equally well on wood, without the fear of warping from water or solvent based glues.  The almost instantaneous set up lets me move on to the next stage without delay.  Excess CA tends to remain on the wood surface where it can easily be scraped away, allowing stains to coat evenly.  It might sound trivial, but one adhesive on the workbench sure cuts down on clutter.

Some carefully cut sheet brass, rivet embossed and bent to shape would probably make better looking corner brackets.  The cast ones look 3 times too thick.  Much like the side door hinges found in All Nation wood reefer kits....way too thick and oversized.

Bruce

adferraro posted:

Yeah, there was no brake stirrup that I could find. So I improvised.

Used to be a nice casting from Berkshire Valley. Alas, the new owners did away with the freight car detail parts of that business.   PSC makes some....

Doesn't Labelle sell the corner braces directly? I was going to order some spares and some queenposts as well. I killed several of them and had to raid another labelle kit to finish this one.

No idea; probably improvise if/when I need such.  Queen posts are easy --> Grandt Line makes several sizes and I use those a lot!    Tichy makes some as well but there's no mounting post / sprue with their casting.....

mwb posted:

CBQer posted:

I have been working on the CBQ Drovers caboose. Interesting build.

I am a bit concerned about making the of the roof. Suggestions?

Dick

Pictures would be helpful - what kind of roof?  What's the concern?

It has an old style passenger curve end only on one end.

Dick

CBQer posted:

mwb posted:

CBQer posted:

I have been working on the CBQ Drovers caboose. Interesting build.

I am a bit concerned about making the of the roof. Suggestions?

Dick

Pictures would be helpful - what kind of roof?  What's the concern?

It has an old style passenger curve end only on one end.

Dick

Clerestory roof?

Ok, should be some templates included in the kit - make copies and glue them up to some cardstock so you can cut them out and handle them. 

Taking your time the 5-8 times you do this is probably reasonable; I'll suggest a 4-in-hand rasp to to do a rough shaping and moderately fine work then as well.  After that, sanding blocks from 60 t0 220 grit to get really close.  Then much finer sanding to get to a near polished surface while all the time checking against those templates and also against the car body.  If you're going to just paint it, then sanding sealer and steel wool 1st until smooth; if you're going to cover it with "canvas" and paint that you don't have to go quite as far as the perfect surface.

I get impatient now and again with such stuff and just nail it with the upright belt sander

Got another build update.

I have painted the boxcar and trucks, and installed Kadee style 743 couplers. The couplers are gauged using a Kadee height gauge. 

The car couples and uncouples smoothly, and rolls quite freely. Final weight is 13.70 ounces.

Some more quick lessons learned:

I forgot the turnbuckles before painting.

The Bolsters are a little off. They should have been a little more toward the end. The trucks are sitting a bit to far in for my taste.

The paint is Scalecoat 1, Boxcar red #3 from a spray can. 

All that's left is to apply the decals, and then hit it with Dullcote. I should have final pictures later this week.

adferraro posted:

I forgot the turnbuckles before painting.

The Bolsters are a little off. They should have been a little more toward the end.

Strangely enough, and no questions about how I know this, but one can add turnbuckles after the fact if you are using the ones from Tichy.  You can actually split them with a scalpel and re-assemble them back on the "trussrods".

Only way I know to fix the bolsters is to break them free with the channel locks, clear the space with the scalpel, and put in new.  Yup, been there, too.....

I've built one of those LaBelle kits myself.

Along with MWB's post above, you can also order a roof rounding kit from LaBelle, which Makes rounding the end much easier. They also have a great tutorial on their website. Use power tools, they're your friend on an o-scale kit. I use a DA sander myself.  Lastly this thread may help:https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/la-belle-woodworking-o-scale-passenger-kit-a-true-craftsman-kit?