Sn3 Boxcar Build (Part 2)

Continuing with the D&RGW 30' Boxcar, I tackled most of Step 1 tonight.  The very first step of assembly is to put together the boxcar body.  This is pleasing as it's an almost immediate gratification step.  I was a bit surprised it was first, and that, for example, reaming the holes for the hand grabs weren't the start.  But in any case body assembly it is.

I used my pair of 2x2x2 angle setup blocks to help me.  With the smallest size Irwin clamp, I carefully clamped the long boxcar side in place against the setup block, fussing with it to get it just in the right place.  Once in place I ran a thin seam of cement down the short end's edge and held them together.

The resulting joint was a bit weak, even after leaving it for a few minutes to fully weld.  I ended up cutting 1" strips of 0.125x0.156 styrene to add some corner bracing.  I'm hoping I don't regret this later.  From what I can tell, the only thing that will be in that space is the handgrabs, and it just means I'll need to do a little more drilling there which I'm ok with.

Even though the bracing will be on the inside of the car where no one will see it, I made sure to measure them out to all be an even 1" each to not introduce any imbalance into the car.  It probably doesn't really matter in the big scope of things but maybe it will help me feel better about the car.

Once I had cemented together two corners, I set them aside to bond while I de-sprued other large parts.

One thing I started doing recently, and perhaps it's because PBL's instructions are so in-depth, is keeping a pen handy and crossing out items I've done.  This keeps me focused on exactly what the next step is, whether I just looked away for a few minutes or set the kit aside for a few days.

After the two pieces had enough time to bond well, I then assembled the entire boxcar on a flat surface.  Now typically I keep a granite tile around.  It is black in color which makes parts easy to see and it is also extremely flat.  However, as I am working on the dining table at the moment, putting a heavy granite tile down on that was quite out of the question.  I did my best to keep things level despite not having that facility.

The last two instructions for Step 1 are prepping and installing the roof, then trimming it to fit.  Getting the roof ready entails scribing a line down the middle and carefully bending it to match the roof pitch.  Once installed the instructions say to use a mill file to make all roof surfaces even with the body.  With the roof freshly glued down this seemed like something better suited to do after the roof has had time to weld to the body overnight.

So with that I'm almost done with Step 1, having a completed car body to show for it.  Just for kicks I fished out a 24' boxcar I had scratchbuild last year for comparison.  Not too bad!