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Erie Railroad Boxcars, p1 - 6
STEP 1A: Car Sides 75000 – 75999 Series
7
I began by setting a piece of plain .020 styrene against my
T-square on my work surface and then taped it in place.
I laid the styrene the long way across the work surface
so that all I would have to do is to make one cut for the
proper car height.
I like working with .020 styrene because it cuts easier than
the thicker styrene stock. A couple of cuts with a sharp
X-Acto knife and I am most of the way through. 6” styrene
will be added on the back side to bring the car sides to suf-
ficient thickness for casting.
I began with the sides for the series of cars that do not
have the tabs. Work on the easy parts first, right? Anyway,
I laid out the proper side height for the 8’-8” interior cars.
The height needed was determined by measuring both
a Red Caboose X-29 car side and dimensions from the
freight car diagram sheet. The sides measure 9’-4”.
I measured up from the factory edge the proper distance
7: One quick note before starting; unless otherwise
stated all dimensions given are in scale feet and
inches.
STEP 1A: Car Sides 75000 – 75999 Series
Continued ...
and made a small mark with the X-Acto knife. With the
knife blade in the mark, I run the T-square up to the blade
and made a single pass with the X-Acto knife across the top
of the car. I find that I have much more accurate measure-
ments this way than with a pencil. Since I did both sides in
a single pass, I know they will be the same height.
I measured in 39’-8” from each edge of the styrene to
mark the length of the car side. I determined this length
by measuring a Sunshine Models kit that somehow never
was put together. I measured in from each edge so that I
would be working from the factory edge. This left a small
gap in the center of the styrene that I drew an “X” in so I
knew it was waste.
After the limits of the sides were marked I located the
center of the car side. From this point I measured 3’ on
each side and drew in vertical lines. These lines mark the
door opening and again an “X” was drawn in the door area
marking the areas to be discarded. I find that if I do this
it creates a visual effect that eliminates confusion as to
where the various parts of the car are.
Next I laid out the side panels. There are 5 panels on each
side of the door, and each panel is 3’-4” wide. Trying to
measure out each panel one after the other is a recipe for
disaster. I turned to an old trick that draftsmen used (yes I
took drafting classes in high school, long before computers
and CAD programs became available).
I used my 3-sided engineers scale and found a measure-
ment that easily divided the side into 5 equal parts, but
was longer than the length of the area to be divided. Hold-
ing one end of the scale at the door mark, I rotated the
scale untill the other desired mark was at the edge of the
MRH-Apr 2013
