Batch-building freight cars - 5
snug-downtight against
thecar roofwithno
humpsor gaps, and to
make sure theyareper-
fectly straight along the
roof center line. In this
build, I endedupclamp-
inga fewornery running
boards toget theends
to liedown right. The
roof constructionand
attachment to thecar
bodies tookonehour
and45minutes (Cutting
partsoffof sprues: 25
minutes, assembly: one
hour, 20minutes).
Final phase – truckmounting
After assembling the trucks andmounting thefirst set to the
car, I found that the truckswouldnot sit down correctly on
the car frame, norwould they swivel freely on theBendof
the car. Tofix theproblem, I had to cut thebrake rigging in
twoplaces (48) to allow for the trucks to swivel and correct
seatingof theB-end truck. Truckmounting and assemblytime
was 13minutes.
Off the clock
The constructionphase tookninehours and38minutes to
build four cars. That equates to roughly twohours and25min-
utesper car. Itwouldnot havebeenpossible todo this all at
one sitting, as thereweretimeswhere theglueandpaint had
32: It’s a longway from the
pileof parts to thefinishedcar
body in33. Thegrabirons took
roughly40minuteper car to
glue inplace.
32
MRH-Apr2014
