Speedwitch Media PFE R-40-25 Part 9

 The last construction details;

With the car body assembled, final details are applied, starting with the left side grabs.
I whipped up a simple styrene jig to guide me with the holes.
Drilled the body for both the grabs and mounting rivets, bent up the grabs from 0.010" wire 

The left side sill steps presented a bit of a conundrum.
The parts I was supplied with gave me two options for etchings. The one the instructions directed me to use would have you fold over the metal 180 degrees to create the mounting bracket. A process I'm loathe to do as I fear metal fatigue.
So after a bit of time studying the prototype photos and the model photos, I decided to use the original etchings and simply cut off the mounting brackets and glue them in place with some 0.010" pins. No fussy extra bending required.

From there it's simple matter to mount the steps to the car body.
Add the roof corner grabs and secure the airhoses and we're done!
Some paint touchup was required, of course.

The car sides got a coat of gloss in preparation for decals.
I'll let that cure for a couple of days.
And then we'll have at it.

Speedwitch Media PFE R-40-25 Part 8

 It's beginning to look a lot like reefers

 The next step was arguably the hardest bit of the whole project.
Assembling and mounting the centre sill steps.
The trick was determining where the twist in the stock had to be to get everything to line up properly.
If the location was off it would throw the entire geometry of the step out of wack.
I mocked up the sill step with some paper strips and determined that if I marked a line 6 scale inches down from the top, that was where I would hold the part with pliers either side of the line and give it a 90 degree twist. A very slight gap between the pliers was all that was needed.
From there it was a simple enough process to assemble.
The middle rung is formed into a Z shape and pinned into the main part of the step.
I found that it was best to pin the tab that folded down first.

Then fold into the trapezoidal shape and pin the tab that folds upwards

Then adjust the angles and bend the mounting legs so they are vertical

 Then they can be pinned to the centre tab.
From here on take care when handling it's very easy to knock or bend the sill steps out of shape

 With that done, the tack boards and bolster tabs are mounting and it's off to the paint booth.
A coat of Tamiya Primer was sprayed over the entire model, once that was dry Orange was applied
A mixed a close match of Daylight Orange using AK Interactive Gen 3 acrylics;
AK11077 Light Orange- 2 parts
AK11080 Deep Orange- 1 part
AK11045 Deep Yellow- 1 part

Once that was dry a bit of masking and the underframe and sill tabs were painted with Scalecoat Warm Black

Once that had time to cure, final assembly can begin
First the roof was inserted and glued , then the ends, taking care to make the seam between the end and roof is tight.
Now there are a few details left to mount, but that's for another day

Speedwitch Media PFE R-40-25 Part 7

 Where we fling some paint,

With the ends mostly detailed, it was time to add the B end specific items.
Hand Brake, Brake step, retainer valve etc.
I used the Tichy Ajax handbrake mounted to the etched brake housing brackets, the brake steps are a Morton style which I had leftover from my YMW days as were the retainer valves. A bit of 0.008" wire for the retainer line and we're good to go.
Also bent up some cutlevers.

 These were affixed a strip of styrofoam with carpet tape and were set aside for priming.
The last detail on the roofs were the running board end braces which were assembled and secured to the underside of the running boards

As the ends and roofs are painted the same colour, these are all ready for paint.
With the variety of materials used in construction, priming was very much in order.
I sprayed a coat of Tamiya Grey primer and let that cure. I like to use the bottled stuff vs the rattle can generally. Waste far less paint that way.

I wanted to use Starbrand SP freight car  brown for the ends and roofs;

 But the gods of airbrushing had other plans. I almost had enough paint.
Yes I could of ordered another bottle from Starbrand, but;
Shipping would be more than the paint, and I'm not sure if PBL even ships to Canada these days.
Fortunately I had a plan B.
Scalecoat Boxcar Red #2. You'd be hard pressed to note the difference.
And while that was going on;

I applied decals to a group of cars that I've been working on for a couple of years.
Ted was kind enough to run me a custom set of decals for these cars, Ted's artwork is far superior to what was available when this kits were first released

 

Now I just have to decide which process I want to use to weather these babies.

Speedwitch Media PFE R-40-25 Part 6

 End Ladders

The end ladders are mounted to the model using brackets that very closely replicate the prototype. The order of assembly is critical, lest you paint yourself into a corner. I'll review the process I used step by step.
But first, mounting holes need to be drilled into the end for the inboard ladder mounts. These L shaped brackets mount to the outside of the ladder stiles and bend under or behind the ladder stiles. The inboard mounts have shorter "feet" than the out board brackets, which require you to pre-drill the holes for the pins.
A simple jig was made from styrene and hole spacing was derived from the ladder stiles and referring to the prototype photos for placement.
 

With those 2 holes drilled, the cutlever brackets can be assembled and mounted

Attach the inboard ladder mounts, using 0.010" wire pins and small dabs of CA.

 

Secure a length of 0.010" wire into each of the holes in the inboard stile. About 3/8" will suffice.

Take the outboard ladder mounts and attach a length of 0.010' wire through the ladder mounting hole with about 0.040' protruding. You don't want that protruding bit to be seen past the face of the ladder stile.

 Thread the wires on the ladder into the inboard mounts, and secure with CA, clip the wire flush.
Make sure the ladder is squarely mounted, then thread the outboard mounts onto the outboard stiles and secure with CA.

Drill into the "foot" and the car end for another pin. I would drill all the way through and adjust the wire pin so a tiny amount protrudes past the face of the mount, and clip the backside flush after gluing.

 It sounds more involved than it actually is. The whole process goes quite quickly once you've the order of tasks figured out. And the end result is well worth the effort, clean solid mounts.
You'll also note that I mounted the airhose brackets and this time as well.

Now it's onto B end details.
The pile of parts is diminishing! 

Speedwitch Media PFE R-40-25 Part 5

 LADDERS!

So that's 28 ladders, 196 rungs, over 400 holes reamed out(including the holes for mounting brackets) and lots and lots of bits of 0.010" styrene rod.
But they are so worth the effort. The end result looks fantastic!
I learned a couple of things that make using Ted's method of assembly somewhat easier.
Use his supplied jig.
Get a 0.0126" drill bit and ream out all the holes in the etchings. In fact do this for every etched part that has a hole. Life is much simpler as a result.
The tolerances on the plastic rod is variable enough to be frustrating if you don't do that preparatory step.
And, when chopping up the plastic rod to insert into the holes, don't cut the ends square, rather chop a long angle cut, so as to make a bit of a point. things will slide together nicely. 

The side ladders have the sill steps mounted to them with a special bracket that also attaches the ladder assembly to the car sill
It's a delicate process. The first one took an hour, the second one took 5 minutes
Here's how I did it.

Bend up the sill step and the brackets as shown and cut 3 lengths of 0.010" wire longer than the width of the ladder. Staggering the lengths will help as well. 

Thread 2 lengths of wire through the sill step, use a tiny dab CA to secure the wires on the inboard side of the straight leg. Then pass the outboard bracket over the 2 wires and secure with another wee dab of CA.

Take the third wire and thread it through the holes in the ladders stiles and secure it with a tiny dab on the inside of the outboard stile.

 

Now the tricky bit.
Slide the sill step assembly onto the wire in the ladder, another tiny dab to help secure that in place, then carefully manipulate the assembly to align with the the holes in the inboard mounting bracket and slide that on. Staggering the lengths of the three wires will greatly help. Also, CA remains slightly flexible for a few seconds so you can move parts around as your lining things up.

Once the CA has hardened , take your flush cutters and nip off the extra wire.
And, Ta Da, one side ladder assembly

 Once you get started it becomes easier. It's a bit tedious, but you will wind up with the nicest HO scale ladders on the market. IMHO

The side ladders will be mounted after  painting, so it's onto the ends!
Closer to painting day!

Speedwitch Media R-40-25 Part 4

 And there we are 7 roofs all ready to go

 They would have been done sooner but I had some minor back surgery July 8, recovery has been a bit slow. We're all good now, this Spinal Cord Stimulator implant now seems to be working as advertised.

 First step was locating some Details West ice hatch covers. Fortunately, I found a set in an old Sunshine kit which I promptly made a mold of and cast up a number of sets. Modified as per the Speedwitch instructions.
These were glued in place along with the Morton running boards.
I made a simple jig for drilling the mounts for the hatch rests.

It just hooks over the edge of the hatch giving consistent distance from the edge.
The hatch rest is a bit finicky but well worth the time. First make a 90 degree bend in the one end and secure it to the hatch with a 0.010" wire pin.

Clip the wire flush , then with very fine tip tweezers make the 2 bends in the rest, then make the back bend for the mounting foot

 

Press that down onto the hatch, adjust the angles and length and secure the foot with another pin

 Do that 7 more times. :-)
The hatch latches are exquisite bits of etching. Again a bit fiddly to assemble, but not near as difficult as one might imagine, due in large part to the very careful design work by Ted.

The corner grabs will be mounted after the car is assembled, with the way the side ladders mount I don't want the corner grab to be in the way.
Next it's onto the ladders
This will take some time

Speedwitch Media R-40-25 Part 3

 That's all the brake rigging done.

It's worth noting, all the wee brackety bits all fit exactly as described. The slack adjustor bracket merits a special shout-out. Such a lovely bit of etching work!
I will concede that the AB valve bracket was a fiddly challenge but deep breaths and a logical approach results in success.

The air lines are all 0.010" wire and the brake rods are 0.012". Clevis' are shortened Tichy turnbuckles.

The bunker drains are another lovely bit of detail that has been very nicely designed.
Long overdue for us to get a correctly shaped drain detail part

So that's the floors all done, now it's onto the roofs.
Lots of details there. They will take longer I suspect to complete, but they will look stunning