This motion was common in all wooden railroad cars. With time everything would loosen up on a wooden car. The rocking motion, if that's the best name for it; in early CA&E wooden cars had become so prevalent and troublesome, during one of the shopping and repainting cycles of the cars, steel bracing was installed. The early NSL merchandise dispatch cars, the ones with the baggage doors at the ends, required additional bracing.
Pieces of styrene are glued to the cab to represent the "X" pieces of metal. the size of the bracing can be determined from photos. The same size styrene is placed along the bottom of the sides of the cab.
One comment about the gluing of the styrene strips. Do not use too much liquid glue on the styrene strips. If too much liquid glue is applied, the strips will soften to the point where they look as though they have dissolved. The strips will not longer have the sharp edges which make it look like the thin, narrow bands of metal. Seeing this step comes towards the end of building the model, correcting the problem is difficult!
Again from photos notice how the pieces of metal forming the "X" hang over the bottom of the cab. They are attached to the sides of the frame. The pieces of metal are bent over the bottom of the cab to reach the frame. Styrene is hard to bend like this. I placed additional pieces of styrene, the same width as the styrene strip, between the styrene strip and the frame.
Allow the glue used with the styrene strips to"cure before doing anything. To represent the screws or bolts small pins were used. Many years ago small straight pins less than 1/2" in length were included in most freight car kits. These were used to hold ladders, brake platforms, etc. to wooden cars.
Today, the smallest straight pin available is the #8, 1/2" pin. Michaels has them in packages of 800 in a silver or gold color. Both are steel pins. They are kept in the sewing section along with thicker, longer pins. One package will last a live time.
Drill holes in the styrene strips. Cut the pins to required length then insert the pins with ACC to keep them in place.
You'll notice holes drilled in the strip at the lower left of the cab. The photo was taken after I had run out of pins and before obtaining more.
Next comes the insertion of the N-B-W castings. Both styrene and brass N-B-W castings are available. Any size available in brass is now available in styrene. Over the years I've amassed a number of different types and sizes of brass castings. When styrene N-B-W castings became available a number of then were purchased. All the excess castings were stored for future use.
On top of this, over the years, the packages of the N-B-W castings were stored in 3-4 locations. Some were stored by manufacturer, brass, or styrene, etc. A few months ago all the packages of castings were brought together and stored in ONE box!
When it comes to choosing brass or styrene N-B-W castings, styrene is far less expensive than brass! However, just like the warning about the use of too much liquid glue on the strip styrene, the use of too much liquid glue on styrene N-B-W castings can cause the casting to loose its detail. Be careful!
When inserting the N-B-W castings with glue or ACC, center them so the group will run in a straight line. This is the only chance you'll have unless you replace the castings.
My desire was to make a simple model of the 49. Therefore the snow plow and its related equipment was left off. However, one part of the deck of 49 which needs to be modeled is the triangular sand box near each end.
A skeleton frame was made without the top in place. Please excuse my drawing. It's crude but will convey the idea of how it was made. The framework was glued to 0.020" styrene side material.
After the glue cured, lead shot was poured into the outer portions of the same box. ACC was added to the lead shot.
When the ACC was cured, the other side of the sand box was glued in place.
Again when the glued was cured, the excess styrene was cut off and the joints sanded to shape. Lead shot was poured into the center and ACC added.
When the ACC cured, the top of the sand box was added. In photos you'll notice the sand box does not sit directly on top of the deck. Small square strips of styrene were added to the bottom of the sand box then the sand box was glued in place.
You may notice other details have been added to the model. These include poling pockets using a US Hobbies product which may now be available from PSC. The brass marker brackets are from DesPlaines Hobbies. The stirrup near the cab is a Grandt Line product which is made from Derlin. Derlin is a plastic which cannot be "glued" to styrene under normal circumstances. I used ACC to hold them in place.
The Derlin stirrups were used because they will flex without breaking. On sharp radius curves the truck overhang is so great, the stirrup gets caught in the truck sideframe causing problems.
However, after the model was completed I found brass stirrups. I plan on replacing the Derlin stirrups with the brass ones which will be bent out of the way. If photos of the prototype 49 are referenced, the stirrups are bent out to prevent the problem described above.
The sand boxes are not very large therefore the amount of lead shot added was not very much. The lead shot was added to increase the weight of the model. While the sand boxes were not very "heavy", any additional weight was welcomed. The model does not weight much. It's a locomotive which should be capable of pulling 1-2 freight cars.
There's still some details to be added. These details are the ones which make the model interesting and different from other cab-on-a-flat models.
Cheers,
Ed
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