The Home Machinist!

Hi everyone,

I just moved to Rochester, NY full time after seeking employment for a year. I'm happy to report that I'm now employed and have moved into an apartment.

That said, my time in the evenings has proven to be plentiful for projects. I have taken on personal agendas (better health, etc), and that still leaves me with time to get some work done!

I would like to build a freight car in 1" scale. I am writing to ask what the best material would be for building a car that would be sturdy. It needs to be built using glue, perhaps a tack nailer, and would also be painted. I would also like it to be sturdy enough so that I can "weather" it (chip away some of the paint, perhaps), and then hit it with a coat of flat paint.

Can anyone recommend an ideal species of wood? I have a friend who has offered to help me cut the wood, I can do the rest at home with the help of a drill press (which I'll be getting shortly, I hope).

Thanks!

-Mike

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CEO of Walsh Locomotive Works
http://walshlocomotiveworks.blogspot.com/

Hi Mike,
Use whatever is readily available, is reasonable in price, and is easily worked. If you use plywood be sure and seal and prime it. If using it for siding and you plan on scribing or routering the planks you are on your own.

If you have a decent table saw you can cut a lot of stuff, but the smaller the pieces get and going down in scale you are getting smaller, something like a Dremel table saw or the like is really ideal.

The "planks" I used on my reefer were 3/16 x 3/8 and were a pain to taper. Yours will be smaller.

Two things need to be right. The couplers, mounting and height, and the trucks and bolsters. Both are easily bought ready to run, just install them correctly and the rest you can build from wood.

You might consider using oak for the side and center sills, and end beams, as they take a lot of abuse, and the oak can actually be drilled and tapped to mount detail parts, but do not rely on threads to hold things that need strength.

Good gluing and clamping will hold most wood just fine, and if you can hide a few screws or nails here and there all the better.

Again, seal plywood, prime or stain everything, use a good paint, and seal with Spar Urethane which can be had in spray cans.

And talk the wife or girlfriend into making you a cover out of some weather proof material from the hobby or fabric store. A couple of grommets on either side, a couple of bungies, and you are good to go.

Keep us updated.
Brian

Congratulations on finding a job in Rochester! It is a tough situation there.

As for your project, I was recommended birch plywood and it has served me well so far. I haven't had to model frieght cars using board siding but I would recommend you check out this link:
http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 1146234624

I liked it so much I cut and pasted everything into separate word documents for each caboose, and then cut and pasted the text and pictures into each one (to avoid all the forum signatures, avaitars, and other miscellaneous stuff.)

Very handy.
Ben

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"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"

I would suggest maple for structural members (assuming an all wood construction). Oak is certainly strong enough but it is an open grained wood and the grain structure is not to scale. The maple is a tight grained wood that is very strong and takes stain/paint well. Non structural wood can be poplar, it is a soft wood that takes machines and takes stain well and is harder than pine.

Good luck and congrats!

Rick

hi all,

mike: the guys are giving you good advice. ben pointed you to my work. before making foundation decisions right now, read through some 53 pages of the different builds that i've done. since you will be building in 1" scale, you'll have to modify some of the approaches that i used. think the process through...build it in your mind....start with the finished car and work backwards.

about materials...

brian offered the advice about using oak...my advice would be that if you used oak, make sure it is quality white oak. red oak is a junk oak in my book for use in places where strength is needed...it checks and splits too easy...it's grain is too open...and it becomes unstable shapewise if not well sealed. the offer that you should use maple (or birch) or poplar or any tight-grained wood is a good one. for your smaller scale build, you might look into using some of the aviation spruce plywoods, expensive, but stable. be careful how you use and cut tight-grained plywoods, they'll chip easily on the saw kerf.

to my mind, metal fasteners and wood don't go together. joinery is a thing of beauty...whether you use glue joints like ship-lap, mortise & tenon, dowling or pins or any other form is up to you. for me, i use metal fasteners only where absolutely required.

'nuff for now...read...plan...and build!!

will be out of pocket 'til monday, but you're in good hands with the guys here.

moose

Moose: You describe as a fault one of red oaks most endearing features. It is cheep as salvage from pallets and shipping dunnage, has high strength, and can be milled and worked with common handy man tools. Agreed white oak it somewhat better. As stated poplar and maple can be used for trimming and shaped woods.

A described, an underframe built of cabinet jointed Oak, would be very sturdy , with the caviat that it must be well sealed to provide moisture stability from the humidity. This will be true of any wood used. Various spar varnishes and Eurethanes, can make for beauty as well as sealing for long life.

I use ten inch table saws and router tables to do fine shape work. I do not fiddle with really small trim. It is shaped from selected and 'made ' wood pieces, that are then shaped on the stock, and finally sawed off the main stock, some times with multiple pieces ganged from the one edge. I stableize the cutting process with finger boards to control the stock against the rip fence for enhanced accurate cuts.

I am lazy and use air powered brad nailers, some times pre drilling the surface, and dampening the small wood pieces to prevent cracks and splits. I use alot of the super reacting glues now, but only for unseen surfaces, as it seems to get foam leaks no matter the caution used. High strength carpenter glues I use every where else.

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Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.