Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

[SPSteam2491]

Just a reminder, reservations for the kits will be open until this Friday, March 15th. If you are interested in a kit, please send me a PM.

Also an update on the 1" reefer, I will have the prototype parts this week and start assembly next week. Stayed tune!

[SPSteam2491]

With the 1½" car on to production, I have a couple days of downtime to work on the 1" car. The design of the car is really similar in it's build process. The build is actually a lot easy as the parts are smaller and easier to handle. First up is the main body. The sides and ends are tabbed to each other and to the floor. The design of the tabs prevents accidental backwards assembly and really adds a lot of strength to the joints.

[SPSteam2491]

While the glue on the body is drying, the roof can be assembled next. Because of the smaller size, some of the roof stringers were eliminated in the design. The roof supports are glued to one side first.

Then the center stringer is glued is.

Finally the opposite roof top is glued on.

[SPSteam2491]

With the structure of the body and roof complete, you just can't help but put it together. Here is the 1" car next to its bigger brother. From these views, you can really see the difference in the scales.

On Wednesday, I will show how the underframe goes together then start gluing the MDF ends onto the car. Stayed tuned!

[SPSteam2491]

The underbody is a really quick assembly. First, the bolster supports get glued on. These help locate the bolster and trucks in the correct position along the length of the car and set it at the correct riding height. The design is compatible with current suppliers of casted bolsters and home made designs of welded tube.

Then the underbody stringers can be added. They drop right into pre-cut grooves, no table saw with a dado stack or router setup required. These match the wooden beams that PFE used to support the floor.

These beams would sit on top of metal I-Beams that are attached to the main "fishbelly" of the car. Although the I-beams are not included in the kit, the fishbelly shape is. The fishbelly shape will get attached later in the process.

[SPSteam2491]

Attaching a bolster from 1" Railroad Supply is really easy. The supports line up the location and give spots to drill holes to attach screws. I have not verified but I believe Despatch bolsters are also compatible with this design.

[SPSteam2491]

After the underbody is complete, the MDF skin can start to be glued on. First the ends. You don't need hundreds of dollars of clamps to glue on the MDF, just a couple nails to keep it from sliding around and some weights. I used a $1 brick from Home Depot, sometimes the simple things are what work best.

The kits will be available to purchase without the MDF skin.

Tonight the sides and the roof will get attached. Stayed tune!

[Kimball McGinley]

Brilliant idea to make the tabs go only one way; no way to fit it backwards! I teach this concept to the new engineers at work. It springs from a Japanese concept they call " Poke-Yoke". This meant "idiot proof" until they toned it down to mean "fool-proof"!

[SPSteam2491]

Thanks Kimball! A lot of thought went into making these designs easy to assemble and less prone to errors for the assembler. There are a few areas where parts could be installed the wrong way but the instructions help to clear that up with exploded views and key dimensions.

[Harold_V]

Brilliant idea to make the tabs go only one way; no way to fit it backwards! I teach this concept to the new engineers at work. It springs from a Japanese concept they call " Poke-Yoke". This meant "idiot proof" until they toned it down to mean "fool-proof"!

I commonly used that principle when I was building tooling, and dowel pins were involved. I made sure the pin location was random, and that any given component would fit in only one orientation. Really helps when one dismantles a tool with sides that are identical, and, especially so if multiple (identical) tools are involved.

H

[SPSteam2491]

The sides of the body are installed in a similar way but with more weights. I also placed clamps along the top edge just to make sure I get good glue contact.

With the ends attached, the main structure of the car is complete. An item to notice in the view below is that the sides overhang the ends of the car. This was intended as after glue up, the sides could be trimmed flush with the ends. I had a problem on the 1½" prototype car where one end was too short and I had to fill ~1/16" with wood filler. I fixed this issue before going into production so the 1½" car will also have some material hanging over to trim flush. This just helps in making a nice square corner.

I wasn't able to get the roof glued up. That will be the goal tonight. I did however put a couple coats of paint on a door. This color is an excellent match to the PFE yellow than was used up until 1929 when the PFE orange came out. This yellow lasted on cars until 1934 where, by that time, all the cars had been repainted to the new PFE orange.

Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow.

[SPSteam2491]

Just like the 1½" car, the roof can be made into a wood version or a "steel" version. I am going to make this prototype into the steel style as it will be harder to create compared to the wood.

Wood Version Roof

Steel Version Roof

First off in installing the roof is getting the MDF pieces centered. I found it works best to center both pieces, clamp one side, then glue the other side. That way you are not trying to fit the position while fighting the glue. Just line up the ends and butt the sides together.

After placing a couple nails through the MDF to prevent it from sliding around, weights get added to clamp the parts. After the glue has set up, the process can be repeated on the other side.

Over the weekend, the walkway supports and the additional "steel" pieces will be glued to the roof. Then it will be waiting until the weather warms up a bit to paint the roof as with the steel version, I want to spray the paint onto the roof so there aren't brush marks. However, the body can be primed and painted this weekend to the final colors. I'll leave you with a shot of the car again next to it's bigger brother. Stay tuned for updates on Monday!