Santa Fe Boxcar 274470

After building Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe (ATSF) boxcar 274525, a CB&T Shops plastic kit I have finished the build of Santa Fe Boxcar 274470, Yarmouth Model Works one piece body resin kit 105.1.  I used the car history provided in the kit and numbers on decals in the kit to choose the number for the car.

The prototype cars built by Pullman-Standard in 1946, assigned to series 274000 to 274749, Santa Fe class Bx48, had the following specifications: 12 panel steel sides, 4-4 improved Dreadnaught ends, postwar Youngstown corrugated doors and Murphy rectangular panel roofs with steel running boards made by various manufactures.  The kit provided history written by Richard Hendrickson provides the additional information “Underframes were welded AAR 50 ton with Westinghouse AB air brakes, Royal Type F brake regulators, and transverse-mounted air reservoirs. Other mechanical equipment included Ajax hand brakes and AAR Type E couplers.”  Trucks were American Steel Foundries ASF-A3 trucks.

Santa Fe Historical And Modeling Society.
(click or tap on this or any photo to enlarge)

Pullman-Standard builder's photo courtesy of Tim O'Conner

The kit instructions are well written and begin the build of boxcar 274470 with the fitting of the roof to the one piece body.  I used a single razor blade as a scraper and sanding tools to remove flash and material from the roof rabbets until the roof fit properly into the car body.  After fitting the roof is set aside.   It is not glued to the car body now as it needs to be painted black and installed on the completed car body which is painted Mineral Brown.  And, you need to add weight to the inside of the car body before you glue on the roof.  In addition, it is wise to set the roof aside as it will protect the delicate roof ribs from damage while the build continues.

Following fitting the roof, instructions have you move to the under body.  I drilled and tapped the bolster center plates and coupler mounting pads for 2-56 screws.  I mounted Kadee #262 coupler boxes with Kadee #148 couplers installed with Fastenal 2-56 x 3/16 inch screws.  The Kato ASF-A3 kit provided trucks were installed with Fastenal 2-56 x 1/4 Inch screws.  

Couplers and trucks installed.

I weighted the car to 3.8 ounces using electrical outlet box punch outs.  When you look at the interior of the car body to install weight you will see molded inside bracing to prevent bowing in sides at a later date.  A neat feature of this kit saving the install of a baffle.  I also found a red number written inside the car body that I do not know why was there.

Car weighted to 3.8 ounces with weights you see.
Note the molded in interior braces.

Next step, a quick departure from the under body to add side sills tabs before adding under body details.  Since the kit can be used to build various Santa Fe classes with different sill tabs the correct sill tabs must be attached.  For the Santa Fe class Bx48, the resin triangular sill tabs are correct.

No triangular sill tabs on car body.

Triangular sill tabs installed.

Back to the under body work to complete the following tasks:

- install cross ties

- install photo etched brake component brackets followed by Tichy Train Group brake components after drilling them with #79 drill for piping

Cross ties and photo etched brake component brackets installed.

Brake components added.

- Royal slack adjuster, resin part, with strip styrene brackets installed

- brake levers, photo etched, installed

- brake lever hangers, wire grab irons

- train line, .018” diameter flora wire I chose to use (not in kit)
 - train line unions, made with MEK Goop (not in kit)
 - dirt collector with MEK Goop tee
 - piping from air reservoir to AB valve, .010” diameter wire

- pipe from back of brake cylinder to AB valve, Tichy #1106, .0125" diameter wire

- brake rods with Tichy turnbuckles for clevises

- chain is A-Line #29219, black 40 links per inch (not in kit)

Under body details added.

With the under body work done, the photo etched ladders needed for the sides and ends were assembled.  The photo etched ladders can be assembled using stiles and photo etched rungs provided in the kit. I used tools and jigs described in my post “Ladders -  photo etched” to build the ladders.   Since I prefer wire rungs to the photo etched ones, I enlarged each hole (sized for photo etched rungs) in the stiles with a #80 drill mounted in a 8050 Dremel tool.  Rungs bent just like straight grab irons were bent from Tichy #1101, .010” diameter phosphor bronze wire (PBW) and installed with CA.  Each ladder provided me about 45 minutes of modeling fun to complete and install.

Photo etched ladders installed.

Doors for the sides were next. On the doors the molded on door handles were carved off and #79 holes drilled for new wire replacements.  Door handles bent from .008” diameter wire in the kit were installed. Placard boards were installed.  The lower kit provided placard board was too small per prototype photos so I replaced it with one  cut from scrap resin flash.  The doors were set aside for install until remaining side and end work was done. The reason for not installing doors at this time it allows an area to hold the car during the remaining assembly.

Door with placard boards and wire door handle installed.

I moved to the “B” end to complete work needed there.  I installed the sill grab irons here and on the “A” end in # 79 drilled holes.  I installed a Plano brake step, set #11322, and brackets made from Evergreen #8102, 1 x 2” strip styrene as the brake step (brake platform) shown in the instructions was not in the kit.  The brake housing and chain, Tichy set #3013 in kit, were mounted next.  A photo etched kit housing mount can be used; however, I used a scrap piece of styrene instead.  Now the bell crank, Tichy Set #3013 in kit, was installed on the sill making sure it lined up with the chain from the brake gear housing followed by the brake rod cut from .015” PBW diameter wire.

Brake step, brackets, housing, chain, bell crank
and brake rod installed.

 A retainer valve, Tichy set #3013 in kit, was installed followed by a retainer line of .008” diameter wire.  If you want a  larger retainer valve, you can use one of several included in the resin cast kit parts.  A Kadee #2030 Ajax brake wheel was installed.  A placard board with mounting brackets cut from flash resin was installed here and on the “A” end.  The photo etched uncoupling lever brackets were  cut from fret, bent into shape and installed.  Now the kit provided Kadee bracket grab irons were mounted on the ends in #75 holes drilled in marked locations holes cast in car body.  My last item, the uncoupling lever bent from Tichy # 1106, .0125” PBW was installed here and on the “A” end using the installed bracket and #79 hole drilled in the corner of the coupler box.

Retainer valve, retainer line,  Kadee brake wheel,
placard board, Kadee bracket grab iron and
uncoupling lever added.

Back to finish the work needed to complete the sides.  Kadee bracket grab irons installed in #75 drilled holes in marked locations cast into the car body sides.  Another nice feature of this kit.  To install Kadee bracket grab irons I use only two of the mounting pins, the top right and bottom left, rather than all four on the back of the bracket grab iron.  I find using two pins allows for easy adjustment of bracket grab irons to get them mounted straight.  

Holes for drilling bracket grab irons
molded into car body.

Sill steps, A-Line #29002, style C, prototype shape per photos were installed rather than the photo etched ones provided in the kit.  Nice photo etched sill steps are in the kit; however, I have found they are easily broken once in service on an operating railroad.  The hangers for the sill steps are strips cut from resin flash with MEK fasteners located using prototype photos.  Doors set aside earlier are installed now.  The car body and roof are ready for paint.

Kadee bracket grab irons, sill steps and doors installed.

A 3/4 view of finished car ready for paint.

The roof was sprayed Vallejo Model Color Black, 70.950.  The car body was sprayed mineral brown using Vallejo mix:  Model Color Black Red, 70.859, 28 drops or 70% and Model Color Saddle Brown, 12 drops or 30% mixed in a spoon.  To the paint mix or 50% in the spoon I added 40 drops or 50% of thinner and mixed it again before pouring the mix into Paasche Talon gravity-feed Airbrush.  I had to make and spray a second mix to get the paint coverage I wanted.  After paint was dry the car body was sprayed Vallejo Gloss Medium to have a Gloss base for decal application.

Side view of painted car body and roof.

3/4 view of car body and roof.

Thin film decals provided in the kit were soaked off in distilled water and applied to the car body where MicroScale Micro Set had been applied with a brush.   After the decal was applied in the Micro Set and positioned the edges had MicroScale Micro Sol applied.  Any excess solution was sucked away with the torn edge of a paper towel. 

After I finished the first side I realized I had applied the map to the left side of the car body rather than the right side.  Therefore, the slogan is also on the wrong side.  Not having another set of decals, I decided to live with the error for now and attempt to obtain another set of decals to correct my mistake.

Map side of  car.

Slogan side of car.

"B" end of car after lettering.

Once the decals were dry the painted roof was glued to the car body.  The very nice etched running boards were installed on the roof with Pacer formula 560 canopy glue and weights were added while glue setup up overnight.  The next day roof grab irons with photo etched eye bolt corners were installed and painted Vallejo Model Air Aluminum #71.062.  Now the car body was sprayed with Vallejo Matt Varnish 70.580 to protect decals during handling and for weathering.  Due to the lettering, I did not weather the car at this time.

Santa Fe boxcar, ATSF 274470 is now in service on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company along with Santa Fe boxcar, ATSF  274525.

Santa Fe boxcars 274470 and  274525 on Little Chicago siding.

Santa Fe boxcars 274470 and  274525 on Little Chicago siding.

I want to say, "Thank You" to the Santa Fe Historical and Modeling Society and Tim O'Conner for photos to aid with this build.  And, "Thank You" to Aaron Gjermundson for the patterns for this kit.

Thank You for taking time to read my blog.  You can share a comment in the section below if you choose to do so.  Please share the blog link with other model railroaders.

Lester Breuer