CN ECC Gondolas - variety is the spice of life

Between 1933 and 1943 Canadian National Railways ordered 1750 48'6" steel mill gondolas from Eastern Car Company (ECC) in Trenton Nova Scotia.  These cars were found thoughout the CN system well into the 1980's, with some staying on in work service well into the 1990's.  Since I model a smelter I need a seemingly endless number of gondolas, so I needed a few of this type on my roster. 

Fortunately for CN modellers this particular car is readily available from Westerfield Models (http://westerfieldmodels.com/46722.html).  Again we modellers owe Stafford Swain a debt of gratitude for both building the masters for this model as well as for convincing Westerfield to issue kits #7101 (no stakes) and #7111 (with stakes).  

Over the years I have acquired a number of these kits and it was always on my "to do" list as they are particularly well researched thanks to Stafford Swain (various CN Lines and other publications) and Ian Cranstone (CN Lines Vol 8 No 3).  I used these articles as reference for my builds.  

The kit build is straightforward enough, although it is recommended that you read and re-read the instructions in order to follow the building order.  It will make the entire process easier than trying to do some steps out of order.  I also recommend looking at prototype photos as much as possible as there is a bit of murkiness in the written instructions on a few occasions, particularly with the underframe work.  

I added the side reinforcement along the top of the sides that CN put on most of these cars to keep the sides from being wrecked by rough loading and unloading.  I glued a 1x3 styrene strip along the top of each side being careful to ensure the strip stays straight along the top.  These were cut short of the side grab irons like the prototype cars.

The top side has the stake pockets, the lower one has had them removed.  I used a small chisel with some judicious sanding to smooth things out.  

The next thing to decide was what car modifications were going to be done. For this initial pair (of a total of 5 kits), after some research I decided to build a car modified for ore concentrate (I model a smelter after all) with a steel floor and no stake pockets.  I measured the floor and cut a piece of 0.010" styrene to fit and scribed a few joints to represent the plate edges.  This was pure guesswork on my part as photos of gondola interiors are hard to come by.

The ore concentrate car has fixed ends instead of drop ends.  Conveniently the kit comes with the part to secure the ends which are basically the drop ends that were welded in place.  I also applied the modern power hand brake since in my era all the cars had been converted to this.  

For the second car I decided to build a car that was equipped with a tarp for load protection.  These tarps were removed in the 1970's but some of the spotting features remained like the tie down rods on the car sides.  Some of these cars got steel floors, others kept their wooden floors. For this model I will keep the wood floor. I added the tie down rods on the car sides with 0.010" wire glued in place with CA.  Again I was careful to keep the wire straight.  I used a caliper to mark the mounting location for the wire using photos as a guide.  

I elected to build a full brake gear set up as the brake gear on these cars is quite visible.  This included the train air line which threads through the cross bearers.  The cross bearers need some sanding to fit properly and I recommend that you do this in small doses as you will get tired of putting these on the car.  I used 0.0125" phosphor bronze wire for the brake lines, and the train air line was 0.015" wire.  I also added some lead to the gaps between the fish belly sills to add a bit more weight to the cars.  Be careful when handling lead (I wore gloves).  No use making yourself sick while building a model!  I also painted the lead to kill any shine that might show from it when looking at the car.  

The cars build up fairly quickly and were ready for paint.  I washed the cars with soapy water and let them dry.  After they were dry I sprayed them with Tamiya Red Oxide Fine Primer which is a decent match for the boxcar red used by CN.  I could have airbrushed some of the other boxcar red paints I have but I was being lazy...

I applied Vallejo Gloss Varnish as a base for decals.  I just brushed it on as you don't need to be particularly careful as it will disappear once decals and a couple of sealing coats are applied.  As well further weathering will hide any flaws in your gloss application.  

The interior of the cars got an initial coat of oxide red primer.  This was followed by an initial coat of steel mixed with black as a base coat for the interior.  This was followed by various washes of blacks, greys, rust and earth tones as these were well used cars in my era and needed to get beaten up.  

Selective application of my favourite Vallejo Game Effects Dry Rust to the corners and top of the ends and sides added some texture.  These gondolas seemed to accumulate a lot of detritus in them - sand, gravel, wood scraps, metal banding and much more.  I added some accumulations in the corners and along the floors to give more texture to the interiors using Vallejo ultra matt varnish with some Vallejo pigments for the ore gondola and some fine crushed ballast from the prototype HBR.  I try to place the detritus such that it doesn't interfere with loads in the car.  

Oil washes look terrible at first but don't panic; they clean up nicely and give a beautiful grimy patina when done.  You have a fairly long work time with them as well which is a good thing if you mess up.

The exterior of the cars got oil washes to get the patina I like.  I use various black and brown oils in a turpenoid based wash.  The ore concentrate gondola also got Vallejo Game Effects dry rust applied with a sponge to get surface rust.  The general service gondola had a recent service date so it just got some road grime applied with oil washes.  

I installed weathered wheelsets and couplers along with rubber air hoses on the car ends.  I bent some coupler cut levers from 0.0125" wire to complete the cars.  I now have another pair of well worn gondolas in service on the Hudson Bay Railway.