More StromBecker H0 Arrives And We Work On The Hopper

The StromBecker hopper kit was long sought after, but not long after it arrived I located four more of their cars at a very good price. 

 Not only did I manage to score another hopper, I also managed to obtain two more boxcars. If you look at the side of the M-K-T double door, near the left end, you'll notice a ding. I'm afraid I did that in my zeal of unwrapping them. Easy fix, though. 

The M-K-T car is sitting on archbar trucks, which would be wrong, and unlike the other two boxcars, these are improperly positioned, being too far from the ends. 

There was also one remaining coupler on the M-K-T boxcar, which was covered in a thick layer of contact cement. After removing it and then soaking it in acetone, I got this. 

Unsure which brand at this point, but it definitely predates Kadee. 

The hopper is carrying a partial load of what appears to be real ground up coal. 

Current plans are for the cars to be restored, and maybe slightly detailed. I have a StromBecker tank car arriving soon, and now we just need the vinegar car and caboose.

Building a StromBecker Hopper

While we await the arrival of the tank car, this is has proven to be the most impressive of StromBecker's freight cars so far. This model really shines, given its simplicity. 

First order of operation was sanding the main frame piece as well as possible. When wood ages, the darker grain sections, which are normally heavier in sap content, grow very hard, and that was definitely the case here. I don't like using power tools for projects like this, so I decided that it was best to simply leave that grain somewhat visible. The rest of the assembly proceeded easily. 

There was one area of concern, and that was the gussets ("RF4 - Crossbearer Arms"). These were attached to the top strips and the center peak of the hopper floor. This left a gap of about 1/16" from the sides. My concern was that this might allow the sides to pinch in a little over time, so I added small filler pieces. Once these had set all of the areas that would be exposed were painted black, leaving sufficient areas for glueing.

Attention was now turned towards the cardboard pieces, the sides and ends. StromBecker had enough foresight to die cut the smaller sections. It would be up to the builder to do the rest of the cutting. The die cut sections came out easily and only needed a modicum of cleanup. 

(Yes, one of my cats was helping)

Next, I used an alcohol ink marker and colored in all the edges and insides of the ends and sides. 

Once these had dried we added them to the frame, ends first, making sure that the tops were level with the wood strips.

Then, the ends were added. It was important to make sure that the edges of at the ends were glued together, which would give us rigid cardboard braces.

Finally, the hopper bay doors were cut out, edges colored, and glued into place.

At this point the hopper's body has been assembled. Now, we have to wait for trucks and couplers to arrive. I want to use heavier metal trucks on this model due to the lack of internal weights. Also, I will probably add a brake wheel. 

For now, it waits.