Kitbashing a Ye Olde Huff'n Puff reefer into a Tiffany reefer

nkp174

Active Member
For Christmas I received, among other things, a pair of Ye Olde Huff'n Puff On3 kits. One is a 30' wooden boxcar and the other is supposed to be one of the DSP&P's 1883 27' Tiffany refrigerator cars (cars built under license of the Tiffany patent).

This kit has several problems:
#1 the hinges are the wrong shape...a VERY important feature for modeling the Tiffany's.
#2 The lettering wasn't quite aligned...most noticeable where the black & red don't overlap...no one knows what color the lettering was on these cars...red or black is fine...mentioning the color will also make many-a south park fan's blood boil (I lean towards the white faction...some say straw yellow...some think mint green...the waycar debate is similar...white vs. straw yellow)
#3 The car is 6" too tall...which looks very bad next to my accurate cars...and reducing the clearance above the rail causes other problems
#4 The core is perfectly dimensioned to 27' long and 7'6" wide...except that 2" of siding needs to go around all 4 sides...causing the car to acceptably too long...but very noticeably too wide (a huge problem for my eyes).
#5 No distinct Tiffany air inlets
#6 the brake cylinder is way too big
#7 the needle beams are 50% too wide
#8 The truss rod wire is way too small
#9 intermediate sills are too small
#10 no end sills
#11...a few other small details such as no brake rigging and incorrect roof walk boards.

So...the kitbash is on! My On3 roster has 2 divisions: close enough/non-DSP&P and dead on DSP&P. At the start, this was to go in the former...but now it might make it into the later.

The first picture is of the unmodified core...which I hacked 6" off of the height of the end blocks. I also flipped the roofwalk support sideways...to get nearly the proper width...and notched the ends to offset for how it would have been raised by my alteration...suddenly it is the right height (or nearly...the floor will sit 2" too low...and the sills be 2" too short...oh well...it is close enough.

Next I trimmed 4" of width off of each block...and 4" off of the floor...since it was a serious kitbash now...I also trimmed 4" of length off of the floor and off of the roof parts.

I then glued the core together.

Next I laid out the floor with my calipers, my scale ruler, and a pencil. I mounted the altered bolsters, the shortened center sills (which were shortened to provide material for the end sills), the end sills, and the side sills (not following the floor...but rather my calipers so they'd be square).

Next I filed the hinges to shape. I quickly learned that cutting them was easier & more accurate than filing...after I'd done the first 6 :rolleyes:. This picture shows both...the alignment issues on Tiffany and DSP&P aren't quite
obvious.

Next I cut the sides to size...centering the lettering & making sure they'd fit nicely onto the core. I also trimmed the ends to length and mounted them.
 

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nkp174

Active Member
Next it was under frame time. I visit my LHS and picked up some 1/8"x1/8" (6"x6" in O scale). I used my calipers and a razor saw to turn it into a 4"x6" for the needle beams. I also mounted a pair 3/32"x3/32" intermediate sills (appx 4"x4"). I used some Coronado castings for the QPs...and CA'd 0.025" wire which I'd formed to serve as trussrods...with each end inserted into a hole in the end sill.

I formed a pair of brake levers from a scale 1"x3"...and drilled 0.021" diameter holes in them for the brake rods. I also drilled a pair of holes through the needle beams...2" from the tops. I made the brake rods out of 0.020" brass wire.

Next came the brake cylinder which I fabricated...from some simple tube & rod stock...unlike what is commercially available...mine is accurately dimensioned for first generation Westinghouse automatic brakes that were applied to the DSP&P cars over the winter of 1883-84...and mine cost around $0.05. I then mounted it onto a fabricated mounting bracket which I mounted to a 1/32"x1/8" piece of balsa...per the prototype cars that weren't built with air brakes.

I then formed the brake lines from more 0.020" brass wire. Now all it needs is some black paint on that underframe :mrgreen:

Next up will be the coupler pockets, the doors, adding weight (it needs 2.5oz), grab irons, the roof, and the trucks.
 

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nkp174,

looks very good and I'm sure you will have good success also when a few parts aren't good enough for you wishes for quality.
Do I see right? Truss rods are not equipped with turnbuckles?

Can I help you with a set of turnbuckles? Look for my PM.

Bernhard
 

nkp174

Active Member
Bernard offered some wonderful help on the turnbuckles...but these cars...interestingly...didn't have turnbuckles. One of the many truly intriguing aspects of the South Park.

I've got the car pretty close to complete. It still needs the roof walk, end fascia, and the brake hardware for the B end (it is already equipped with a complete brake set...I could have been operational if I hadn't elected to use glue)

The brake rigging is identical to the brake rigging in my DSP&P B&S boxcar thread.
 

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nkp174

Active Member
Here's a few more pics. I'm debating as to whether or not to use alcohol to remove the door hardware and re-install it (I used CA to install it)...the hardware isn't quite straight.
 

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Hi there. I just discovered this forumby searching for "Tiffany Reefer" and came across your story. Looks like you've done a nice job there. Don't know if folks are interested or not but it is possible to purchase just the sides and ends of these cars (all Mainline / Huff n Puff On3 kits) separately. That's about all that is useful in those kits. I have just completed an On30 version for hich I cut down the sides and ends a little to 'marry' to the rest of my equipment. Cheers from downunder, Bob.
 
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