I need a project to work on over winter break, and I figured this one would be manageable. These lasted until the early 2000's, and they are easily distinguishable among spine cars thanks to their thick side sills. From what I know, they were made from cut down SOU boxcars. I always see them when watching older railfan videos on Youtube. Are there drawings available for this car? I know McKean has a kit of this type of car that they did in a few roadnames, but the last time I built a McKean kit, it didn't go so hot. I think a scratchbuilt model would be pretty straightforward, but I would need some measurements in order to go forward. Have there been any articles written about them or information online? I'm just throwing it out there to see if you guys had anything. Here is a photo I stole from RRPictureArchives in case you don't know what car I am talking about.
Hopefully someone will come up with some plans for you on these cars. I really like them and mocked up a few in N scale. Mine were made using atlas 50 foot flats. Not the best pics but you get the idea. I sanded down the sides of the flats and applied some 0.005 strip styrene to the sides and shaped it a little. Then cut a rectangle out of the car and filled it with a section of center sill and ribs using M?T box car underframe parts. Then the deck is laser cut wood decks designed for 40 foott flats that I cut and applied. The hitch is a M?T part as well. Decals from Oddball. Only thing I still need to do is add the brake wheels.
I don't have any drawings, but I built a couple of these using the McKean kit as the starting point. The McKean model isn't horrible like some of their others (looking at you Centerbeam), so it might save you some effort to kitbash instead of draw and 3D print the model or scratchbuild with styrene strip and sheet. Overall the McKean model looks the part, but I did have to remove part of the floor and build up the lateral braces in the open area. I think the side sills are pretty close to the right shape, so I just sanded them smooth and added rivets to the smooth sides. I used a Details West hitch, Kato trucks, Moloco brake wheel and coupler pockets and lettered the models with Mask Island decals.
If it helps here's the photo gallery showing the kitbash process: https://pbase.com/mecrharris/sou_tofc
Here are the Southern decals (not sure about NS decals): https://www.maskislanddecals.com/product/southern-45/
