Postby sarge » Wed Dec 04, 2024 7:00 am
Wayne
What you bought is a decently built Athearn or All-nation boxcar kit. I used to know which was which at a glance by the gusseting at the bottom of the sides but have long forgotten for sure, but I'd gut-call it All-nation as Athearn traditionally came with a full wooden side over which one nailed up the sides.
These were a long-time post-war staple of the scale community and followed a construction technique that goes back before the war with several earlier manufacturers. The All-nation range was resold a couple times over the years and rests with John Wubble today, although I don't know if he holds the freightcar range or is able to manufacture it if he does. Likewise, the Athearn range was sold off a number of times; Reynolds and Jan Lorenzen's Locomotive Workshop but two owners over the years.
As far as materials, the sides were usually tinplate steel with pretty elegantly printed décor. Athearn ends were often stamped brass; AN stamped tinplate. They varied over the years, including at least one I had with stamped sheet aluminium ends. Doors and roofs were likewise stamped sheet. You drilled for wire grabs, glued or soldered the tack-boards, and painted the ends, roof, and doors to match the sides.
Likewise, the underframes were built up of stamped brass or more commonly tinplate components; ribs, the centre member, and various brake components of white-metal were supplied; reservoir, triple-valve, cylinder. Any piping and rodwork desired was an exercise left for the student.
The major assembly was to glue up the wooden form, then all the metal assemblies were nailed to it using the small brads and pins supplied. The design harkens to the days when the only adhesives were things like cell'y glues like Ambroid and that spunk of Satan, Walthers Goo. Mechanical assembly with brads and pins was de rigueur.
The trucks look to be Athearn, made of Delrin, with Intermountain or NWSL wheelsets. The couplers are Kadee. Your operational observations are simply because this is a car intended for the scale world; NMRA spec two-rail track, radii, flanges, and clearances.
As far as the roofwalk, I don't remember any with white metal but most are aluminium, soft enough to use sheet of appropriate thickness, sheared or bought by the manufacturer as strip-stock, then rolled to emboss the detail on top. Later in the game, All-nation did a very nice through-etched Plano roofwalk to update the kits from the rolled aluminium ones.
As far as having anything to do with "brass" as we categorise it, "brass" being the now collectable imports first from Japan, then Korea, and now China, these have no relationship other than sellers on eBay feigning ignorance and posting these as brass cars or as in your seller's case potentially a brass car (planting the seed) in order to get brass or near-brass prices. What you have is a very common albeit nicely built example of a domestic O-scale kit. The kits themselves are easy to find and fun to build. Collecting different roadnames offered is a fun way to scratch the collector itch without a lot of cash outlay.
Hopefully this is useful.
Thank you again.
