Kit Builds: ATSF Bx-12 Raised Roof Boxcar

I was asked to build kits by 2 good friends in the hobby.  This is the first of the last kits I will build for anyone but myself.  It's not even about the money - It is just really time consuming.

[Update] I built this for John Dunn, Sr.  He unfortunately passed away December 15, 2023. I will miss the energy he brought to life and the hobby. May he RIP.  Note - This car was sold at the Strasburg O-scale show shortly after his death. If someone knows where it may have ended up, I'd like it to find its way back to me.

This kit was produced by Jon Cagle at Southern Car & Foundry.  This link currently still shows the original kit order page.

It was overall your typical kit, though some of the parts included were of higher quality and some had to be made yourself, like the side stirrups.  Below are some images of the process of building the stirrups, decaling, and the final car.  The stirrups had to be drilled out for .016" wire, cut from the brass fret, tops of steps bent 90 degrees, and then have the wire soldered in place, cut, and filed appropriately to fit into the car side and to act as the rivet on the topside.  Wire was also used to join the U of the stirrup to the Z cross-brace.  The running boards were made from laser-cut wood.  The stringers that held them together were thin and weak and for the latitudinal walk, I reinforced the running boards with brass bar.  One other challenge of the kit was extending the end ladders with the brass.  The instructions spoke of making a jig an drilling the ladder, but I found that difficult, so I glued it in place and used archer rivets instead.  I did however, use .016" wire to secure that part of the ladder to the boxcar.