Building a basic bogie wagon
Start off with any cheapo N scale US outline boxcar. This one actually came with an N scale starter set and get rid of the body shell. Next time you're at a swapmeet or exhibition look out for cheap wagons.
Body gone
That then leaves you with the chassis. The only modification that was made here was to file down the plastic that is holding the weight in place so that the body would sit flat on there. You might not even have to do that as on a second wagon I had the fixing lugs were flat to the wagon floor. There was also some rough patches on the floor sides and ends so I filed those down as well.
New floor
Here we go. Now we start with the serious scratchbuilding. Are you ready? The floor is a piece of .060 styrene 77mm x 30mm in size. Which I scribed planking on to. The solebars are some 3.2mm I beam and the headstocks are some 1.5mm x 4mm styrene strip. The wagon chassis sits neatly inbetween the solebars. The I beam also heps to hold the chassis in place. Another thing you have to do is decide on your choice of buffers as you can see in the prototype photo that could be as simple as some blocks
This starts to look like a wagon
There you have it put the body onto the chassis and you're done. Your first Gnine wagon. Couldn't be easier. They are so quick and easy to build you could probably make every basic wagon you'll need for you layout in one evening. Its up to you to use your imagination and work out what bodies you could put on them. At the moment this wagon still has the standard N gauge couplers on it. Later they were changed out for MicroTrains units
A body with purpose
Here then, is the two plank body made from .060 styrene sheet. The body is removeable and is located in place by the 2mm styrene angle at the corners of the body. Inspired by the TOPS wagons of Sir Arthur Heywood they are removable and stackable
