How many times have I browsed with envy through a catalog of HO locomotives, rolling stocks, structures and accessories just to realize they have everything and we N-scalers have almost nothing. Walthers has a nice though massive car float that looks like one of CNJ’s prototypes. Nevertheless, there is no N scale equivalent of that HO car float. So I need to explore other options.

CNJ car float on Harlem River in the mid-1950's — CNJ car float on Harlem River in the mid-1950’s (Source: Philip M. Goldstein/Tim Warris)

My requirement is simple: overall length good enough for four to five 40′ box cars, the width at least 3″ wide and no more than 3.5″, wide enough for three tracks. This would give a float with a capacity of 12 to 14 cars, depending on their length. Additionally, I want to operate locomotives on the float, so I’ll use electrically connected Code 55 rails. The closest I find is the Sylvan Car Float (the massively improved second version): a cast resin model that is about 16 1/2″ long and little more than 3″ wide. It looks nice but has a few drawbacks, though. It only is meant for two tracks and its hull is very low. I decide to go along with it and kit-bash a car float that meets my requirements.

Basic Structure

First, I upgrade the hull and deck: add a board of 3/16″ basswood at the bottom, glue the hull on top of it and nicely seal the seam with Vinyl sparkling. Adding the board increases the height to slightly more than half of an inch (this pretty much matches the Walther HO model’s one inch height) and has the further advantage that it makes the float more stable. That was easy – now comes the more difficult part. How do I convert the deck from two to three tracks? Again, I have to go back to the drawing board and see what I can do with the available material from the Sylvan model. The deck has quite a bit of detail which I want to preserve. Plus, it has molded-in tie plates for the rails which I want to reuse so I can’t just cut it up and insert Styrene pieces.

The plan shows me that I can rebuild the deck using two decks of the same Sylvan car float. Building the bow section that includes the better part of a Wye turnout will be the most difficult part.

Deck and Track Work

Kit-bashing the triple-track deck works as designed. The cast resin deck is pretty thin and hard but carefully cutting it with a sharp cutter works out well. To glue the five strips into one deck piece I use medium CA. To attach the rails to the tie plates on the deck I will also have to use CA but my expectation is that the metal-cast resin won’t be strong enough to sustain to much pressure from bent rails. To make sure that there’s absolutely no lateral pressure, I use FastTracks’ Rail Roller. I bend the rails such that they exactly match the planned layout and they stay in place without any kind of force. For the first two inches of the bow I have to remove the molded-in tie plates. I solder the six rails onto three long crossover PCB ties which I then glue down to the deck plate.

The underside of two of the PCB ties serve as electric contacts to connect all the left and right rails. The straight section of the rails fit nicely into the model’s tie plates, and medium CA does a good job holding them in place. Soon, I can glue the deck plate onto the hull and my car float model is perfectly operational, yet unpainted.

Kit-bashed Sylvan Car Float Model — Kit-bashed Sylvan Model

Finished painted and weathered Sylvan N Scale Car Float — Finished painted and weathered car float

N Scale Sylvan Car Float with some load — Car float with some load

More Details and Weathering

What about all those details that the prototype shows and which we don’t want to miss?

The Sylvan model comes with simple cleats. They are straightforward to insert into the provided holes and can be secured with CA glue.
I’m not aware of a N scale toggle bar and pocket kit to properly align the tracks of the float with the transfer bridge. I could construct them with pieces of Styrene but they are very small anyway and barely visible, so for the moment I pass on them. As I want to electrically connect the car float to the transfer bridge and the layout, I will use small rail joiners instead.
The model’s detail include molded-in hatches – so no need to add anything separately.
Instead of the bumpers provided by Sylvan – they take up too much space – I’ll use a cut-down version based on a PRR end of track concrete bumper from Shapeways.

With all the details in place I airbrush the model, first with Vallejo grey surface primer, then with a mix of thinned darkgrey-brown and black Golden High Flow Acrylics. Check out the result!