Category Archives: Models

Lehigh & New England box car kitbash

Fenton Wells displayed an interesting HO scale box car kitbash at the RPM Conference in Naperville. He shared this summary from his Southern Piedmont Shops.

One of the fun things about this hobby is the inspirational people you meet and one of them prompted this kitbash. Clark Propst got me involved with this model. He sent me a prototype photo and some in-progress photos of his modeling. I knew that I must build this interesting car.

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HO scale resin trucks

I shared a couple photos from the recent NERPM event with RCW honcho Frank Hodina. He liked Bob Cronin’s truck models and suggested a blog post. Bob obliged with several photos and notes from his processes. Here he is with the scoop.

My interest in trucks built in the 1950s and 60s dates back to my childhood and fits my model railroading era. I chose Sylvan Scale Models because they make HO scale resin vehicle models that are prototypical to the golden age of trucking.

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Rock Island 40-foot Automobile Boxcar

George Toman shared details on building a Rock Island car from the 161000-161349 car series. The model is inspired by the 2015 Prototype Rails Shake-n-Take project. Here’s George with the details.

When I saw a photo of the Rock Island 40-foot automobile boxcar from the 2015 Prototype Rails I knew that I had to try to build one. The original instructions can be found on the Shake-n-Take discussion group. You must sign up as a member to view and download.

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Western Pacific 50-foot Automobile Box Car

Fred Jansz sent along photos and details for the recent Virtual RPM model collection, but we thought readers might want a little more info on these models. Here’s Fred with details on upgrading HO scale Western Pacific automobile box cars.

Triggered by a 1995 Mainline Modeler article by Page Porter, I wondered if I could build one of the lesser known Western Pacific freight cars. Their 50-foot, single-sheathed automobile box cars were built by Pullman in 1929. The WP rebuilt several of these cars in 1937 with as 15-foot wide, two-and-a-half door cars renumbered 19201-19250. A prototype picture of such a car can be found in the WP equipment book by Jim Eager.

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