Category Archives: Techniques

Essential Freight Cars Reborn (Sorta, Kinda)

Books, Models, Techniques,

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Speedwitch Media has started a new series of freight car focused publications. Bill Welch has some comments on the first two issues of this exciting new series.

Okay, not exactly reborn, because while Speedwitch Media’s new Prototype Railroad Profile series of electronic books owes their heritage to Ted Culotta’s highly respected “Essential Freight Car” series that ran in Railroad Model Craftsman, these books have apparently been injected with growth hormones because there is more of everything—pages, prototype information and photos, and model photos. And hey, the photos are much bigger!

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Creating Eucalyptus trees

Details, Scenery, Techniques, ,

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And now for something completely different! Peter Hall needed trees to set the distinct scenes on his California layout. Read along to discover his techniques. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

If you model prototype railroading in California, there is a good chance you will need to create good-looking Eucalyptus trees. I model the Southern Pacific Coast Line, and they seem to be everywhere, in groves of many trees or sometimes in lines along the right-of-way or a road.

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Wabash 12-panel welded box car from Yarmouth Model Works

Models, Resin Freight Cars, Techniques, ,

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Craig Zeni recently built an HO scale Yarmouth Model Works Wabash box car kit. He steps in with thoughts on the model and construction processes.

At first blush upon opening the box, this Yarmouth Model Works kit is a lot like many other kits with folded printed instructions, the one piece car body, and the separate floor wrapped in tissue paper. What is different is that one is greeted by the etched running board taped to the inside of the box lid and the balance of the parts in small zip lock bags. One thing I found very refreshing to see are etched parts for the ladders, brake levers and other brake brackets instead of resin pieces. Kadee grabs, Kadee Miner brake wheel, Moloco Miner brake housing, Tichy brake parts, and phosphor bronze wire make up the rest. The included decals are from Black Cat and are very nice, and trucks from Kato. This is a top shelf kit.

The castings themselves are outstanding. Very little flash was evident on the main body casting. I had it cleaned up and ready to go in about 10 minutes; the crossbearers and such not much longer. There are a lot of styrene kits that wish their parts were this clean.

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“Like Things at Like Times:” Building Two Kits at Once – Pt 2

Models, Resin Freight Cars, Techniques,

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Here’s part two of Bill Welch building two gondolas at once. Part one can be found here.

In preparation for painting, I like to media blast models with Baking Soda to slightly roughen/etch the surface. A thorough soaking in Ivory Snow is next followed by a good rinse in clear water. I like to do this kind of work in batches of four to six models.

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