Over the course of a few days, I have seen many people share their latest modeling on a few discussion lists. I reached out to the modelers for permission to share their photos and comments on this blog post. This follows the spirit of our Workbench Wednesday posts but is also like a virtual RPM. I hope these photos and details inspire modelers to open boxes and build kits. Click on any image here to view a larger size. Paul Doggett shared the opening image along with kit details in his comments below. – Eric Hansmann – RCW web guy

Paul Doggett posted SP B50-15 boxcars March 29 – ResinFreightCarBuilders@groups.io

I have just finished a Westerfield Models Southern Pacific B50-15 boxcar in Black Overnight livery. It joins three similar cars I built from Sunshine Models kits.
Paul Doggett, England

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Bill Welch posted PRR 45939 X26 March 29 – ResinFreightCarBuilders@groups.io

Pennsylvania 45939 X26 is a Funaro & Camerlengo kit of the railroad’s modification of one of their USRA boxcars with a Hutchins roof and replacement of the original wood doors.

The kit also models the repairs frequently seen to the hat-section braces with metal parts covering rusted sections at the bottom of the braces. My friend Randy Anderson calls these “booties.” The kit is offered in two versions, one with ladders and one with individual drop grabs, the version I built.
Bill Welch

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Clark Propst posted Roundhouse 36 footer – March 26 on Proto-Layouts@groups.io

I’ve been working on this model for a couple days but have been thinking about it for some time. This started as an undecorated Roundhouse 36-foot truss rod model I found at a swap meet last December. I bulldozed most of the detail off and added a roof and all the grabs. I add lots of rivets (Tichy individual parts) as well as bolt heads using Archer decals. It was my effort to divert attention from obvious flaws like the door brace removal.

After I cleaned up the underframe, I added pieces of Plastruct H-beam for new needle beams and glued Tichy queen posts to the beams. The rods are eight pound test monofilament line with Tichy turnbuckles. I brush painted the underframe so I could leave the clear line through the turnbuckles as best I could.

(Two days later….)

Clark posted Roundhouse 36 footer on March 28 – Proto-Layouts@groups.io

I weathered the model this morning and took more time than I did on the last three combined. I had planned to give it the once over with Pan Pastels then use a black wash to fill in the horrifically wide board grooves. I ended up using Pan Pastels on the roof and colored pencils on the running board, sides and ends. I had a Malcom Furlow flashback and used an oranger pencil to highlight details.

I took a photo of the ‘tools’ used. These descriptions match the numbered call-outs in the photo.

1. Cosmetic sponge (white), used to blend by rubbing over areas
2. Eraser, I used to clean PanPastel off the roof battens and end H beams. The eraser helped to blend the colored pencil by lightly running it over.
3. I dislike this PanPastel tool, but used it to apply the reddish orange PanPastel between the roof battens
4. Small round cosmetic brush used to apply the raw umber PanPastel to the trucks, underframe and lower sides
5. Stiffer angled cosmetic brush used to apply the black PanPastel to the sides of the roof battens and raw umber wheel splash on the car ends
6. The three colors of PanPastels I used
7. Prismacolor pencils. Gray on the running boards and a few streaks on the sides, The reddish orange was used on the sides, running boards behind the ladder rungs, and to highlight details. Dark brown was used on the sides and running boards.

Clark Propst

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Matt Goodman posted Circleville progress on March 27 – Proto-Layouts@groups.io

I’m working on the spur to Pickaway Grain (the two-tone gray box) and Maizo Mills (far right near the glue bottle) in the town of Circleville, Ohio on my HO scale layout. Once that and the storage track (front center) is done, I’ll be able to do my first switching moves (via a switchback) in Circleville! That’ll let me shake out the first five turnouts, all of which have some degree of weirdness.

After that, I need to build some right hand turnouts to access the runaround (left center) and Esmeralda Canning a bit further down the Old Main.
Matt Goodman

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Greg Snook posted New Quarantine challenge for group car project on March 27 – ResinFreightCarBuilders@groups.io

In probably my fastest build ever, two HB1A container blocks from Westerfield Models arrived Monday and are now ready for the paint shop. While not difficult, there was a good amount of slicing flash away from the lids.  

The G22 gondolas are finished, except for gluing the floors in place. I hope to spray primer on the models tonight and paint tomorrow.

Happy modeling,
Greg Snook

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Dave Parker posted X23 Finally Done! on March 27 – PRRpro@groups.io

I built the Westerfield Models kit #10052 with the modernized door tracks. All grabs were remade with 0.010-inch wire, a mix of stainless and phosphor bronze, and Mylar strips were used for running board and brake step supports.

The ladders on these cars are particularly challenging, but I opted to avoid using the cast resin ones with the kit. I needed practice with alternatives, so I used Yarmouth Model Works #302 ladders on the B end. I scratched two others from 3×3 styrene for the A end. I still need practice with the Yarmouth ladders, but I think they are the way to go. I installed Yarmouth #206 sill steps and #402 Carmer levers. 

Paint was a mix of Polly Scale zinc chromate primer and oxide red, 1:1. The Westerfield decals are fine, but I prefer my DIY set printed at home using a Ghost white cartridge on Tango Papa paper.

Hi-Tech Details air hoses, Kadee semi-scale couplers, and modified Bowser 74325 truck frames (planks added, Kadee brake shoes) with Reboxx wheels completed the build.
Dave Parker

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Jim Brewer posted Two recent plastic builds on March 27 – ResinFreightCarBuilders@groups.io

I took a break from working on the layout after the first of the year and decided to build some steam era freight cars. I completed two plastic kits and two resin kits.

CGW 91014 is the 2017 RPM Chicagoland mini-kit. I replaced the InterMountain roof with a Red Caboose Murphy panel roof. I also used Yarmouth Model Work cut lever brackets and bent the uncoupling levers from Tichy phosphor bronze wire. I repaired some of the ladder rungs using 0.010-inch Plastruct rod (90850) and installed A-Line sill steps.

Soo Line 75846 is another hybrid build using a plastic Red Caboose kit with resin cast doors offered by Speedwitch Media, Part P101. The kit is a square corner 40-foot AAR boxcar with double staggered doors. Ted Culotta wrote about these cars, which were owned by several railroads, in Prototype Railroad Modeling, Volume 2.

I modified the underframe per Ted’s article and oriented the brake components following his example. Decals were from various Champ sets. I substituted A-Line sill steps and used the brake wheel supplied with the kit since I missed acquiring the proper Klasing brake wheel/gear castings. Since I model 1956, and already had other Soo Line cars in the earlier scheme, I elected to use the billboard scheme.

Weathering on both cars was done with Pan Pastels.
Jim Brewer

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Chuck Cover posted Westerfield X26 and Sunshine X26C new builds – March 27 on PRRpro@groups.io

I recently completed two HO scale resin freight cars. Above on the left is a Westerfield Models X26 with a welded car builder six-foot door, Hutchins replacement roof, and an AB brake system. On the right is a Sunshine Models X26C representing the steel-sheathed rebuilt cars.  

Here’s a closer look at the end of the Westerfield X26 with the updated Ajax geared hand brake hardware. Both models were painted the same using flat black primer and Ace Hardware flat red oxide primer for the Freight Car Color. The cans have a nice spray nozzle which allows you to paint the cars with a thin coat.

The two boxcars look different due to the weathering. I use artists tube acrylic paints in washes to weather all of my models.
Chuck Cover

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These were originally posted on a few discussion lists that are hosted on the Groups.io platform, which has replaced the YahooGroups platform for many discussion lists. If you want to join these lists, you need to create a Groups.io user ID and password before you search for these groups. If you are already on Groups.io, just search for the group name.

In addition to these discussion list posts, Lester Breuer published his most recent model work on his blog over the weekend. Thanks to all these modelers for sharing their work and inspiring others to step forward and build some kits.

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