Tag Archives: models

A Weathering Rookie Tries PanPastels & Colored Pencils

Models, Techniques, Weathering, ,

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Bill Welch returns to the RCW blog with a beginner perspective on Pan Pastels for weathering freight cars.

I thought I would describe my first weathering experience primarily using PanPastels (PP) with a little assist from Prismacolor Colored pencils. The subject model was built 19 to 20 years ago from a Funaro & Camerlengo kit, probably purchased from The RPI Hobby Shop in Troy, NY. I used a photo from “The Bob Charles Collection” at the NMRA Library to guide me in detailing and decaling. It is painted with Accuflex paint using my Binks “Wren” airbrush. The decals I am pretty sure are Champ and I very likely pieced together the Dimensional Data with individual numbers to match this car. Continue reading A Weathering Rookie Tries PanPastels & Colored Pencils →

Wabash Automobile boxcars

Resin Freight Cars,
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Speedwitch Media Wabash Automobile boxcar.

Charlie Duckworth returns with comments on a pair of interesting resin kit builds.

History
The Wabash had a large fleet of single-sheathed automobile boxcars starting in the 1920’s and running these well into the 1950’s. The designs were basically standardized with radial roofs, wood or steel doors, and Murphy or Dreadnaught ends. These were tall cars having 10-foot high interiors. Wabash 46000-46999 had 5/5/5 Murphy ends. The 47000-47999 had 3/3/3 Dreadnaught ends. Another group numbered 17000-17299 had Dreadnaught automobile end doors. For prototype photos and additional history, consult page 80 in ‘Focus on Freight Cars Volume One: Single Sheathed Box & Automobile Cars’ by Richard Hendrickson.

Continue reading Wabash Automobile boxcars →

Storzek Soo Line boxcar converted to a NOT&M boxcar

Models, Resin Freight Cars, ,

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Charlie Duckworth returns with another interesting build summery.

History
In 1921, American Car & Foundry (AC&F) built 500 single sheathed boxcars for the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico Railroad. These cars had peaked roofs and wood ends with steel bracing. The Missouri Pacific added these cars to their boxcar fleet when they acquired the Gulf Coast Lines railroads in January 1925. The cars were repainted into the parent company’s standard with the revised ‘Mopac buzz saw’ (the revision being the addition of ‘Lines’ to the logo) now appearing on the sides of the newly acquired GCL and I-GN equipment for the first time.

Although the cars only had 8-foot high interiors, they lasted quite a long time with 451 still on the roster in 1948. Due to a shortage of cabooses on the Mopac during WW2, 90 of these boxcars were converted to war emergency cabooses with personnel doors and windows added to the carbody. After the war, many of these cabooses were transferred to maintenance of way service.

Continue reading Storzek Soo Line boxcar converted to a NOT&M boxcar →

The RPM Experience

Models, Resin Freight Cars, RPM,

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Bill Welch shares observations and tales from the recent Railroad Prototype Modeler meet held near St. Louis. Click on any image here to see a larger version.

It is has been over week since returning from the St. Louis RPM meet in Collinsville, IL, and thought I would reflect on my experience as this was a new meet for me. The Convention Center is small and easy to get around and there is plenty of parking. Food and drink were available at a decent price and nearby are several chain restaurants. Attendees were scattered around in three or four hotels/motels. Getting there from the airport was easy and there was very little traffic to negotiate once you are at the CC.

Continue reading The RPM Experience →