Tag Archives: Weathering

Illinois Central Enterprise offset hoppers

Matt Smith sent photos and notes on his recent IC hopper builds. Here’s his info on the models. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

I picked up a pair of Resin Car Works Illinois Central Enterprise hoppers during last year’s Chicagoland RPM. I had a chance to meet Frank Hodina and Eric Hansmann. It’s neat to meet to folks behind these great kits. I had never built a complete rail car model in resin and I wanted a new challenge. I had dealt with resin years ago during my scale modeling days, back then the pieces were crude and needed a lot of work. Boy have times changed. I was very impressed with the quality and fidelity of castings. The fine detail is amazing!

Continue reading Illinois Central Enterprise offset hoppers

Weathering tips

Craig Zeni displayed several fine models at the recent RPM-East event. Here’s how the models looked on March 25. Craig shared updated images of these cars recently in a weathered state so we thought you might enjoy his techniques. Here’s Craig with more details.

I had a really good time at the recent RPM-East prototype modeler meet in Greensburg, PA. After arriving back home, I was inspired to move a couple of the display models through the weathering steps.

Continue reading Weathering tips

Milwaukee Road caboose build

201604_gt_cab_outdoor1

If we model freight cars, we usually need a caboose at some point. George Toman shares tips and techniques to build a classic Milwaukee Road caboose.

This Milwaukee Road caboose project started out simple. I just wanted to take it out of the box and weather it up. As I researched photos I discovered that the Walthers Model was inaccurate for a 1939 version and decided to upgrade the model to reflect a 1944 version of a shop built Milwaukee Road rib side caboose.

Continue reading Milwaukee Road caboose build

Southern Pacific 50′ A50-6 / A50-5 1-1/2 Door Boxcar

Charlie Duckworth offers another great resin kit build summary. His focus this time is a classic Southern Pacific automobile box car kit offered by Funaro & Camerlengo. Click on any image here to review a larger size. Here’s Charlie’s report.

History
The Southern Pacific had 2,000 of these 50-foot, single-sheathed automobile box cars built in 1923. The cars were built in two classes in A-50-5 and A-50-6. The A-50-5 had steel auto doors in the A end of the car. The cars were built with Z-bar framing, metal peaked roofs, and fish belly underframes. The A-50-5 were numbered 68000-68499, while the A-50-6 group were numbered 66800-67999 with single-sheathed ends. Prototype photos and additional history can be found on pages 71 and 72 in Richard Hendrickson’s “Focus on Freight Cars Volume One: Single Sheathed Box & Automobile Cars.” The book is available from Speedwitch Media.

Continue reading Southern Pacific 50′ A50-6 / A50-5 1-1/2 Door Boxcar