All posts by RCWadmin

RPM Chicagoland update

RPM, ,

Planning for RPM events continues through the year. Mike Skibbe sent updates for the 2018 RPM Chicagoland meet. Dates are set for October 18 – 20, 2018. Here are some details Mike shared.

  • Bon French, chairman of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, will be the Thursday evening Banquet speaker.
  • It’s the 25th anniversary of this RPM conference! There will be a special Friends of the Freight Car dinner and celebration with Tricia Lofton as honored guest.
  • The 2018 mini-kit will be a Fruit Growers Express truss rod reefer

Registration is now live, so make plans to attend and bring your models to display!
Here’s the registration link.

Resin Car Works update for the RPM


The Resin Car Works minions have been busy prepping a new release for the 2018 RPM Chicagoland. An HO scale, 50-foot 10-foot 5-inch interior height, Soo automobile boxcar is in the works. These will feature new etched brass ladders from Plano Model Products. Decals and detail parts are in hand. The master patterns are complete and should be cast soon.

These Plano ladders will be available later this summer (2018). If they sell well, additional variations will be added to the Plano line.

Rock Island 40-foot Automobile Boxcar

Models, Techniques, , , ,

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.

Continue reading Rock Island 40-foot Automobile Boxcar →

Workbench Wednesday

Workbench Wednesday, , ,

Pete Hall shared a couple images of boxcars that have recently been painted and lettered. Here’s Pete with some notes from his workbench.

I’ve been using tiny pieces of decal from the Microscale Data for Diesels – Black and White set # 87-48 to make placards. There are several black-and-white decals intended to be put on the frames of diesels that I am cutting into 3×5 or 4×7 “cards” and attaching to the wood doors or the tack boards of cars. The white background and not-legible black writing looks like what you might see on a card tacked to a car. The car above is not quite finished. It has been decaled but not over sprayed.

Continue reading Workbench Wednesday →

New kit release!

New Kit,
Prepped for the paint booth.

Resin Car Works announces a new HO scale freight car kit! Kit 9.0 represents AC&F Type 27, 8,000-gallon, insulated tank cars. American Car & Foundry built 151 of these insulated Type 27 tank cars between late 1929 and mid-1943.

We launch this kit with a Warren Petroleum version. The kit includes decals and a pair of Tahoe Model Works Buckeye A.R.A. 50-ton truck side frames.

Several additional versions will be announced as the decals and parts arrive.

Please visit the Kits page on our website for details and ordering information.