Autosol - Make Your Wheels Shine

I have a friend who loves to refurbish and repair old bikes and other stuff. He often use a polishing compound called Autosol with is generally used to clean tarnished metals such as chrome, brass and others. It’s easy to use, the results are almost instantaneous and you only need and old rag.

 

Yesterday, I decided to file down the old counterweight on my Mantua 4-6-0 drivers. They are to modern and they had to partially go before I could apply new ones. When everything was removed, I look at the wheel threads which had been cleaned with SuperClean in my ultrasonic bath and thought it wasn’t looking good. Still a lot of tarnish, excessive wear, discoloration and, on the blind drivers, a serious amount of nickel plating having flaked off. Suffice to say this model had quite the good life back in the days.

 

Autosol is a polishing compound found in the aut parts department

Often online, you see people restoring old wheels using destructive or inefficient methods. They start with solvent, use Brite Boy, brass wire polishing wheels, sandpaper and all kind of unproductive techniques that make a mess and yield mixed results. What if I could simply put some Autosol on a rag, wipe and polish the metal wheels until all the oxidation and micro abrasion was gone.

 

Left wheel polished with Autosol, right one altered, scratches and missing plating

Sure I did and it worked much better than I thought. Very little product was used. The nickel plating started to shine bright again and the pitted spots disappeared. Even the blind drivers started to look more than decent. I decided to continue on the backside to polish the surface where I intend to had some pickups in the future. Once again, it worked perfectly. Then, I moved on the axles themselves and made them shine so they would turn freely in the brass bearings.

 

Brand new like the day the left the factory

Honestly, it was fast, safe and yielded excellent results. My fear is the wheels may be too shiny which could reduce traction. However, for any other use like car wheels, it’s impressive. I’m surprised to have never heard about that product used in model railroading. I will see if it impact traction, but otherwise, I see a bright (pun intended) future in this method to restore old wheels.

It must be noted that being a polishing compound, you need to clean thorougly the wheels after you have finish your job because it leaves an oily residue. In my case, I dropped the driver into the ultrasoni bath with isopropyl alcohol to remove all the residue that could have been left on the wheels. So Autosol is excellent but in these cases when you dismantle or restore a locomotive.

The Joy of DC

For a long time, I never cared about mechanics or wiring. It was something I couldn’t be bothered with and I always subcontracted it to my brother when I was a kid and friends later on. When something didn’t work properly, I would sideline it on the shelves and not care anymore. That approach gave me the leisure to focus my efforts on model building, scenery and planning. Sure, an attractive proposition. However, comes a time when friends aren’t there, or you need things to work right now or worse, the said friends won’t have the dedication to work on some weird proposition.

Since I’ve been working on Monk yard and other modules, I’ve had to become better at soldering and wiring. I’m not very good, but at least, I’ve reached a decent level where my work is passable and reliable. And if I mess something up, I know why and how to fix it.

The same wasn’t always true with locomotives. I would bash them, mess the electrical stuff accidently and get a poor running engine out of what used to be a decent model. Not a promising proposition when you wish to have good-looking custom locomotives to play with. Over the last few years, I’ve been watching a lot of people online that thinker with very old models, clean them, lube them, tune them and make them run better. Most of these people, including Darth Santa Fe, generally prefer to work with DC models. I use to laugh a little bit at that, thinking they did so since they were more interested in mechanical stuff than operation. But the reality is that you need to know that mechanical stuff first before dabbling with DCC.

And there is another aspect to that: the sheer simplicity of just having to lube a model, run it and have fun. DCC has become a real pain in the rear. Dealing with dirty track, poor sound, cutoffs and programming is extremely frustrating. This is something for which I currently have no patience. Also, as I often mentioned, I have a lot of old models that are DC and since they are oddballs, it makes no sense dumping $200 dollars of electronics in them. For this reason, I have embarked in fine tuning my DC stuff and the 4’ x 8’ layout is perfect for that.

On Sunday, I decided to work on a very old project. My pair of custom detailed Athearn blue box SW1200. I purchased the models back in high school around 1999 to replicate Chemin de fer Charlevoix switchers. However, this project never went nowhere and soon, as a teenager, I custom painted them in CN colors. During the pandemic, I dug out these poorly painted models, stripped them to their bare plastic and completely rebuilt them. It was a highly satisfying project, but I knew the drive was good… or so I thought.

Rebuilding my Athearn SW1200 electric motor

Fast forward a few years ago when I purchased replacement motors from Ebay. These were nice can motors that ran very well and relatively silently. I tried to replace a motor in one of the SW1200, but the surgery didn’t turn great when I grafted the flywheels. They weren’t balanced at all and made the drive jerky.

Last Sunday, I decided to simply rebuild the original drives and improve them. The original Athearn motor was broken into parts. I couldn’t reassemble it because the magnets touched the rotor. After some verification, I found out two plastic tabs that kept the magnets at the right distance were broken. Some styrene replacement tabs were glued in place and the motor was reassembled. Testing proved it was running as good as the untouched motor of the second unit. I was extremely proud to have salved a motor. After cleaning the commutator, adjusting the brush and oiling the bearings, it was back in action.

Cleaned, lubed and tuned trucks ready for reassembly

I then turned my attention to the trucks. Many sideframes had broken pins. I glued them back, inserted a phosphore bronze pin in them and put a nice coat of flat black on them. When I opened the gear tower and truck assembly, I discovered these parts had never been lubed, except for oil in the wrong place. No wonder they sounded like a coffee grinder! So everything went to the ultrasonic bath for degreasing and cleaning. I had purchased new Athearn nickel plated wheels years ago, so I proceeded to replace the sintered wheel with these new set. The trucks were lubed and assembled, making them running much smoother than ever before.

A coat of satin black on the frame really makes a difference

The last step was too degrease and repaint the metal chassis with satin black paint. I used professional grade paint and let it cure for at least 24 hours. At this point, I have refurbished trucks, well-maintained motors and a nice chassis. Everything will need to be reassembled and new LED lighting installed. These locomotives will probably never get a DCC decoders, but at least now they will finally run on a layout after being shelf queens for over 27 years. They may no longer be state of the art models, but this is not the point.

I’m getting more confident in my work and this is what matters. Developing mechanical skills is as important as the rest. I too often neglected that side of the hobby and paid the price. There is a lot of satisfaction tinkering with an older model and bringing it to its best condition. I’m discovering a new facet to this hobby and it’s much more relaxing and enjoyable that I ever thought. Somewhat, DC is really relaxing in a world were electronics, sound and complicated stuff is no longer a novelty or making any sense.

Improving The Venerable Tyco Rogers 4-6-0

Sometimes, you need a fun project. Recently, YouTube has been feeding me videos from younger modellers dabbling with old 19^th century locomotives in HO, mainly Bachmann, Roundhouse and Tyco/Mantua. Many people love to replicate the Sierra Railway #3 due to its fame from Back to the Future II and one of them, a fan of video games Red Dead Redemption as been quite active lately and I got bitten again by the old time railroad bug.

Sierra Railway #3 drawn by Gary Caviglia

As many know, the Tyco 4-6-0 is based on the real Sierra Railway #3 but scaled at about 1/72 instead of 1/87 due to large motors used back then. The tooling is a little bit old, but the chassis is smooth and sturdy, with brass bearings for the wheels. It’s also a modular locomotive in the sense you can replace parts and dismantle it as you wish, making it the quintessential kitbash fodder.

SR #3 in its original appearace (credit: Wikipedia)

However, I’ve never been a big fan of SR #3 in its “modern” appearance. The weird Southern Pacific steel cab on a 19^th century classic locomotive is kind of inelegant and breaks the illusion for me even if prototypical. Poor Sierra #3 got involved in an accident in 1918 that crushed it original wooden cab. So I naturally wondered if the locomotive could be turned back into something from the early 1880s. Gladly enough, we still have picture of her in its original appearance. So, what if some 3D printed replacement parts could be made to make it more interesting and beautiful. A conversion kit that would be easy to implement and require very little kitbashing.

Down the rabbit hole in SketchUp with a Brooks loco

So I went on the web and looked at locomotives that had a similar boiler shape, wheel arrangement and domes location. Sure, the original SR #3 was a good contender. Replacing only a few key features would greatly improve its appearance when it was still brand new and lettered for Prescott & Arizona Central. This option helps us to keep the original boiler and tender which is quite interesting. It’s only a cosmetic make over and can be quite effective. However, I was curious if something more generic could be done.

Burlington, Cedar Rapid & Northern 92 was a close match

The search went on and I discovered several Rhodes Island and Brooks Locomotive Works 4-6-0s of the same era that had a more ornate appearance and a more classic cab. Several of these locomotives were build for different railways and I feel the cab proportions looks better than the original Sierra one which was more vertical. However, it comes with the caveat that the tender must be replaced with a Bachmann or Athearn/Roundhouse one to get the correct dimensions.

BCR&N's Brooks 4-6-0 provided measurement

I’ve made all the parts for the Brooks version. The conversion includes a stack, a wooden pilot, two cylinder covers, a set of wheel splashers, new domes, a cab, a bell, injectors and a pair of Brooks builder plates. I would also like to create proper era arch bar trucks.

Doesn't take much to completely change a familiar appearance

I haven’t yet created the Rogers parts, but they would likely includes a new cab, new domes with a whistle, a new stack, a pair of splash covers, Rogers brass plates for the cylinders, a wooden pilot and a backhead. I would also consider a new air pump to replace the ugly molded on parts.

I think that finer details parts on a sturdy Tyco frame with a good modern motor and state of the art paint job and decals could really make this old vintage model shines. I can see many more possibilities with that little locomotive. With many people having access to 3D printing nowadays, what would have been a very complicated project can be turned into an enjoyable ride.

Ciment St-Laurent - GE 4Switcher

Ready to work!

After a long hiatus from proper prototype modelling, I'm back with the latest motive power addition to the layout, which is a Rapido DCC sound equipped GE 44-Ton locomotive. You have probably seen it more than once on previous post, sporting a factory painted blue livery that wasn't the most attractive. The big challenge would be to repaint the model in Ciment St-Laurent white and dark blue paint scheme as it appeared in the 1980s and 1990s.

The shell is easy to disassemble

First of all, let's talk about the Rapido model. Like many modellers, I'm wary of that brand and have virtually no trust in their quality control. The models are generally beautiful, but reliability may be an issue from loco to loco. However, I've been looking at this particular GE model development for years, starting with a visit at Amherst train show where I saw the preproduction models in operation and could take a look at the motorization. Let's just say it was promising given the crudeness of the Bachmann drive.

Remove 4 screws and you can remove the motorization easily

Fortunately for us, Rapido has done its homework and the new 44-tonner is cleverly designed. The snap-on motorized trucks are a clever design, the way the decoder and electronics are implemented too. 

The snap-on tracks are a very practical feature

As for disassembly, even if the instruction manual is full of poor taste humour, it is easy to do. Honestly, just that makes it a joint to repaint. Using a cotton bud (Q-tip), I was able to push the window glazing out of the frame without breaking anything prior to priming, masking and painting.

Remove the glazing with a light push with a Q-tip

However, let's address the elephant in the room. CSL had a GE 45-ton switcher, which is a smaller one. As I said in other blog post, we tried to use a Bachmann one and we felt it was unsatisfactory. Not a bad locomotive, but far too puny for our industrial needs.

The real CSL switcher was a later phase GE 45-tonner

Also, adding sound, DCC and sufficient weight in it was a fool's errand. Add to that Bachmann produce an earlier version. CSL switcher was a later design without side rods and with smoke stacks that were identical to a 44-tonner. Make what you want out of it, but it means that a 44-tonner was under certain circumstances, closer to the real locomotive than a 45-tonner.

Masking the blue stripe at the hood and cab bottom

Weathering process... in progress with lots of streaking

Before committing to paint, I designed custom decals for the cab. On prototype pictures, the locomotive was very dirty while the logo was on a clean white square. My understanding is they repainted the area many years later when CSL was upgraded in the early 1980s.

A tiny micro decoder with barely any space for auxiliary functions

I first disassembled the model completely, including the interior. Wheels were masked off and I primed the entire locomotive before applying a coat of Tamiya primer. A generous coat of Tru-Color Paint white was sprayed while the frame and trucks got a coat of dark blue. Window gaskets were painted black with a Sharpie oil paint marker. After dullcoating, the model was heavily weathered with oil paint washes and Pan Pastel.

The light pipe goes through the roof

A gloss coat was added on the cab side to apply the clean decals over the messy paint. At that point, I had to decided if I would have a cosmetic or functioning rotating beacon. I really like the one on Donohue's switcher, but soldering wires to the tiny decoder was a nerve wrecking decision. After consulting with Louis-Marie and Jérôme, it was decided to not add a LED. The beacon has a tiny plastic light pipe going through the cab, so if we ever feel like adding this feature, it ill be possible.

The new switcher really capture the prototype feel

At that point, the model was sealed with a last coat of AK ultra matte varnish, let to dry and assembled. If you ask me, after seeing the finished model on the layout, I have no regret using a 44-tonner instead of a 45-tonner. Since I took care to protect the wipers, the wheels and other electrical components, it still perform beautiful and I think it is bound to become a fan favorite on the layout given how Jérôme has taken a liking to it!

A hard working locomotive in Villeneuve yard

Tales of Modern PFE Reefers - Part 3

The last installment in that series covers an old Bachmann ribbed 50ft mechanical reefer. Of the lot, this was both the most promising and the most deceptive. Not surprising given this car tooling dates back to 1972. Around the same era, Athearn issued its own version of this car which was nominally better. Both were based on a series of PFE 50ft mechanical reefers with ribbed sides . My knowledge of this subject being limited, the series are R-70-11 to R-70-12. Many would later be repainted in Union Pacific Armour Yellow when PFE was dissolved later in the 1970s.

A little bit crude, but not too bad for a 1972 tooling

The Bachmann tooling is promising because the car sides, for a toy, are rather nice and match the prototype pictures. The tooling is crisp and most details are well-rendered, particularly when you strip the thick factory paint. Unfortunately, the praise stop there as we look at the roof and ends. At that moment, we discover the old trick that manufacturers loved to use until the 2000s: modular tooling.

It was common, to reduce the cost of tooling, to recycle similar parts from existing cars in the manufacturer lineup. The easiest things to reuse were the underframe, trucks, roofs and ends. Sides would be replaced by newer ones to match the prototype. Most of the time, it was a decent solution. Athearn and Roundhouse pulled that off quite a bit with their 40ft covered cars. Trains Miniatures was quite infamous for pushing the gimmick to the extreme. Sometimes, it worked, but only for a limited number of prototype such as Athearn recycling their ends/roof steel ice tooling on their wooden reefer cars.

As long as the car length and height was about the same, the trick was somewhat acceptable given the era's limitations. But things started to look weird when a car side had to be stretched or compressed to fit the tooling size. This was particularly apparent with Roundhouse single-sheathed boxcar which has nice car sides with hat-section steel members but was made taller by adding filler to fit the 40ft steel boxcar ends. That's why if you want to make that car prototypical, you have to remove almost everything except the modified sides. Even the width is wrong!

That brings us back to our Bachmann car. The roof was your typical Bachmann 51ft plug door diagonal panel roof with molded roofwalk. Using this part set the car length to be shorter than the prototype. Then, add to that the car ends that were also recycled from the same plug door cars. They are, by any standards, not looking great with their shallow flat ribs. The big issue with the roof is the prototype one merged with the car sides with a sheet gently curving, giving it a monolithic appearance. The Bachmann roof has that step on top of the eaves which doesn't fit the real car. As for the car ends, let's just say they are a goofy approximation and worst, the brake end was molded on the from end! Someone inverted it when preparing the tooling.

Painting the molded details black and adding a Tichy running board

I was at the crossroad and needed to decided how far I was going to go with this one. The molded roofwalk had to go. I tried to keep it by adding a shadow line on its side to create the illusion of a separate part and adding a Tichy one on top of it but it was a fool's errand. So I took upon myself to carve out the running board and scribe the diagonal roof pattern by hand. It took about two evening to get a satisfying results and it was less frustrating that I thought. I won't lie, I was about to remove completely the roof and replace it with a Branchline ones, but it was too long for the car due to the discrepancies I mentioned earlier.

Carving out the running board, one panel at a time...

If I didn't change the roof, changing the car ends was less attractive. I had to replacement parts that would be a decent match for a PFE R-70-12. So I made the trade off to accept the brake wheel was at the wrong end. At that point, I new this car was just a big compromise. If my goal was prototype accuracy, I would have simply binned the car without a second thought. At the end of the day, you are better off using an old Athearn Blue Box car is you want to model that car using old tooling. At least, they got a few things better than Bachmann half-baked effort.

The "wrong" car end with improve brake platform

After making these decisions, a new modified Tichy steel running board was glued in place and I filed down the stirrups to make them appear thinner. All grab irons were replaced with wire ones and some extra details were added to the brake platform. A lot of filing work was required to bring the underframe to the correct height. Bolsters were filed down and coupler boxes replaced altogether. New fuel tanks were scratchbuilt and the brake apparatus was minimally improved with parts from the spare bin. I think the moment I discovered replacing the roof and ends would basically mean a full reconstruction, I lost my appetite to improve that car.

This time, decalling went perfectly!

As I said in  Part 1, getting the silhouette and the colors right is the least we can do and sure, I made my best effort to capture the right vibe about a PFE welded mechanical reefer. This time, I didn't need to fudge with decals because the Microscale set was perfect for ribbed cars.

In hindsight, I should have replaced the stirrups...

At the end of the day, I have mixed thoughts about this car. I know its limitations, which are many. I wouldn't go as far as saying they are crippling or distracting in the middle of a fleet, but this is indeed just an approximation. I wish Bachmann didn't swap the car ends by mistake. For many of these reasons, I would recommend doing that project with an Athearn car. Sure, it won't be state of the art, but at least, things will be in the right place. A fellow modeller has already given some clues how to improve one.

With these 3 cars completed, I think we can move on and go back to regular modelling with higher standards!

Tales of Modern PFE Reefers - Part 2

The next victim in the PFE marathon was an old Athearn 50ft mechanical reefer in Santa Fe scheme. Basically, the same car I used for my CN 50ft reefers a few weeks ago. Now, my idea was to try to make something closer to prototype and thus, Pacific Fruit Express imposed itself upon me. As with many older cars, I was well aware of certain detail and dimensional discrepancies. You have to live with them but as always, it's a way to learn more about the real history of freight cars.

The Athearn tooling isn't that bad, but as always, I remove the roofwalk in a heart beat and replace it with a custom length Tichy one. Grabirons were also completely replaced with metal ones but this time, I decided to keep the molded plastic stirrups for many reasons.

With some work, molded plastic stirrups can look good

Plastic stirrups generally are the biggest offenders since they spoil the car silhouette. However, you probably recall my experiment with Athearn 40ft boxcars 2 years or so ago. The idea was to keep them and thin them down with a hobby knife blade and files. It you are careful, you can remove quite a lot of material. You can also file the back corners at 45 degrees to make them appear shallow will keeping them sturdy.

Beside these pragmatic reasons, I also had other aesthetical reason to keep the stirrups. Indeed, the center stirrup ladder as a specific design. I could have replaced it with an Accurail one which is much thinner, but I didn't go that route because they are made of Delrin plastic. The previous PFE car was equipment with them and I found they were flimsy and paint chipped. Indeed, they are located where our fingers go to grab a car. So, I decided to not redo it. Since I was keeping the central ladder, I thought it would look better to keep them all. Mixing metal and plastic stirrups wouldn't have looked good.

The Athearn reefer framed by his two relatives

Another thing that was in the back of my mind was the fact that PFE bright orange stirrups generally weather to an almost black color which helps to make them appear much thinner than they actually are. So, that was just another reason to keep them.

Other details that I added were the end platform, a Kadee brake wheel and scratchbuilt fuel tank under the car. The reefer was painted in SP Daylight Orange with a few drop of Reefer Yellow, once again using Tru-Color paints.

Decals were easier to figure out than the 40ft ice reefer, but I still had to fudge the Pacific Fruit Express lettering to fit a non-ribbed car. When done, everything was sealed and the car was a done deal. It's certainly not a great model, but it now blends within the fleet and that attractive paint scheme really do the job. Next time, we will cover the last reefer in that series... and prepare yourself for a good laugh!

Tales of Modern PFE Reefers - Part 1

One of the most ubiquitous thing in railroading aside from that 50ft Illinois Central boxcar that pop up on so many historical pictures, is Pacific Fruit Express reefers. It shouldn't come as a surprise because PFE used to be the largest refrigerator car operator in the world. Started in 1906 as an Harriman business venture shared by Southern Pacific and Union Pacific, it would become so iconic that you would be hard pressed to have no need for one of these cars on your layout if you model 20th century in North America.

Like any modeller, I've acquired my share of kits and assembled models of PFE but something I never tried was to model the more modern stuff when the paint scheme was simplified in the 1960s and the large PFE name was spelled in bold sans serif black font. I always loved that scheme with it's bright orange and that "In Your Face" style of advertising to typical of the 1960s when subtility was no longer the norm.

However, that project of mine would involve tinkering with orphan models I had no use for. The goal was to follow a discussion with Chris Mears about how much details you have to change on a cheap train to make it look good. Our theory has evolved around the idea that a few elements must coalesces before prototypically accurate details start mattering. In short order, I would say the following must be respected to make sure the suspension of disbelief holds. After all, it's about tricking the mind.

1. Accurate colors (here, I mean not only having the right shade but also a realistic approach to weathering): this is the first thing our eye recognize.
2. Crisp color application and sharp decals: no fuzzy lines, no blurry lettering, no small defects that break the illusion.
3. Decent proportions: overall, nothing seems out of place.
4. Credible silhouette: this is were fine details matter. It doesn't mean the details are accurate, but that they are believeable and fine enough to not scream enough: protuding details will matter more because they detach themselves from the background: brake wheels, runningboard, roof grabirons, stirrups.

If you get these four things down, it's half the battle won... 

The first car I used was an old Athearn 40ft ice reefer. A classic car among the classics, it is based on a PFE R40-23. Sure, it's not perfect and that annoying way to fix the roof to the body is always bothering me, but the proportions are right, the car ends are correct and the rivet patterns are acceptable. The original pad printed PFE scheme by Athearn was fuzzy and crooked, so it had to go. This car will be fully repainted.

To improve the silhouette, I replaced the molded grabirons and stirrups with metal ones. A-Line for the ends, Accurail reefer stirrups for the ones under the door. The brake wheel was replaced with a neat Kadee one (they are the best in my opinion), the platform was made larger and supported with new brackets. Another big change was to replace the clunky stock running board with a nice Morton-style Kadee one. I gently cut the roofwalk end platforms since they aren't required on a reefer. Once again, Kadee parts prove their incredible usefulness. For the price, they look fantastic and require almost no painful work to install.

Kadee roofwalk really improves the overall look

Paint had to be accurate and I decided to use Tru-Color SP Daylight Orange TCP-107. I added a few drops of Yellow Reefer into it to fade it a little bit since I'll weather the car in the future.

As for the lettering, I used Microscale 87-1341 sheet for modern PFE reefer. In hindsight, it was a mistake and I should have used their 87-1340 set which is designed for ice reefers. I say that because the Pacific Fruit Express lettering as a different spacing on non-ribbed cars than ribbed cars. I had to fudge a little bit with the lettering and it isn't 100% prototypical though it's not noticeable without really looking into it. It was a matter of using what I had and what I could source from local shops.

The finished car is indeed a blue box car, but most of the sins have been corrected. While I took pictures of it on the diorama, I felt the underframe looked empty, thus breaking my rule about a credible silhouette. I will probably glue an Accurail brake rigging in place to address that issue. Also, while not a big issue, I think that next time I work on an Athearn ice reefer, I will rebuild or modify the bothersome line of rivets over the doors. The shadow between the separate parts breaks the illusion. Otherwise, I think these simple modifications are good enough for building a fleet on the cheap. A lesson is that it is always easier to find the real prototype behind an older car and try to improve.

At the end of the day, the modification cost make only sense if you get the car for cheap and derive a lot of fun doing the modification work. The average cost is about $4 for the metal wheels, a few cents for the stirrups and grabirons, about $0.50 for the brake wheel, $5 for the running board, $3 for the decals and about $1 for the paint, so about $15. The total cost including the car is thus $25. On the positive note, this kitbash helped me to learn more about R40-23 reefers, PFE paint scheme evolution and about the fleet history. Buying a RTR car or a prepainted kit wouldn't have provided any additional knowledge or appreciation for what PFE used to be and why it is so important and ubiquitous.

Repainting an Intermountain Napierville Junction 1958 Cu.Ft. 2-Bay Covered Hopper

This simple project was the result of going down the rabbit hole very hard while trying to finish a project on the cheap. Let me tell you it wasn’t cheap, but it was much simpler than I could ever think.

Beware of simplicity!

Years ago, when the club started, we acquired a lot of cheap Athearn and Roundhouse rolling stock at a local fleet market. We built the fleet with $5 cars and didn’t have a lot of discernment back then. Among the cars was a small Roundhouse Penn Central covered hopper of dubious tooling. Allegedly a PS-2 2003 2-bay covered hopper, the model was crude and didn’t fit our theme. It laid back in the corner of a drawer until I decided to marginally improve the grabirons with bits of styrene and repaint it in grey as a 1950s PRR hopper with CDS Lettering dry transfers. It was destined to serve on my Harlem Station module but alas, I believe it only gathered dust in another drawer for another 8 years before I thought something should happen with this car.

 

Could the car be repainted in a more Canadian roadname? Well, a quick glance at different prototype pictures convinced me I could use it for something more local and I purchased a set of Napierville Junction decals. Meanwhile, I pushed my research forward before committing to butcher the car and found out it was both the wrong prototype and would require extensive work to be upgraded to a decent appearance. There goes the dream of an easy one-day project!

 

Descending into the abyss of Internet and nakina.net, it became clear that my safest bet was to acquire an ACF 1958 cu.ft. 2-bay covered hopper. I had a few choices, but decided to purchase a neat Intermountain car in a random roadname but which would be painted light grey to save me troubles. I figured out it would only be a matter of removing the lettering with Solvaset then relettering with the new decals.

 

Not only the new car being highly detailed cost an arm and a leg, but the roof and the bays were painted black! Also, the light grey from the pictures online was far too dark for NJ. Thus, I ended up removing the lettering (which was for once easy and fast) and repainting the car in light gray. The big modification I made was to remove the end cage metal plate used for the reporting marks. NJ cars didn't have that plate.

To save me some time, I went with Tru-Color paint, mixing my own blend of light gray and spraying it. As always, the results were great and the car ready for lettering. Fortunately, that step went fast and the result is far beyond my hope. I’ve yet to decide if I will add the ACI label to date the car to the late 1960s-early 1970s, or keep it as is for a more versatile look.

That said, I’m still stuck with my cheap Roundhouse PRR car in the drawer and what should have been a $10 project turned out to cost more than a brand new car! Live and learn… again. You can’t always struck a deal! I’ll take my revenge with other really cheap cars later!

 

 

Repainting Athearn CN 50ft Mechanical Reefers

Canadian railways were relatively late adopters of mechanical reefers. CN placed its first order in 1962 to Pacific Car & Foundry and started to receive them by late 1962 and early 1963. These cars were completely alien to anything CN ever owned, being painted in bright CN Yellow No. 11 and black and in stark contrast with its fleet of brown and gray cars.

A poorly factory painted vintage Athearn reefer

I got the idea to model these cars a few years ago when I acquired Black Cat decals with the goal of repainting a few Athearn 50ft reefers. I knew they were 100% prototypical, but they were also being quite close. I had one of these cars in ATSF scheme with poor pad printing decoration in my stash and a visit at the local hobby shop provided me with another one for a few dollars. The bargain bin is quite often you friend!

A bargain bin find at the LHS

A few details were wrong, including the sides having 7 panels on each side instead of 6 and two rows of rivet. The clunky Athearn roofwalk was more a parody than anything else too. As for the roof, no picture I've found of these cars provided a clue as their exact type. On one picture, they seem to be flat panels but I simply decided to live with that blurry compromise.

Super Clean can't cut through the old Athearn paint

The first step was to remove the lettering by soaking the model in Castrol Super Clean. It worked wonders, but the paint stayed in place. I wasn't that much bother to do a second bath in 99% alcohol but in hindsight, I should have known better.

Removing rivets carefully with a chisel blade

The second step was to remove the second row of rivets with a chisel blade and smooth the surface with fine sandpaper. Unfortunately, the sanding process slightly gouged the paint layer and left a dipping surface parallel to the river rows. This is why I should have removed the paint. It's too soft to sand it.

Grabirons were carved out and the stirrups were also cut flush. Everything was replaced with wire grabirons and A-line stirrups for a finer appearance. The running board was made by splicing together two Tichy running board. By using 3 of them, it was easy to make two... if you wonder what happened to the leftovers, they became grilles and radiators on the Faguy generator!

A car ready for primer

The models got a generous coat of Tamiya grey primer then the nightmare called painting "yellow" started. First, all the prototype pictures I had were poor quality and often suffering shifting colors. I didn'T have CN Yellow No. 11 on hand (well, I did have the paint but wasn't aware of it at that time!) and tried to match it using various oranges and yellows from Vallejo. These colors had a hard time to cover the primer so I painted the car white prior to coating with yellow. Several coats were required and I ended up with a somewhat grainy surface.

Yellow pigments are notorious for their poor coverage

The black parts were painted dark grey and I oversprayed the raised details with a slightly lighter shade of grey. I rarely paint cars using plain black because it hides the details on scale models. And anyway, in real life, black is always dusty and looks greyer. When done, everything got a generous coat of Microscale gloss varnish and decalling started.

Decalling wasn't a walk in the park because the decals were extemely brittle and in poor shape. Even if they looked alright when set in place, they would fissures when Microsol was working its magic. One set of decals was also poorly printed and a notice in the envelope let me know that Black Cat was aware of that and they provided a second sheet with better decals.

Faulty decals with a frosted/fissured surface

Anyway, after of side decalled, I emailed to Al Ferguson from Black Cat Publishing and explained the issue and he sent me two replacement sets for free. Thanks Al for your prompt reply! That's how you gain long term loyalty from your customers!

The second side was decalled with success but I also made sure to not add the reporting mark nor the roadnumber. Indeed, these cars had a complicated renumbering story. When CN received them, they were lettered NIRX because they were in fact leased from North American Car Corporation. Then, CN acquired them and patched them, keeping the NIRX roadnumber. It would take until 1965 for CN to then renumber the cars according to its official renumbering scheme and they became the 231100 to 231174 series. This interesting story means that the cars were patched twice in less than three years. Some got CN noodle logos as reporting marks, others had very dark yellow patches. It was all over the place and brings a lot of interest in this fleet.

Small details such as patches tell a story of their own

To patch the cars, I decided to use Tru-Color Yellow Reefer and add drops of white and black until I got the color right. During this process, not only did I find the Yellow Reefer color was almost spot on for these cars but also that I had a bottle of CN Yellow No. 1. Once again, I should be careful to periodically look through my collection of paint bottle to keep knowledge of what I had. Lesson learned!

Completed cars ready for future weathering

The cars then received their last coat of gloss varnish to seal the decals, followed by a generous coat of AK Interactive Ultra-Matte varnish, which to be honest, works so nicely!

All in all, I'm quite happy with the final results. These cars are now ready for weathering and will be part of the Monk fleet in service to the Maritime. While they aren't prototypical, they look their part and to be fully honest, I will probably try to get one of these wonderful Kaslo Shop newly tooled CN mechanical reefers to complete the fleet.

Relettering a Walthers Proto 10,000 Gallong Tank Car

As I move through my pile of kits and cars to be redetailed or repainted, I sometimes stumble upon fruits that are so low hanging it would be criminal not to harvest them. An easy win is an easy win and for that reason, they should always be taken.

The story started with a set of Black Cat decals for a McColl-Frontenac Oil Company car. I had purchased it because I liked the name of the company, with Frontenac resonating with Quebec City a lot since that man of the 17th century was one of the most famous governor of New France. Frontenac Oil was a business based in Montreal that was merged with McColl & Anderson Oil in 1927. Their fleet of tank cars was in service until the very early 1960s. The company was partially owned by Texaco who became the main shareholder by 1941. In 1959, it became Texaco Canada until it merged with Imperial Esso in the late 1980s and became history.

While reading the instruction sheet, it was clear I would need a 10,000 gallons tank car. A quick search on the internet shown me a prototype picture of a McColl-Frontenac car which looked quite similar to a Walthers Proto one. I always thought the old Life-Like Proto 2000 tank cars were gems and since one in CNW OCS paint scheme was for sale at some Canadian hobby shop where I was doing some purchase, in the cart it ended up.

Factory painted car before modification

As with many relettering project, I knew it would be better to remove the old factory applied lettering and keep the original paint job. It would make it less likely to break details, particularly on such a delicate car. Fortunately, for a rare instance in my modelling life, the trick to cover the lettering a few minutes with towels soaked in Solvaset worked! Using a few cotton buds, I wiped the old lettering away until every little trace was gone. Sometimes, a few drops of Solvaset did the trick to remove the most stubborn remnants. In fact, it worked so well and so fast I was able to reletter the car only a few minutes after since the paint became extremely glossy and perfect for decalling.

The joy of erasing factory lettering with Solvaset

Black Cat indicates that the McColl-Frontenac name should be centered on the car, behind the ladders. However, the only available prototype picture online lifted up from Pinterest show the name on the right side. I felt it looked better and went forward with that. However, later during the decalling process, it occurred to me the Black Cat artwork was of a later version of the scheme while my prototype picture was from an earlier scheme that was used when the cars were built or acquired by McColl-Frontenac. The question raised was if I should redo the car with centered lettering or keep if on the right.

Early paint scheme (credit: unknown, Pinterest)

I have no answer with to that question. A discussion on Facebook with freight car gurus such as Ian Cranstone, Dan Del'Unto and others couldn't provide more prototype photos of McColl-Frontenac cars. The conclusion reached by all of them was that since no evidence was available to contradict my work and that I had, in good faith, followed a known prototype picture, I should keep it as is because it was an educated guess that made a lot of sense.

Completed car sitting on the feed mill siding.

So, after reaching that conclusion, I sprayed a coat of satin varnish over the car to seal the decals and restore the factory finish. I'm starting to really like AK Interactive satin varnish because it has that nice semi-gloss appearance so fitting for a brand new car. Until I weather it it the future, it will join the rest of the 1950s Monk roster.