Rapido GARX Meat Reefers - Custom Paint

Many years ago Rapido produced a very neat series of General American design 37' wood meat reefers. These were beautiful... and expensive. However, they would be useful for the Harlem Station layout and I waiting with patience. At some point, many of them ended up in the bargain bin because their only sin was to be either undecorated kits or unlettered assembled cars in the RTR era. I picked 2 kits and two unlettered ones for at a significant discount, thinking I could slap a paint job on them easily and for a few pennies. I started these projects, only to let them gather dust in my cupboard for many years, almost completed.

As usual, Rapido did an excellent job with this car but building their kits is always a not so fun challenge because they lack basic instruction. However, I soldiered on even if the plastic they used for this kit isn't great to work with.

It looks good... but that canary yellow won't do!

The first kit was painted in the GARX yellow reefer scheme and lettered using Clover House dry transfers. I tried to modernize the paint scheme to better reflect the early 1950s. However, I believe the word "Refrigerator" should be spelled in gothic font but I couldn't find any useful photographic evidence. Unfortunately, when painting it, I used Model Master Reefer Yellow which is almost canary yellow... It felt wrong, but I only measured the mistake fully when I put it together with a factory painted car. The difference is striking and I'm seriously thinking about removing the lettering and repainting the yellow with a better shade of it. That bright yellow would be a better fit for Fruit Growers Express reefers with a bit of white and buff  in it to tone it down.

Hard to believe dry transfers and old decals can look good!

The second reefer was painted in the attractive early 1950s Swift all-red paint scheme. Unfortunately, I found out the Clover House dry transfer I had was made for the 1954-built steel reefer. Since Harlem Station was set in 1952, it's too late for my era, thus I ordered a a suitable set of Champ decals. Thus, the lettering job is a mix of decals and dry transfer to better fit the prototype. I also limited as much as possible the use of Champ decals which suffer from thick carrier decal film. At the end of the day, I was really pleased with the results.

Unlettered cars with custom decals (for half the price!)

The two other reefers were already assembled and painted. I designed and printed custom decals which were installed on a coat of gloss varnish. They turned out very well and I will print other custom GARX decals to redo my old Varney/Life-Like kitbashed reefers and the Rapido kit I mentioned earlier.

Model Master Reefer Yellow (left) VS Rapido factory paint (right)

It was great to see these projects come to fruition. They are nice, classics and will fit any trains from the 1950s. No regret buying kits and unlettered cars. They provided their share of joy!

Monk Subdivision - Rebuilding the Staging

As I alluded to late in 2024, I had to revise my plans for Monk Subdivision and the staging area. With the upper level gone, a big choice had to be made and I decided to raise the track level to 50" from the floor. It meant I had to raise all the current staging benchwork too which, fortunately, went smoothly and only took a few hours.

To do this, I removed the Kato Unitrak loop and its shelf. The Kato track will serve its purpose elsewhere. It was a short but useful piece of track that helped me moved forward. When gone, I discovered the current staging wasn't level at all, which is quite the big issue when storing cars! So everything was levelled up during the raising process.

The shelf bracket holes in the walls were patched up and a new coat of paint was applied. Then, the fiberboard was reinstalled and painted with a beige color we use on Murray Bay subidivision for the fascia. It's a neutral and bright tone that blends well with anything. Sealing fiberboard really helps to reduce the dust on the layout.

Then, I started to lay the track, assembling several turnouts to create the yard throat and check the geometry. As I feared, the Walthers 28"/24" curved turnouts didn't perform as expected. Large steamed such as 2-10-2 experienced drivers binding when running over the points. This is unacceptable and some solution had to be found.

First, let's address the elephant in the room. Walthers new turnouts aren't good. Not because they are inherently poor quality, which isn't true, but because their geometry is based on the old Shinohara line of products. These turnouts have all have very drastic diverging routes. It's a sharp angle, then the track continue. This sharp angle is a nightmare for models even if prototype do have angled transition. The thing is prototypes use very, very long turnouts... not #6 or #8 and it makes a huge difference. If you look at PECO turnouts, the diverging route is a smooth curve that provides better tracking. Sure, unprototypical, but your trains don't derail.

The Walthers turnout issue is less of a problem with straight turnouts, but the moment you make them curved, it's a nightmare. And by the way, the interior radius at the points isn't 24" as advertised, but much sharper. To test that theory, I laid a Walthers turnout over the Fast Tracks template. Both are 24"/28"... but clearly, one isn't by a large margin.

Walthers VS Fast Tracks

So out of the window with the Walthers curved turnouts which are reliable with diesels of all kind and small steamers, but don't like large steam locomotives.

It seems the handlaid solution is the only way out. So I went to Fast Tracks and printed two templates. The first one was for a #10 28"/24". Following the advice of Chris Mears, I laid a flextrack over the diverging route and tested my large steamers. The IHC 2-10-2 didn't have issues, the Bachmann QJ 2-10-2's drivers binded a bit and the Bachmann USRA 2-10-2's speed slowed down by half while travelling the points due to serious binding. I also tested my BLI USRA Mikado 2-8-2 and it had no issues at all. So we can rule out the 24"/28" turnout.

A little bit tight, but IHC 2-10-2 can run over a 24"/28"

The next one was their #10 27"/30" curved turnout. I laid again my track over it and tested the locomotives again. As expected, the IHC performed well, it was flawless with the QJ and finally, the USRA 2-10-2 travelled the diverging route with flying colors! We have a solution... but will it works within the available space?

The USRA binding at the point of a 24"/28"

Well, theoritically, no... But, when you slightly adjust the connection angle between each turnouts, it do works. This is about a 1/4" variation over 15" long. I did some verification with the Walthers turnouts and it's not enough to induce a noticeable kink that could cause havoc later down the road. To be honest, this is well within the tolerance when laying tracks.

The revised yard throat... I'm happy with it, and my locos too!

Another nice thing is that I've also been able to greatly streamline and simplify the yard geometry to, which will make operation much easier. All in all, these turnouts issues wet me back of a few weeks, but at the end of the day, I'm closer to the goals I set for myself. Now, it's time to build custom turnouts.

GTW Tichy Emergency War Gondola

Some projects are so straightforward you completely forget about them for years. It was the case of my Tichy War Emergency gondola which I had almost completely assembled and even had purchased the correct GTW decals. The poor thing was forgotten in a cupboard for years until I stumbled upon it during the holidays... sometimes, cleaning up is a great thing!

I quickly assembled the car, then painted, lettered and weathered it... It was a mix of pre-weathering and post-weathering. I used a large derelict paint brush to drybrush the wooden texture on the sides. Easy, fast and efficient. This is something I tried on the NYC stock car and which, I think, gives that neat wooden appearance without overdoing the effect. I also used again AK Interactive wood wash to enhance the interior unpainted wood effect. It must be noted that I distressed the wood planks with a razor saw and coarse sandpaper prior to painting the car as I always do! At this point I was really glad... then a disaster happened.

One thing is sure, this car is criminally lightweight and will require a permanent load to compensate since its open underframe can't conceal more weight.

While searching for pictures of the car, I found out National Scale Car once produced a conversion mini-kit to replace the ends and brake gear. As it happens, GTW cars had different ends than the original design. As always, expect CN to always do things differently!

The problem is that mini-kit is no longer available. Maybe I'll find one on the used market if I dare to ask someone... Until then, I'll keep the car as is, even if it now bothers me to know it's quite non prototypical! The curse of knowing too much isn't it!

Anyway, let's move on... I've got several projects to complete on the workbench!

With a Little Help From My Friends

Today, Louis-Marie and I went to St-Stanislas, QC, to visit our good old friend Yvan Déry and pay a New Year visit. It was an occasion to chat and also see how he was doing with his layout updates. Yvan models the North Shore section of National Transcontinental between Donnacona and Rivière-du-Milieu circa 1948, including Hervey-Junction, Garneau and several rural towns along the line.

Yvan is currently redoing the main line and junctions at his Garneau yard after years of tweaking old #4 and #5 turnouts. As he said to me a few weeks ago, he wanted to upgrade the trackage with code 83 track and #6 electrofrog turnouts. So we decided to give him some help to turn what could be a nightmare into something much achievable.

At first glance, it was clear the old fiberboard roadbed had to go. It was in poor shape and uneven due to track and ballast removal. There was also an important vertical misalignment of about 1/8" between two different plywood sheets of different height. We managed to convince Yvan the best course of action was to start from scratch with a new roadbed and with a level plywood benchwork. His original plan was to work around the issue, but with three of us, the manpower required was assembled to tackle quickly and efficiently the challenge. It would make Yvan's life much easier when laying track later this winter. Fortunately, he had all the required material on hand and he agreed with out plan.

Louis-Marie removing old fiberboard

Removing the old fiberboard was the biggest challenge because we ran out quickly of fresh cutter blade, but by lunch time, it was all gone and Louis-Marie had managed to remove the vertical gap. Sure, the track would never be perfectly level in the area, but it was now so smooth that you can barely notice it if you don't use a long metal ruler to check it up.

While Louis-Marie worked on the benchwork, I was at the workbench fitting together the new turnouts. I had to shorten them so they could fit the existing trackwork that would be kept, including the small yard and the junction track. Yvan's original plan was to keep the yard turnouts intact, but we managed to replace one with a #6, which greatly improved the appearance and functionality.

The new mainline roadbed starting to take shape

By 2 P.M., the new fiberboard was in place and we started to draw the new track centerlines using the set of assembled Peco turnouts as a guide. To make sure Yvan would have all the correct alignments for his new track, we laid one strip of cork roadbed for the mainline. That way, he will only need to add the other roadbed using the same alignment.

At 3 P.M., we had reached the goals we had set for ourselves. From that point, it Yvan will lay the track by himself and it's clear the new mainline will look much better than the original one.

Finally, I stopped at BV Hobby on the return trip to get a few pre-owned cars I had seen a few days before and which will serve as starting point for future modelling project. Expect more flat cars, hoppers and reefers in the future!

Kitbashing a Walthers CN Russell Snow Plow

When I was younger, I purchased a Walthers Russell snow plow. It was in the late 1990s and immediately, it felt off to me because it didn't look at all like the shorter ones I used to see. I tinkered with it until it was the victim of an extensive kitbashing and weathering process that turned it into an almost exact replica of a plow stored in Clermont, QC. This project would later be the subject of several clinics and a book. However, when preparing my chapter, Scott Thornton requested more pictures to document a few steps, namely the peeling effect on the roof and the rust on the plow. I promptly acquired a second Russell plow and redid the weathering.

A general view of the modified plow

I didn't know what to do with that model later on but after a while, I decided I would simply replicate a real CN Russell in the brown paint scheme. I took mw a while to work on it, but by the end of last year, it was time to make it reality.

Improved details on the rear end

Several details were improved. I first added a wood texture to the roofwalk using a saw blade. Then, the stack was cored to look more realistic. Old molded grabirons were removed and new ones made of wire put in place. I also rebuilt the doors as wood panel ones like the prototype and added door sills.

A big challenge was adding the front coupler. This time, instead of using a plastic dummy coupler, I used a Kadee semi-scale one at the right height so it could be used in operation. Granted, it doesn't swivel, but I felt it looked much better that way. First, I made a small V-shaped platform from .25 mm sheet styrene then glued the couple on it with its "eyelet" cut to only leave the shank.

A scratchbuilt front coupler

Once dry, I used several styrene channels and shape to build the rest of the coupler box following prototype pictures of preserved CN Russell plows. The air line was made from a heat-formed styrene rod and the small loop over the coupler with a bit of styrene. I also added a photoetched eyelet on the plow "roof" just like the prototype.

After a partial coat of primer

The cupola got new wire grabirons, a Rapido 3-chime horn and a fully scratchbuilt headlight made from various diameter plastic sprues and a bracket made of an Evergreen inverted C-channel. For the sake of solidity, I didn't rely on a plastic bond but added a brass pin under the headlight so it could be fit to the roof.

A coat of faded mineral brown paint

The model was then primed and painted. At that point, I discovered that I had completely missed that CN plow wings didn't have the triangular sheet of metal at the bottom. They were wedge-shaped. So I cut these excess parts, which gave the plow a more prototypical appearance. I also added the window sills and retouched the paint.

Wings cut down and applying oil paint streaking effects

The model was then dullcoted and I started to highly the details with drybrushing. I added very subtle streaks on the sides and on the roof. Also added some chipping following a prototype picture. While my plow represent a real one seen in a 1961 Jim Parker photo that looks almost pristine, I did had some wear and tear on the metal just for the sake of realism, including the roof. The goal was that the model would look like a piece of steel and not some plastic toy. The doors got also some peeling paint effect but much subtler than my first CN plow. The roofwalk was treated with AK Wood Wash and some drybrushing to make it looks better.

Finished model

After a good coat of gloss varnish, I lettered the model with Black Cat decals as best as I could. They were later sealed and then different oil paint washes were applied. I kept it subtle because I just wanted that rain streaking effect I could see on the prototype pictures.

When done, some Panpastel powders were used to touch up the trucks and dusty areas. Window glazing was added and voilà, I had a prototypical CN Russell snow plow in its original paint scheme circa 1961 ready to sit on a siding on Monk Subdivision!