Freight and Passenger Car Modeling4 Comments

No. 87: ACL O-17 Ventilated Box Car Modeling

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The Sunshine Models ACL O-17 ventilated box car project is complete.  This post wraps up construction and finishing of the model.  The Sunshine model, released in the early 1990s, represents the ACL O-17, 36-foot, 40-ton ventilated box car from ACL series 17000-18999 and 19000-19175.  2,175 cars built in 1922-23 by ACL at seven different company shops.  The O-17s were all wood with a steel underframe, wood ends with two Wine Co. Ventilators on each end, and two doors on each side (one solid and one screen).  The cars had wood running boards, KC-schedule brakes and a staff brake wheel.  Trucks … Continue reading No. 87: ACL O-17 Ventilated Box Car Modeling

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling7 Comments

No. 86: C&O 300-class Rebuilt Covered Hopper

Golden1014

C&O had a few small classes of covered hoppers, rebuilt from coal hoppers, that I have always wanted to model.  I finished my HO scale model of a C&O 300-class rebuild covered hopper this week and wanted to write a post to wrap up that project. The original cars were two-bay coal hoppers that were delivered in 1937 to C&O by General American, C&O series 118000-118999.  C&O rebuilt 50 cars with new peaked roofs, rebuild interiors, and new hoppers and gates in 1937.  The new cars were called “Dry Bulk” cars and were assigned numbers 300-349.  C&O rebuilt them again in 1951.  … Continue reading No. 86: C&O 300-class Rebuilt Covered Hopper

Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums1 Comment

No. 85: 40 Minutes at Einsiedlerhof

Golden1014

The following post doesn’t have anything to do with modeling. We threw a big birthday party for one of my daughters on Friday night, and it was a lot of work, so yesterday morning–after dropping the birthday girl off at volleyball team practice–my wife gave me a kitchen pass to “chase trains” for a while.  It was a beautiful, cool, clear, sunny day so I went out to a few places nearby to take some pictures. The first place I went was Otterbach, a nearby town that has a little museum set up in a retired interlocking tower.  Apparently there … Continue reading No. 85: 40 Minutes at Einsiedlerhof

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, Modeling Projects6 Comments

No. 84: Weathering Models with an Artist’s Oil Wash

Golden1014

A couple of guys contacted me and asked how I weather models with the “black wash”.  I promised them a post to show how I do it.  In this post I am not suggesting this is The Only Way to apply this type of weathering, but it does work well if applied carefully. I apply a black wash on some models, especially single-sheathed and double-sheathed freight cars, to try and provide depth and a prototypical appearance.  Many real freight cars have black soot, dirt and grime collected in corners, between boards and other surfaces, and around fixtures.  This was especially true in the steam engine era.  But getting … Continue reading No. 84: Weathering Models with an Artist’s Oil Wash

Ackley, Iowa Layouts2 Comments

No. 83: Lighting Up – Lights on the Ackley Layout

Golden1014

The final light fixtures for the Ackley layout were installed last weekend. You may recall that the layout is built at sit-down height under a sloped ceiling.  I placed LED lights in a triangular-shaped valance and installed the fixture on the sloped wall above the layout.  Then I installed a 4-1/2-inch Masonite fascia in front of the valance to clean everything up.  I still want to paint the fascia green to match the rest of the layout fascia and will get to that as time permits. Looks like I’ve got a little bit of “mission creep” above the fascia on the valance … Continue reading No. 83: Lighting Up – Lights on the Ackley Layout

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, O Scale & Proto 482 Comments

No. 82: What’s in a Name?

Golden1014

Juliet said this about roses, meaning it doesn’t matter what you call roses…they’ll still be beautiful.  I could say the same thing about box cars.  They’re beautiful no matter what you call them. Maybe I should re-name this post What’s in a name Color? One of the most enjoyable things about modeling the late steam era is the wide variety of house cars–the different types and sizes of cars. Another thing to consider is the wide variety of car colors.  Getting the car color right is just as important as everything else and luckily the paints are out there that let us model color … Continue reading No. 82: What’s in a Name?

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, O Scale & Proto 485 Comments

No. 81: Progress on Freight Cars – Mar, 2018

Golden1014

My family and I spent the weekend in London at a high school swim meet.  The meet was held at the London 2012 Olympic pool, which was really neat, and we also spent a couple of days sightseeing in the city and elsewhere. My son photographed the sign above at a very deep subway (“Tube”) station in central London.  At one point we had to change trains and we had to take a winding staircase about 12 flights down to one of the deepest stations on the system.  Way down at the bottom there was this sign on the wall.  Pretty cool, eh?  Just wish I … Continue reading No. 81: Progress on Freight Cars – Mar, 2018

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling1 Comment

No. 80: Progress on Freight Cars – Feb, 2018

Golden1014

In preparation for this summer’s St. Louis RPM meet I decided to get ahead on a few lingering freight car projects.  I have about 12 models awaiting decals so I decided to get those finished up first, as well as putting finishing touches on a couple of other models. M&StL 24356 This is an old Sunshine models 1923 ARA Box Car kit that I built about 14 months ago.  I painted this car with Tru Color NYC freight car red and applied the decals that came with the original kit.  The decals were very difficult to apply over the door, and it took four … Continue reading No. 80: Progress on Freight Cars – Feb, 2018

Ackley, Iowa Layouts1 Comment

No. 79: Ackley Layout – South Side Scenery

Golden1014

Being broke from ski trips, swim team trips, car repairs and Christmas expenses, I tried to stay home in January to “decompress” and recover the bank account.  My son managed to get away for a week in Prague for a school event, but apart from that we spent a much-needed month at home. Photo Backdrops During January I got a lot of modeling work done.  One of the last great hurdles remaining on the Ackley layout is installation of photo backdrops.  Inspired by a photo sent by Jim DuFour, I printed off a number of photos and cut them out … Continue reading No. 79: Ackley Layout – South Side Scenery

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No. 78: The Crunden Martin Manufacturing Company

Golden1014

The Crunden Martin Manufacturing Company is a large, multi-warehouse complex on the corner of Gratiot Street at 1st and 2nd Streets near downtown St. Louis that still stands like the Acropolis along the Mississippi River. Crunden Martin forms the core of Chateau’s Landing, an industrial and restaurant district just south of the famous Gateway Arch.  Originally known as the Crunden-Martin Woodenware Company, the company moved to Chateau’s Landing in 1904.  The company made a huge variety of wood and wicker products; everything from mops to chairs to kitchen ware to buckets and a whole lot more, and expanded rapidly through … Continue reading No. 78: The Crunden Martin Manufacturing Company