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Post by drsvelte on Jan 14, 2024 12:02:32 GMT -8
Well, its getting close to time to watch the National Champion women's basketball team, so I'll start todays SPF. AC&Y #2462 "Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass” (Blondie 1979)
Last spring, I eagerly awaited the latest release of Intermountain’s Pullman-Standard 50’ combination-door cushion-underframe boxcar. The model I purchased represented one of a series of 300 cars that Pullman-Standard built for the Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad in 1966 (Lot 9110). The prototype cars had Plate B dimensions, 4982cf of capacity, 7’ plug doors and 9’ sliding doors, and Keystone cushioning. They were built without roof walks and with low mounted brake appliances and ladders. Apparently, most were painted yellow but some were painted black.  Unfortunately, Intermountain’s model was manufactured with a number of aggravating flaws (see groups.io/g/MFCL/topic/99206854#9980 for details). The biggest problem is that the underframe does not fit the body floor correctly; in places it sits atop the floor stringers. This results in the carbody sitting too high. I had to cut the stringers back so the bolsters could fit flush against the floor. I also removed the Hydra-Cushion cylinder as the ACY boxcars had a Keystone cushioning system. The flared Intermountain draft gear pockets appear awkward and too long to me; I replaced them with Moloco’s PS cushioned draft gear set (DG-0413) with Kadee semi-scale couplers. The roof was also painted black, when it should have been galvanized streel. It was repainted with Tamiya’s Titanium Steel lacquer. After letting the model sit for a couple of months, I finally finished detailing which was pretty straightforward: Plano Apex pattern coupler crossovers (#128), Moloco Stanray cut levers (UL-0451) and rubber air hoses (HE-308). The car rides on Moloco’s 70-ton ASF Ride Control sideframes (TRK4) fitted with Tangent 33” wheels.(TSM-118). Intermountain’s model came with “as-built” lettering so I added a two-panel COTS stencil, an ACI label, and a yellow U-1 wheel dot to create a late-70’s look. Although there are a fair number of photos of ACY’s yellow combi boxcars, I could find only one of a black car. It was taken by Ron Hawkins in 1977 and showed a moderately worn car with an extremely rusty roof. To give the model an overall dull and grimy appearance, I first applied a leveling spray consisting of four parts Tamiya lacquer thinner, four parts Tamiya Clear Flat, one part Tamiya Khaki and one part Tamiya NATO black. This was followed by a dusty “wash” consisting of four parts Tamiya lacquer thinner, four parts Tamiya Clear Flat, one part Tamiya Khaki and one part Flat Earth that was sprayed around the side sill, doors, and ends.   The trucks were sprayed with Tamiya’s Rubber Black and the wheel faces and draft gear/couplers with Tamiya’s Dark Earth. I then drybrushed a combination of AKInteractive’s rust-colored pigments on the roof, couplers, cut levers, airhoses, and truck sideframe surfaces.  As an aside, to me the most striking aspect of this model is just how bulky and oversize the stiles on Intermountain’s ladders appear! Just another reason to check Tangent’s parts inventory as their ladders are top-shelf. |
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Post by TBird1958 on Jan 14, 2024 13:07:47 GMT -8
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Jan 14, 2024 13:09:19 GMT -8
Even a noncritical observer like I am did notice the ladders, drsvelte. On a 23" monitor, about 10 sizes over HO, they do look heavy.
Nice weathering
TBird, as always, nice stuff...brr, there's plenty of real snow here in SWMichigan...
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Post by hudsonyard on Jan 14, 2024 15:53:58 GMT -8
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Post by tom on Jan 14, 2024 16:25:22 GMT -8
Here is my 40' PC boxcar in a non-standard Penn Central paint scheme. The car is a ex-NYC 858B car made usinsg a Branchline 40' boxcar, new sidesills and a 50' Despatch 50' roof cut down to 40'. Car was painted with Scalecote PC green and lettered with Microscale decals. The running board and supports are from Plano.  |
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Post by surlyknuckle on Jan 15, 2024 8:33:28 GMT -8
More nice stuff to look at. I too, bought a couple of the Intermountain PS-1s from that release (C&O and DT&S). Some day, they will be upgraded much in a similar manner. For now, they're just two boxes in the "mountain" of boxes on the to-do shelf. Most of my hobby time lately has been scanning old slides, but work is progressing slowly on backdating, painting, and lettering Walthers 40' container chassis. On a personal note, I resigned from CSX after 15 years on 1-8-2023. On 1-9-2023, I got my seniority date with Amtrak. 349 days later, I marked up as an engineer on the extraboard and have been working a ton over the last few weeks. I am much happier now, and very grateful that I had the chance to apply. I wasn't really expecting it, but life at CSX had gotten so lousy over the last 6-7 years that I was wondering how I was going to make it another 25 years to age 60. The other day, I had my camera in my bag and shot train 92, the northbound Silver Star arriving at Raleigh NC on 1-11-2024. Here I would swap with the inbound engineer. Nothing like a clean heritage unit to brighten your day! Kinda sorry to say, some electrical gremlins made the engine #161 an absolute dog of an engine. I hope it gets fixed, sure is nice to look at. Hope everyone has had a good new year. Here's to a 2024 full of great trains. See you at Springfield   I'm a Lucky Guy... by Freight Engineer, on Flickr |
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Post by csxt8400 on Jan 15, 2024 11:31:15 GMT -8
A couple days ago I was surprised to see sun, and being I had just spent the better part of two days finishing this up, I wanted to get some outdoor lighting on it. Of course it's STILL not done, but the major work is and all that will be needed is a little airbrush dust around the ends, some placard holders, and sealant. I held back on the severity of the weathering as a personal choice, but really like the feel.  |
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Post by ChessieFan1978 on Jan 15, 2024 15:48:37 GMT -8
A couple days ago I was surprised to see sun, and being I had just spent the better part of two days finishing this up, I wanted to get some outdoor lighting on it. Of course it's STILL not done, but the major work is and all that will be needed is a little airbrush dust around the ends, some placard holders, and sealant. I held back on the severity of the weathering as a personal choice, but really like the feel. Tangent ? |
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Post by grabirons on Jan 15, 2024 16:20:02 GMT -8
I've built about 5 proto 2000, 8000 gallon tank car timer saver kits over the last month, a little at a time. Let me just say, it takes more than an hour to build even one of those kits. However, the 4427 hopper time savers pretty much fall into place as all the grabs, and brake components are installed. I have some of these to build as well, it helps to pass the time in the winter. I pretty much build these stock except the couplers get replaced by kadee whiskers and high tech rubber air hoses. The couplers get their pins removed, then the cars are repacked into their original boxes with bubble wrap and paper towel, as I currently have no layout.
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Post by csxt8400 on Jan 15, 2024 16:36:44 GMT -8
Sorry for not mentioning. Tangent, yes indeed.
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Post by drsvelte on Jan 15, 2024 17:41:50 GMT -8
Nice subtle weathering; rust along the stakes especially.  |
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Post by champagnetrail on Jan 15, 2024 17:53:47 GMT -8
As to the Intermountain 50' PS-1 boxes, the cushion coupler pockets appear to stick out too far, but they aren't too bad for cars that actually had P-S Hydroframe 60 cushioning. IIRC, that would mean the striker would stick out 30 inches on each end.
-pat
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Post by hudsonyard on Jan 15, 2024 20:13:16 GMT -8
I've built about 5 proto 2000, 8000 gallon tank car timer saver kits over the last month, a little at a time. Let me just say, it takes more than an hour to build even one of those kits. However, the 4427 hopper time savers pretty much fall into place as all the grabs, and brake components are installed. I have some of these to build as well, it helps to pass the time in the winter. I pretty much build these stock except the couplers get replaced by kadee whiskers and high tech rubber air hoses. The couplers get their pins removed, then the cars are repacked into their original boxes with bubble wrap and paper towel, as I currently have no layout.
I've always thought the 4427 kits fall right together, even the older, non "timesaver" ones. They are a great kit to give to an intermediate modeler to hone some skills.
I am also in the cars packed away when completed camp, it's gonna be a couple years before I have a layout space for what I want to do, so right now its about getting the fleet up together. Maybe I'll even get around to breaking the seal on weathering these things too.
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Jan 16, 2024 4:15:10 GMT -8
As an aside, to me the most striking aspect of this model is just how bulky and oversize the stiles on Intermountain’s ladders appear! Just another reason to check Tangent’s parts inventory as their ladders are top-shelf. Chunkylicious. I'm still hoping Tangent will offer 50' PS boxcars in styles Kadee hasn't done -- double and combination door cars spring to mind. I love lumber operations so I'd be down for these. |
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Post by riogrande on Jan 16, 2024 5:40:31 GMT -8
As an aside, to me the most striking aspect of this model is just how bulky and oversize the stiles on Intermountain’s ladders appear! Just another reason to check Tangent’s parts inventory as their ladders are top-shelf. Chunkylicious. I'm still hoping Tangent will offer 50' PS boxcars in styles Kadee hasn't done -- double and combination door cars spring to mind. I love lumber operations so I'd be down for these. Same here! |
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Post by michaele on Jan 16, 2024 7:21:08 GMT -8
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Post by TBird1958 on Jan 16, 2024 7:55:45 GMT -8
As to the Intermountain 50' PS-1 boxes, the cushion coupler pockets appear to stick out too far, but they aren't too bad for cars that actually had P-S Hydroframe 60 cushioning. IIRC, that would mean the striker would stick out 30 inches on each end. -pat They could have been really nice models but Intermountain just cobbed them together rather poorly, as built, at least the draft gear was quite large and had a very odd cut bar set upas this shot shows.  I got reasonably close with this Milwaukee car after a lot of work on the underframe. Unfortunately, the paint on it isn't correct either so I have to mask and shoot some black at mine.  |
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Post by Mr. Trainiac on Jan 16, 2024 8:51:50 GMT -8
Sorry I'm late to the party this week. I had a lot going on. Jägerndorfer ÖBB Rh 4746 Triebzug for the S80 line in Vienna on the S-Bahn. These MUs are used not only for the local S-Bahn service in Austria, but also for regional service between cities. Extra signboards were included to change the route, but they are too small for me to fool with for all three vehicles so I'm keeping this one in Vienna an the S-80 line. Fully lit, many sounds, and a station stop function with the ESU sound file. I still have to overwrite the Jägerndorfer file, but I'm not in that big of a hurry. These wagons are all electrically connected through an 8-pin connector and is a bit cumbersome to remove and replace on the track in one piece. That's a pretty awesome model. I was on vacation in Vienna a few years ago and almost bought a Cityjet at Spielwaren Carl Hilpert, but I ended up getting a Railjet instead. I had to import the rest of the set through Reynaulds once I got back to the US. |
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Post by michaele on Jan 16, 2024 9:01:47 GMT -8
That store, the oldest in Vienna has now closed permanently. That's unfortunate as it was regarded as a landmark in Vienna.
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Post by csxt8400 on Jan 16, 2024 16:50:46 GMT -8
Thanks drsvelte, rib detail/definition is one of those things that has stuck in me like a trident. It must be done!
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Post by patch job on Jan 22, 2024 20:44:40 GMT -8
A couple days ago I was surprised to see sun, and being I had just spent the better part of two days finishing this up, I wanted to get some outdoor lighting on it. Of course it's STILL not done, but the major work is and all that will be needed is a little airbrush dust around the ends, some placard holders, and sealant. I held back on the severity of the weathering as a personal choice, but really like the feel. I know you said you aren't quite done but I think this car is OUTSTANDING. You captured the look that I consider applies to the bulk of modern cars. Throw in some brand new cars and some rust buckets, along with tons of cars like the model above, and you'll have one killer looking model railroad...in my opinion. I see you still have to hit that main beam but man this thing just does it for me. |
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Post by csxt8400 on Jan 24, 2024 8:12:53 GMT -8
A couple days ago I was surprised to see sun, and being I had just spent the better part of two days finishing this up, I wanted to get some outdoor lighting on it. Of course it's STILL not done, but the major work is and all that will be needed is a little airbrush dust around the ends, some placard holders, and sealant. I held back on the severity of the weathering as a personal choice, but really like the feel. I know you said you aren't quite done but I think this car is OUTSTANDING. You captured the look that I consider applies to the bulk of modern cars. Throw in some brand new cars and some rust buckets, along with tons of cars like the model above, and you'll have one killer looking model railroad...in my opinion. I see you still have to hit that main beam but man this thing just does it for me. Thanks for the comment, man. I like to think it turned out as you said, a fitting general look that draws good attention but also blends well. |
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