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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 20, 2024 7:57:52 GMT -8
This Branchline Berwick boxcar kit appears to be from the late-1990s or early-2000s with an old-school orange discount hobby shop price tag: "Regular price $14.98 OUR PRICE $13.50." Kit is very well designed and produced including well-written instructions, a good box, Bachmann EZ-mate knuckle couplers, metal wheels, separate metal grabs, Accurail trucks, large nuts for weight, separate roof and several parts trees. Body style and mid-1990s era CP Rail paint and lettering appear to be prototypically accurate. Atlas does produce this car in RTR but not with the same beautiful red and prototype fonts used on the original Branchline version. Dan Cortopassi on May 21, 2023 posted a video showing his approach to building this same kit. Follow along my relaxed journey with daily updates to completion.
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Post by cpr4200 on Sept 20, 2024 10:57:47 GMT -8
Weren't these secondhand? Ex-MPA? I have a couple of these to do for BAR and MEC. CP Rail version is too late for my period.
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Post by drsvelte on Sept 20, 2024 13:12:56 GMT -8
Cool! Looking forward to this thread - I enjoyed following your cabeese-build awhile back. I have three unbuilt Berwicks. This might be the impetus to build one along side of you.
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Post by hudsonyard on Sept 20, 2024 14:12:15 GMT -8
25+ years or so onward these kits still hold up, replacing some of the grabs with more durable parts and some nicer draft gear and its as good as anything you'll get RTR now.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 20, 2024 14:15:36 GMT -8
Recommended aftermarket parts: your favourite 33" wheels Moloco DG-0414 draft gear Kadee 158 couplers 2.5 ounces worth of stick-on weights Plano 128-4 etched metal boxcar end platforms DA 2206 eye bolts or similar tichy .0125 wire Recommended tools, materials and supplies: ACC and applicator various hobby grade paintbrushes weathering paint and chalk, rust and grimy black red and black touch-up paint flat black spray paint and dullcote green painter masking tape tiny needlenose pliers and sidecutters tiny screwdrivers for draft gear and truck installation pin vice with tiny drill bits tweezers files X-Acto knife optivisor prototype photos good digital camera and a photo hosting account to demonstrate your own approach to us!
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Post by simulatortrain on Sept 20, 2024 18:03:41 GMT -8
Weren't these secondhand? Ex-MPA? I have a couple of these to do for BAR and MEC. CP Rail version is too late for my period. I can't say with certainty that this was one of them, but there were new CPAA Berwick cars. I painted an Atlas one a nice chocolately brown, but I'm probably going to have to do custom decals. |
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Post by cpr4200 on Sept 20, 2024 18:05:32 GMT -8
^^^ I remember seeing black ex-MPA's lettered CPAA in yellow, 1982-ish?
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 21, 2024 4:57:51 GMT -8
Let's start with the most important photos of none other than the box!
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Post by Christian on Sept 21, 2024 6:37:15 GMT -8
Pet peeve: X-ActoNext we will discuss ALCO, ALCo, Alco. |
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 21, 2024 6:43:08 GMT -8
^ Thanks Christian, lists have been updated.
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Post by drsvelte on Sept 21, 2024 7:59:13 GMT -8
Easy to mixup X-Acto and  which are very good blades, too. |
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Post by peoriaman on Sept 21, 2024 8:43:00 GMT -8
25+ years or so onward these kits still hold up, replacing some of the grabs with more durable parts and some nicer draft gear and its as good as anything you'll get RTR now. Very much so. They were nice kits to build. I built a bunch years ago but never added any additional detail. They still have vintage Kadee No. 5s! Curiously the remaining unbuilt kits I had languished on Ebay for months before they eventually sold, at what I thought was a reasonable Buy It Now price of $15 if I remember right. I guess the market just wasn't interested in kits any more.  |
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Post by drolsen on Sept 21, 2024 9:09:05 GMT -8
Weren't these secondhand? Ex-MPA? I have a couple of these to do for BAR and MEC. CP Rail version is too late for my period. Railcar Photos says that the car number on this kit was originally built for Columbus and Greenville (CAGY). CAGY series 22200-22399 built in Jan-Feb 1979 by Berwick, Lot 38700, and went to CP 211000-211100, then to CPAA 211000-211100. This really was a great model for its time and still holds up well. Some of the early paint schemes weren’t great - I recall the Railbox version looking a bit too bright, almost fluorescent. The kits are very easy to assemble. The two big nuts that served as weights were always kind of funny to see in the box. The only shortcoming of the kit was that these cars almost all had drop grab irons on the sides, rather than the straight grabs that came with the kit. Mike Rose shared his design for a simple bending jig to fix that shortly after the kits first appeared. Dave |
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Post by GP40P-2 on Sept 21, 2024 9:19:58 GMT -8
Weren't these secondhand? Ex-MPA? I have a couple of these to do for BAR and MEC. CP Rail version is too late for my period. Railcar Photos says that the car number on this kit was originally built for Columbus and Greenville (CAGY). CAGY series 22200-22399 built in Jan-Feb 1979 by Berwick, Lot 38700, and went to CP 211000-211100, then to CPAA 211000-211100. This really was a great model for its time and still holds up well. Some of the early paint schemes weren’t great - I recall the Railbox version looking a bit too bright, almost fluorescent. The kits are very easy to assemble. The two big nuts that served as weights were always kind of funny to see in the box. The only shortcoming of the kit was that these cars almost all had drop grab irons on the sides, rather than the straight grabs that came with the kit. Mike Rose shared his design for a simple bending jig to fix that shortly after the kits first appeared. Dave As of a month or two ago, Mike Rose still had the how-to for those bending jigs on his web site MR Hobby. |
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Post by wagnersteve on Sept 21, 2024 9:27:38 GMT -8
9/21/24, starting about 1:25 p.m.
I, for one, still enjoy kits, particuarly nicely decorated ones, since I have no place at home where I can do much painting of models. I have a large stash of Branchline kits and some others and still look forward to assembling them.
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Post by oldmuley on Sept 21, 2024 14:52:50 GMT -8
These Branchline cars built up into some nice models, and could be had for a really nice price. They make up a sizable percentage of my fleet.
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Post by markfj on Sept 21, 2024 16:07:22 GMT -8
Railcar Photos says that the car number on this kit was originally built for Columbus and Greenville (CAGY). CAGY series 22200-22399 built in Jan-Feb 1979 by Berwick, Lot 38700, and went to CP 211000-211100, then to CPAA 211000-211100. This really was a great model for its time and still holds up well. Some of the early paint schemes weren’t great - I recall the Railbox version looking a bit too bright, almost fluorescent. The kits are very easy to assemble. The two big nuts that served as weights were always kind of funny to see in the box. The only shortcoming of the kit was that these cars almost all had drop grab irons on the sides, rather than the straight grabs that came with the kit. Mike Rose shared his design for a simple bending jig to fix that shortly after the kits first appeared. Dave As of a month or two ago, Mike Rose still had the how-to for those bending jigs on his web site MR Hobby. Here is the link if anyone is interested: Drop Grabs for the Branchline Berwick and Athearn Sieco Boxcars-Mike RoseI bend the kit supplied grabirons by holding them in a pair of pliers and bending the ends with a small peice of 1/2" metal barstock. You need to use something robust to bend the grabs as the metal is surprisingly strong. I suppose you could anneal them first, but they bend just as well without that extra effort.    Not sure what else you can do with these kits other than modify the grabirons and maybe replace the crosswalk with a photo etched one. I have had many hours of enjoyment working on these kits and still have a stockpile of unassembled ones to last me until I kick the bucket. Too bad kits fell out of favor in the hobby, these Branchline one were a very high benchmark for their time. Mark J. Reading, PA |
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 22, 2024 5:28:13 GMT -8
Decision was made to start with the larger items that I felt needed black paint. Dan skipped some of these sorts of finer steps of modelling on this project since he was trying to demonstrate the ease of simple kit builds while on vacation. IMO this red underframe and the shiny black trucks are toylike and unprototypical, so they'll be masked off for painting. Note I also decided not to use the cast-on coupler boxes so those have already been removed from the underframe shown here.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 22, 2024 14:33:42 GMT -8
Ah yes much better. I realize painting and spray booths are not always practical so this work can be seasonal for some. I did as much of the spraying as possible while the weather outside was suitable. No matter how you do it though, doesn't a painted underframe look better than factory?
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 23, 2024 6:51:14 GMT -8
Back at the bench while the larger stuff dries outside, start CAREFULLY removing all the smaller bits from the parts trees. All of these bits are fragile and deserve thought about how to remove and clean them in a way that minimizes parts stress.
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Post by riogrande on Sept 23, 2024 8:50:42 GMT -8
A sprue nipper would aid in separating parts from the parts trees. I found mine very helpful when working on Proto2000 and Intermountain kits.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 24, 2024 6:28:02 GMT -8
This is the finicky and tedious stuff, don't be in a hurry when doing this.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 24, 2024 9:00:26 GMT -8
I chose to follow Dan's lead and spray the end platforms and factory side grabs before installing them.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 24, 2024 11:36:43 GMT -8
OK everything is dry, removed from trees and organized.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 25, 2024 5:08:43 GMT -8
Here is the A-end after detail installation. I find you need to be in the right mood to do this type of work. Drill for new draft gear mounting screw at this time.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 25, 2024 8:30:39 GMT -8
Here's everything left at this point. Removing brake gear from parts tree is tricky work, best done with hobby knife rather than sprue nippers IMO.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 25, 2024 15:49:27 GMT -8
Closer look at the underframe and brake gear all cleaned, painted and dry.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 26, 2024 6:34:38 GMT -8
B-end needs a bit of extra attention like reaming out the tiny fulcrum mounting holes and accounting for brake chain when preparing B-end platform. Also, don't worry about minor paint defects visible with these close-up photos. All are being addressed in due course.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 26, 2024 11:59:38 GMT -8
Lovely old-school underframe detail on this old kit along with placement of truck and draft gear mounting screws.
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Post by sd40dash2 on Sept 27, 2024 4:41:18 GMT -8
OK time for dullcote, best done outside, spray can version makes this fast.
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