Micro Trains & Accurail Grit N Grime photos, review, build

[sd40dash2]

Micro Trains and Accurail partnered in 2024 to produce a series of pre-weathered, printed HO scale freight car kits under the Grit N Grime marketing series. I don't recall seeing this weathering-print process used in HO before but MT has been using it in N scale for a few years. So far we've only seen hoppers in HO but boxcars will be coming in the near future as well. Accurail supplies everything except decoration on the roof and sides. Pricing, dates and other details for these models were discussed in more detail in this thread. The purpose of this new DAILY update thread is to focus specifically on the build as well as provide photos of many of the angles missing from marketing stock images. Relevant discussion is also welcome here!

This is how the kit appears when box is first opened. Custom foam liner does a very good job of keeping shell from sliding around and being scratched against other parts in the box. This may be one of the very last kits released in the traditional Accurail box we all know and love.

[nstophat]

Nov 5, 2024 20:29:18 GMT -8 sd40dash2 said:

Micro Trains and Accurail partnered in 2024 to produce a series of pre-weathered, printed HO scale freight car kits under the Grit N Grime marketing series. I don't recall seeing this weathering-print process used in HO before but MT has been using it in N scale for a few years. So far we've only seen hoppers in HO but boxcars will be coming in the near future as well. Accurail supplies everything except decoration on the roof and sides. Pricing, dates and other details for these models were discussed in more detail in this thread. The purpose of this new DAILY update thread is to focus specifically on the build as well as provide photos of many of the angles missing from marketing stock images. Relevant discussion is also welcome here!

This is how the kit appears when box is first opened. Custom foam liner does a very good job of keeping shell from sliding around and being scratched against other parts in the box. This may be one of the very last kits released in the traditional Accurail box we all know and love.

I have bought and built all of the cars MicroTrains / Accurail has shipped to this point. While they are still the Accurail shake in the box kits, it takes me about an hour and a half to build each one, as I clean up sprue connection points as well as add Kadee semi-scale couplers, HiTech Details rubber air hoses, Tangent Coupler cut bars and Tangent semi-scale wheels. All of the parts are pre-weathered, the car body is printed, and the sprues are weathered by a spray paint process. The spray paint process used on the sprues does leave some parts with un-weathered edges, in particular, the brake platforms and some edges of the brake rigging. I re-weather any offending edges, and then clear coat using Tamiya Clear Flat. The print process that MicroTrains uses leaves a slightly grainy texture to the surface, so the clear flat levels that out, without any color shift in the cars' appearance. Like I said, I have all of the cars that have been released and built all but 2 so far. I have the N&W / ex-VGN is process on the bench right now. I will get to the basement today and take some pix of what I have completed so far. And yes, Accurail has a new box, seems to be an eco-friendly design that uses less material, but is still sturdy. One other thing to note, is that both car sides have different weathering patterns on them, so someone did some serious research for each car they have produced.

[sd40dash2]

Very interesting factory printing on the roof and sides of the car using artwork developed from prototype photos available on rrpicturearchives. Amazing!

[nstophat]

Here are a few other of the Microtrains / Accurail offerings. The cars are "weathered" differently on both sides. My N&W, ex-VGN is still on the workbench, waiting for 33" Code 88 wheels, and MicroTrains is planning on releasing boxcars in the near future. 

UP #76029 - ACF 4,600 cf 3 Bay Covered Hopper:
20241106_141316 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr


20241106_141254 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr

CSX (ex L&N) #247177 - ACF 4,600 cf 3 Bay Covered Hopper

20241106_141123 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr

BN (ex-Frisco) #419321 - ACF 2,970 cf 2 Bay Covered Hopper

20241106_141602 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr

20241106_141410 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr

Southern #91849 - ACF 2,970 cf 2 Bay Covered Hopper
20241106_141201 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr

20241106_141231 by Russ Goodwin, on Flickr

Russ

[cera2254]

Do the ends have weathering as well?

[12bridge]

The printing reminds me of those ValueTrains cars..

...whatever happened to them...actually, nevermind.

[nstophat]

Nov 6, 2024 13:51:16 GMT -8 cera2254 said:

Do the ends have weathering as well?

Yes, the ends are weathered by spray process, not printed.

[sd40dash2]

This is everything you receive with the kit. The underframe, hatches, end sheets and details have been lightly airbrush weathered and factory dullcoted on their sprues.

[snootie3257]

The ladders look out of place. They look like they’re nearly new as opposed to the body that looks 30+.
Steve

[gevohogger]

Nov 7, 2024 6:22:16 GMT -8 snootie3257 said:

The ladders look out of place. They look like they’re nearly new as opposed to the body that looks 30+.
Steve

+2

The ladders, the end cages, the underside of the slope sheets, the "edges" of the car side and fillet on the lower side of the car all need to be touched up at least to some extent to try and match the car sides.  An easy task for anyone with some experience in weathering, since those areas are probably more forgiving than the car sides are.

[sd40dash2]

The ends received the same light airbrush weathering as the sprues at the factory. I wish MT would also show stock photos of the ends and underframe of the model and not just the roof and one side. I recommend that modellers be prepared to carefully add some weathering to all non-printed sections of the kit before assembling it.

[sd40dash2]

This is what the inside of the factory body shell looks like. There are many edges, corners, sides and areas underneath that were not given the weathered print. While that does not matter for areas like the interior of the sides and roof, arguably it does matter for all the ladders, grabs, underbody, end sheets and other details. The prototype does not just rust and get dirty on the roof and sides. Fellow modellers, please be prepared to add finishing touches by hand to complete this model.

[sd40dash2]

OK all parts have been carefully removed from their sprues and placed in the tray. I very carefully layered light coats of chalk rust and grimy black using a small brush. Chalks apply very well onto the factory dullcote. End sheets, underframe, body ends, trucks, wheels and various un-printed areas each needed different weathering approaches. All bagged details shown here will be weathered after installation.

[markfj]

Not a bad option for a fleet-builder or club-runner car. And let’s be honest, how many of us have the time, materials, and skills to do a weather job that good on a large number of cars?
However, the ladders look too straight and perfect for a used and abused car.
Mark J.

[sd40dash2]

Wheel kick-up spray, end rust streaks plus overall rust and grime make a significant difference. Given what we are spending to purchase these kits I think it's worth taking our time to do these extra steps prior to assembly. Micro Trains has done most of the hard work for us, we just need to take the kit to the finish line! Subject is darker than the photo shows.

[sd40dash2]

Here is an in-progress shot of the trucks, wheels and end sheets. More weathering will be layered onto the end sheets and truck sideframes. Don't worry about the crappy looking weathering at bottom of end sheets as those areas are mounts that will be shoved inside the underframe end sheets during assembly. Remember to also paint all wheel faces, insides and axles and lightly weather them afterwards. Prototype truck base colour appears to be grey, springs should be rust, trucks are 100 ton as correctly included in kit.

[cpr4200]

100-ton trucks should have 36" wheels. Do they?

[sd40dash2]

^ Good point, 33" wheels which IIRC is prototypical for these cars.

[sd40dash2]

Instruction steps 2 and 4 call for installation of two-part hopper outlet gates.

[cemr5396]

Nov 12, 2024 20:28:24 GMT -8 sd40dash2 said:

^ Good point, 33" wheels which IIRC is prototypical for these cars.

not if it's a 100 ton car (which I'm pretty sure ALL Center Flows were), it should be 36"

Accurail is notorious for just throwing 33" plastic wheels in all of their kits whether that's actually the right size or not. Most of the time I don't even bother taking them out of the little baggie they come in, I just throw them out and put Intermountain wheelsets in.

[Christian]

Nov 12, 2024 18:55:47 GMT -8 cpr4200 said:

100-ton trucks should have 36" wheels. Do they?

Here is a prototype photo of this car. Clearly larger than 33" wheels. Likely 36".

[gevohogger]

Wow, they really kind of embellished the rust a little, didn't they. Maybe more than a little.

[sd40dash2]

Thank you all. 36" it is.

[sd40dash2]

Nov 13, 2024 10:38:10 GMT -8 gevohogger said:

Wow, they really kind of embellished the rust a little, didn't they. Maybe more than a little.

No. The model matches online photos of the car as it appeared in 2019. The photo Christian posted was taken earlier.

[pabel]

Thanks for showing each step in photos. I like the upgrades you've made. Do you mind sharing the item numbers for the Tangent wheels and cut bars and the HiTech hoses?

[drsvelte]

Christian's photo is of a different version of an ACF hopper than the Accurail model.  It has 3300cf capacity compared to 2970/2980cf for the model.  It is also several feet longer.  A giveaway feature is the number of brackets under the roofwalk: 11 vs 9.  I'm pretty sure the Southern never rostered any of the smaller capacity hoppers.

Regardless, the Southern cars had plenty of rust!

[cpr4200]

Take note that the area under the slope sheets is much less weathered than the roof and sides.

[sd40dash2]

Step 5 calls for installation of triple valve into floor. The small piece of wire was added by me to address the connection from triple valve to train line. There is no brake cylinder for this model b/c the prototype has brake cylinders in the trucks.

[nsc39d8]

So SOU 91849 was built in the Southern group of 91800-92099 in 1976. 3300CF. The model depicts NS 91849 as Southern never used the SOU reporting marks at anytime these were only used after NS was formed
from the merger of Southern and Norfolk and Western. This car does have the standard air brake configuration of anACF covered hopper see this picture:

www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=130746

Air brake cylinder barely visible on the left side in the usual place. Further investigation on RR Fallen Flags and Southern Railman will show the same.

southern.railfan.net/images/archive/archives.html

Further this is NS class HCS40.

[cellis231]

Like others mentioned Micro-Trains nailed the amount of rust for a closer to present day version of this car.

Here's a link to the prototype car that shows both sides in 2015 and 2019.

rrpicturearchives.net/rsPicture.aspx?id=971744

My Son has this car and while pricey, this kind of printing is pretty cool to see in HO scale finally.