Post by runs2waynoka on Oct 4, 2015 8:21:33 GMT -8
I finally managed to get my Alkem DODX flat car painted and weathered. This is built from a kit that is composed of 3d printed acrylic parts and several sheets of flat brass etchings. You can see more about them on their website- www.alkemscalemodels.com
These are really nice kits, not really challenging to build, but I've not seen many photos of completed kits out there. I did most of the construction back in Feb over the course of a couple days I had to spend at my in-laws house. I ended up losing some of the parts for the panel where the handbrake mounts so I put it away until a few weeks ago when I got motivated to complete it.
Other than building a new handbrake recess out of .010 styrene, the only other deviations I made from the kit instructions involved shiming the Kadee coupler boxes to get them the proper height and I left out the mounting nut for attaching the trucks as it made them set to high. I screwed them directly into the holes in the frame, which seems to work fine. I used Athearn Genesis 100t trucks. I also decided to add the spanners.
I painted the car Testors flat red and used the decals provided with the kit. I'd recomend refering to prototype photos when decaling as the illustration in the kit instructions is not quite accurate, I screwed up the placement of couple decals trying to follow it. The red paint on the decks on these cars is worn down revealing the gray/white primer underneath, so I masked off the deck edges and brush painted a few coats of gray acyrlic over it, and then chipped off a few areas to reveal the original red paint with a toothpick. I think it might be too gray but since it will be loaded I think I'll leave it as is. The original deep red color of these cars has faded to a more dull pinkish color. I applied multiple washes of turpinoid thinned white oil paint to fade the car.
I'm modeling this prototype-
www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=3327
I've not made up my mind if I'll add the FRA stripes yet. It will also have a different load since my "woodland camo" painting skills are non-exsitant.
I'm working on getting the vehicle load built for it this week, when I get it done I'll post more photos.
Brad
