HOn3 cars for TrainNut

[nachoman]

I have one of those old-fashioned dads that used to tell me to "buckle down and get it done". That is where I am with these cars. Just a few things left to do, and they will be off my workbench.

I am targeting a late 1940s look for these cars. TrainNut likes the "flying Rio Grande herald", and that did not get painted on narrow gauge cars until about 1940. But, by the early 1950, the Rio Grande was abandoning much narrow gauge trackage and scrapping locomotives. TrainNut has a K-27 2-8-2 model, and those locos were gone by the mid-1950s. I figure a few cars still had the old herald in the late 1940s, and I decided to paint 3254 using the old herald. (The reality is, if I wanted to do all three cars using the new herald, I would have had to buy another decal set just for a few data boxes ) Having a few cars with the old herald provides nice variety, though .

By he late 1940s, these cars were already 45 years old, and 25 years since their last major rebuilding. The wood was showing wear and the paint was peeling and fading. Having a completely unweathered Rio Grande narrow gauge boxcar just doesn't look right. I weathered the car to try and give that "streaked" look that comes about when the individual boards take paint slightly differently. If you look at the prototypes, it seems paint sticks better to some boards than others (same goes with my dad's deck ) The other two cars aren't far behind.