CN Proto 52' 6" gondola
#1
I just found this in a hobby shop yesterday for a very good price. However ALWAYS check the contents of the box:

   

Totally wrong era. Argh!
Fortunately, after checking my decal stash:
     

I can backdate it to my era of late fifties/early sixties.
 My plan is to weather it very dirty and press it into tie hauling service.
It's soaking in a bath of 90% isopropyl alcohol right now.
Reply
#2
That looks like the Proto gondola.  When Proto came out with their r-t-r cars, the kit versions languished on hobbyshop shelves until the owners put them on sale.

I never used the detail parts of the Proto kits (grabirons and sill steps), and got 10 or so kits for a couple of bucks each.  I also stocked up on their tank car kits, too, at similar prices.  My Proto gondolas mostly ended-up as home road cars, with 1938 BLT. dates...

   

....perhaps a little bit early, but that's one of the luxuries of freelancing.

Wayne
Reply
#3
Yes it is a Proto Gon, Wayne. This will be my 4th one built.  Now that I've got a slightly larger layout under construction, I'm a bit more comfortable using longer cars.
I don't recall the kits sitting on shelves for long periods of time around here, but they can still be found at swap meets (If we ever get those again) 
It took about an hour in Iso. Alcohol to strip the paint, another hour to assemble the kit.
   

I did have to open up the mounting holes just a bit so the grabs and stirups mounted a bit easier.
   

Last thing I did last night was to spray the primer. it will take a couple days before it cures enough to airbrush the oxide red color coat.
While I'm painting, I figured I may as well paint another project that I picked up a few years ago.

   

I got this depressed center flat at an estate sale for only 6$. I'm stripping it down as well except that the entire body is metal and the paint is pretty thick. It's been soaking overnight and about a 1/3 of the paint is still on. I'm letting it dry out so I can got at it with a dental pick.
Reply
#4
That flatcar has some pretty good detail for an all-metal car, and that was a good bargain, too.

Wayne
Reply
#5
Yes it was. I have managed to get the paint off the flatcar. there was a bit of detail that revealed itself when the thick factory paint came off. It has since been primered and repainted like the gondola:

   

I like to use a freight car red oxide as it's a bit lighter than Boxcar red. 
This evening I re-lettered the gondola
   

The CDS dry transfers must have been pretty old as they were a bit of a bear to apply, requiring multiple burnishing until the entire decal was transfered. some of the smaller transfers didn't turn out very well but the flaws will be covered with the weathering job. 

I still have to decal the depressed flat (I hope it cheers up soon). But looking at the trucks has given me a small dilemma.
     

The truck that it came with were heavy duty (possibly 100 ton?) Trucks but with roller bearings. With my layout set in the late fifties, would Friction bearing be more appropriate? Or should I use either of these Trucks:
   
Reply
#6
(09-24-2021, 11:09 PM)cnrglen Wrote: ...The truck that it came with were heavy duty (possibly 100 ton?) Trucks but with roller bearings. With my layout set in the late fifties, would Friction bearing be more appropriate? Or should I use either of these Trucks:

Well Glen, archbar trucks were banned from interchange after July 1, 1940.  On the other hand, Timken introduced the first roller bearing trucks for freight cars on a Wheeling & Lake Erie boxcar, in 1923. 

A not-too-quick search showed what I think is an early roller bearing truck, but it's not identified at all, and I can't copy the photo.  Whereas a solid-bearing truck has flip-up covers to allow for periodic lubrication, this one has round, bolted-on covers instead, which don't look like they rotate like current-day ones do...they're simply covers to keep out dirt and moisture, and with no need for the frequent maintenance of solid bearings.

Were it my flatcar, I'd put a pair of Dalman 2-level trucks (Tahoe Model Works) under that car and call it good-enough, although it's very likely that those roller bearing trucks which were on the car could have been available in the '50s, especially for cars in special service.

Wayne
Reply
#7
Thanks Wayne. I took a second look at the original Trucks and I think that they will do for me after all. I have used the Tichy arch bars on a wood rotary snowplow project as it would have been a vintage non-revenue piece of equipment and there was no real reason to change out those trucks.

I made a bit of progress on the gon tonight.
   

I weathered and installed the floor. It's a bit stark yet but that will change when I add an overspray of Polly-s dirt to tie the weathering colors together. So far it has a base coor of Krylon Paver gray, followed by drybrushings of a couple different gray acrylics. I used a very fine micron pen to mark the individual boards.  Finally I drybrushed some oxide red to show the remnants of the original paint that was worn off by different loads over the years.
Before snapping the floor into place, I gave the inside walls of the gondola a light spray of Polly-s rust.
Reply
#8
I finished off the gondola. I wanted to weather it fairly heavily so I went a slightly unconventional route. I found a similar technique on you tube that I followed.
   

I first gave the entire outside of the car a spray of grimey black. Not enough to cover completely but a decent overspray. at the same time I painted the trucks (less wheelsets) in the same grimey black.

     

Then I started to scrub the grimey black back off using a q-tip and Walthers Solvaset. I had tried this on a test piece using isopropyl alcohol but I found that the alcohol worked slower and turned the undercoat of dulcoat a milky white. For some reason I have 5-6 bottles of solvaset to I decided to try that instead.

     

It took a while but I liked how it turned out. the grimey black stayed in the corners and rivet lines where the q-tip couldn't reach and the rest of the car still had various levels of staining in the paint.
     

After that I sprayed the wheelsets rust and added the trucks onto the car. I gave the car and the trucks a very light spray of Polly-s dirt in some areas and called it done

     

I was going to decal the depressed flat but I needed to give it a second coat of oxide red. More on that soon.
Reply
#9
Very nice work!

Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
Reply
#10
That's an interesting technique, Glen, and some good-looking results.

I used cardstock to make paint masks for weathering freight cars, and labelled them to ensure that I used the proper one for each particular type and maker of car...

   

[attachment=37113]

   

..and some results...

   

   


...while these were used for random weathering of details on many car-types and brands...

   

   

This one, made with sheet styrene, works on pretty-well any rolling stock or locomotive to create the effect of wheel-spray on the car's ends...

   

   

...like this...

   

Your technique is certainly better for creating the grime under the top chord of that gondola, where rain is unlikely to remove it, and alongside the upright bracing, too, as it allows you to remove, or leave, the amount of weathering that you want.

Wayne
Reply
#11
I like that idea, Wayne. I think I'd have to go with the non-specific Specific masks since my rolling stock is so varied that I'd only use one of your train miniature masks once or twice.
Reply
#12
Yeah, I don't use the masks all that much anymore, but have them for several different makes and lengths of freight car models, as they're simply a quick way to add some weathering.

Wayne
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)