CN Single Sheated Boxcar
#1
I recently finished some projects which were on the shelf for some time.  Here is one of them.

A Sylvan Scale Models kit of CN 1929 Single Sheathed 40' Boxcar.  Here are some photos.

   

   

   

   

   

   
Guy from Southern Quebec.
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#2
Another nicely-done car, Guy. Applause Applause Applause

Wayne
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#3
Beautiful work!

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

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
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#4
Nice work, Guy. Nice square assembly and tidy paint and decaling. Now weather it!
Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio
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#5
(12-01-2021, 03:24 PM)Fluesheet Wrote: Nice work, Guy. Nice square assembly and tidy paint and decaling. Now weather it!

Thank you for the comment.  But if I ever weather a car, it will be an old Athearn BB kit first and the car shown in this post will be far in the list.

Sorry Wayne.
Guy from Southern Quebec.
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#6
(12-01-2021, 04:26 PM)CNR5103 Wrote: Thank you for the comment.  But if I ever weather a car, it will be an old Athearn BB kit first and the car shown in this post will be far in the list.

Sorry Wayne.

No need to apologise, Guy.  Weathering (or not) is up to the modeller, in my opinion anyway.  I likely don't have any non-weathered rolling stock, but I also don't have too many heavily-weathered ones, either.

Wayne
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#7
(12-01-2021, 04:37 PM)doctorwayne Wrote:
(12-01-2021, 04:26 PM)CNR5103 Wrote: Thank you for the comment.  But if I ever weather a car, it will be an old Athearn BB kit first and the car shown in this post will be far in the list.

Sorry Wayne.

No need to apologise, Guy.  Weathering (or not) is up to the modeller, in my opinion anyway.  I likely don't have any non-weathered rolling stock, but I also don't have too many heavily-weathered ones, either.

Wayne

I know pretty well how beautiful your weathered cars look.  I also have, somewhere in my computer, the descriptions you sent me sometime ago on how you perform the weathering on you cars.  I just wanted you to know that when I read about weathering, I am thinking about those emails we had.
Guy from Southern Quebec.
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#8
I think that if you eventually want to weather some cars, you're probably right to use some older cars, like Athearn or MDC when you start.  If they don't come out to your satisfaction, you can either strip the weathering  (and the paint, too, if you wish), then simply have another go at it.

Washes of thinned paint or even India ink can be pretty easy to use, especially if the paint or ink is well-diluted:  you do one application, then let it dry.  If it doesn't look much different than before you gave it the wash, you can add another application, and repeat until it looks good to your eyes.

Airbrush weathering is fairly easy, too, and again, if you start with well-thinned paints, you can do successive sprays to slowly get something that you'll hopefully find suitable.  A little trick I use when weathering some lettered cars is to place some small pieces of masking tape at appropriate locations, usually on the car's sides.  I then weather the car to a degree that I think suitable, then remove the tape.

Next, I apply the lettering (decals or dry transfers) which was intended for use with this car on the areas which had been covered in tape.  In this example, it's re-weigh data (depending on the era you're modelling, freight cars had to be re-weighed at intervals which varied:  the time span was every 30 months for most cars pre-1948, although steel open top cars and type "LO" covered hoppers continued to have to be re-weighed every 30 months well beyond 1948.
This latter requirement changed to every 48 months in 1962.
Wood and composite wood and steel freight cars required re-weighing 15 months after being built.

Here's the car, with the latest lettering applied...

   

The letters WC indicate a Santa Fe shop, which did the re-weigh, in January, 1937.  If this car had been in, f'rinstance, Montreal, at that time, a shop there could have done the re-weighing there, then sent a bill to the AT&SF.  The cost of the work was universal for all of North America,and at the end of every month, all of the railroads sent out and/or received bills or money for work done.
This included re-packing of wheel bearings and repairs, especially those safety appliances, such as stirrup steps, grabirons and ladders, running boards, doors and door hardware, etc., etc.  That small lettering on the black background near the right-end of the boxcar is re-pack data, but it's not as clean as the re-weigh data, so was likely done somewhere else at an earlier date.

Both the weathering and the small lettering give the car some "history"...it's not just been sitting somewhere out of the sun and the rain and snow and dirt, but has been going wherever it had been sent, time after time after time, occasionally getting re-weighed or its bearings repacked...maybe a minor repair or two....wire grabirons on model freight cars often lose paint when stored in their original box, or if handled too much...if you slap on a little paint, in a colour sorta like that of the car (it doesn't necessarily have to be an exact match, as boxcar red came in dozens of shades) you've given that car a little more history...somewhere in its travels, that grabiron got scraped or bent or broken right off, and that fresh paint on that one item is indicative of someone having fixed it.

The idea behind this was to keep the equipment, no matter who owned it or who fixed it, in good serviceable condition.

This Missouri Pacific boxcar is pretty filthy, but it's otherwise not in bad condition.  It's been recently re-weighed and repacked, both operations having been done at Dupo, an MP shop.  Even though it's lettered for "Automobiles", there are no outward indications that it's equipped to handle automobiles...it may have been re-purposed for other ladings...

   

This one is an Athearn car, re-worked to better match a photo of the real one....

   

...and the white stripe on the door indicates that the car is equipped for handling automobiles.  Under the car, almost hidden in the shadows, are the underfloor tubes for storing the chains used to tie-down the cars during transit.

I completely understand reticence about weathering...you spend your time and effort building the car properly, with added details and a great paint job and nice neat lettering...why on earth would you want to mess it up?
 
Eventually, you'll choose your answer to that question, one way or another.

Wayne
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#9
@ Guy

A very excellent work Applause Thumbsup

As for weathering, Frank Delano has made many photos of railroads in colour about 1941 - 1944:
https://www.shorpy.com/node/6969
https://www.shorpy.com/node/4758
These and many more photos on shorpy are a very excellent pattern of how rolling stock was lookalike then. And as a note; this was wartime, when cars were only minimal serviced. Washing the outside was not included with this servicing duties, only the absolute minimum was done to keep the car rolling.


Lutz
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#10
Thumbsup This is a great thread---not only for the outstanding modelling but also for the thorough and informative explanation on actual prototype practices used---adds a different interesting perspective to model railroading---thanks for all your efforts.
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#11
Well done on all counts. And very educational as well.
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