Van, Caboose and Wood Chip Hopper

Its been awhile since my last post.   Summer has been very busy in our household and not much modelling has taken place.  I've been back at the bench for a couple of weeks now and have a few photos to share.

  First up is the MEC Cabosse 663 from my previous post.  I manged to put it together and get it weathered.  I used an Oil wash and Pan Pastels to achieve the look I was after.  I may still add a bit of road grime to the trucks with my Airbrush, but my paint booth is out of commission right now so that will have to wait.

  The trucks also need some attention.  The Gould Caboose trucks from Proto are nicely rendered; but the brake shoes included snap on poorly and they rub the wheel tread.  I need to decide if I'm going to remove them or try and trim them down so they don't rub.

Next up is CN Van 79150.  Its an offering by True Line Trains.  I replaced the plastic running board with one I made from wood.

 I used a technique of Trevor Marshall's, gluing wood strips (scale 1"x 6") onto  a 0.01" styrene base plate.  I then stained the boards with Hunterline stain.  This was followed by panting the entire running board assembly with flat black paint.  I sanded the boards to remove most of the paint, leaving a nice weathered look to the boards, but everything else remains black to blend with the roof.  This is the first time I attempted this technique and will be using it again.

 Weathering was a dirty brown oil wash on the body, with Pan Pastels on the trucks.  Full strength artists oils were dabbed along the bottom of the side with a tooth pick and pulled up the side with a dry brush to simulate dirt and road grime working its way up the tongue and groove siding.

The third car is a kitbash of a GTW Wood Chip Hopper.  I'll write more about the car history in a future post, after I get it painted and decaled.

 It started out life as a 70 Ton Accurail 3 bay offset side open hopper.  I scratch built the extensions from strip wood and styrene. Wire grabs, NBW's and a whole whack of Tichy rivets added hours of enjoyment building it.  I bent up some cut levers from phosphor bronze wire and added tow hook loops to match the prototype.  I even made up strengthening panels along the sill where the tow eye loops are attached.  These are fastened with rivets on the prototype, so more Tichy rivets here.

 Other details include a Kadde brake wheel, DA brake housing, chain and etched Brake Platform cut from a left over chunk of Apex style running board.  I think I'll add a Train line also.

 If anyone knows the function of the 3 pockets on the side of the wood chip extension, I would be interested in learning their purpose.  My best guess is they might be needed to accommodate some type of car unloading system.