SP 24864 (Part 1) - Kitbashing B-50-10 from Accurail 40ft Boxcar

In my previous blog post "Modeling SP B-50-series Boxcars (Part 3) - Plastic Options for B-50-8, -10, & -11" we looked at what options are for modeling early SP outside braced, single-sheathed boxcars with the Accurail 4100-series kits.

The SP 24864 at the end of this blog, one of SP's older B-50-10 class boxcars.

For this kitbash, I'm starting with an Accurail 40ft out-side braced, wood-door, wood-end boxcar. 

SP ordered 1000 cars in B-50-8 split between SP and T&NO Lines.    There were 1900 cars built between B-50-10 and B-50-11 classes in 1916.

Accurail 4100-series kit as the starting point for this SP B-50-8 class car, shown with T-section trucks.

B-50-8 - Standard Steel Car Co. 1913 - Murphy roof, Barber T-Section Trucks
    SP 24250-24749 (500 cars) - Only 8 remaining by 1950

    GH&SA 37860-38359 (500 cars) - All the T&NO cars were gone by 1950.

        Total 1000 cars

B-50-10 - Haskell & Barker Car Co. 1916 - Murphy XLA Flexible roof, Vulcan Trucks

    SP 24850-25839 (990 cars) - 67 with wood ends in 1950 including the B-50-11s, 52 rebuilt with steel ends without end-doors.

    CP 17682, 17741, 18252 (3 cars) - Replacement cars

    CP 18255, 18481, 18789 (3 cars) - Replacement cars, SP 18481 is still in service in 1950, looks like there are a total of 6 other 18000-series cars still in service.

    SP 18828, 24312, 24534 (3 cars) - Replacement cars

    PE 2525 (1 car)
        Totals 1000 cars

B-50-11 - Ralston Steel Car Co. 1916 - Murphy XLA Flexible roof, Vulcan Trucks

    SP 25840-26339 (500 cars) - See notes on B-50-10 above for 1950 ORER roster.

    NWP 2160-2259 (100 cars)

    T&NO 38760-39057 (298 cars)

    GH&SA 38210, 38371 (2 cars) - Replacement cars

           Totals 900 cars

Modeling a B-50-10

Before I just randomly grab a car number to letter the revenue car for I want to look at the roster data that I can check.

Late known conversions of B-50-8/10/11s to SPMW service.

    Last B-50-8 in 1952; SP 24361 - (other preceding cars converted during early 1940s during WWII.)
    B-50-10 in 1952; SP 25550, 25777, 25922 (B-50-11), 
    B-50-10 in 1953; SP 25663, 25632, 25759

Most showing in the 1956 SPMW Roster were converted before 1952 and only about 10% of the larger group of B-50-10/11 fleet were still in service in 1950 according to Thompson's analysis of the ORERs of the period.

The car that I've decided to model is a typical B-50-10.  I was forced to choose a "typical" car, based on what historical information I could gather from the 1950 ORER as to which cars were still in service.  The SP 24864 as of 1950, was one of 67 cars of the class still in service with wood ends.  The B-50-10s used Vulcan trucks, so for this project I'll need to get a new Kadee set of Vulcans.  For now I'll use a spare set of Accurail AAR U-section trucks under the car.

Due to the B-50-10s down to only 3 cars by 1952 which were the last of the class converted to SPMW service, I'm going to model the 24864, which in 1950 was the lowest numebred car still in service.  As the SP seemed to be planning that all of the B-50-10s would be out of service before the end of K-brakes in interchange service in 1953, I'll be modeling the 24864 with spare OMM F-50-series K-brake set.

Pre-Weathering

The car has basically been painted with Star Brand SP/UP Freight Car Red.

Prisma Pencil mark weathering started on right side

Mostly the boards are pre-weathered like the ATSF 129782, with grays and various brown shades.

Prisma Pencil weathering started on left side.

One one side I went with a long board that has shed its paint, while most of the rest of the paint damage on the boards is scattered around.  

I then started doing additional weathering into the wood grain detail of the Accurail car with Apple Barrel Khaki, Territorial Beige, & Pavement acrylic paint washes.  High gloss clear coat is applied to the body before decaling.

Mixing Decals

SP & bar decals from MicroScale 87-911, see comments below.

MicroScale 87-911 is useful on B-50-13/14 class cars for SP, T&NO, PE, and SPdeM, however the set is for a mix of eras that aren't too helpful for this set outside of the capacity data, railroad initials and heralds that fit between the Z-bracing.  Todd Osterburg has been working on artwork for SPMW boxcars cars, I've been reviewing samples of his work, so am using some bits from that set, such as the car number here.

Partially applied decals. Tare data and repack locations are repainted with Zinc Chromate color paint.

I purposely cut away the last three digits from LD LMT and LT WT lines, which will be replaced with newly applied stencil weights.

Mixing More Weathering & Decals

This is one of the cars which I experimented with Salt-Mask Weathering (Part 1) on the roof.  I started with an undecorated Accurail 4100-series boxcar kit.

Accurail undec 4100-series boxcar, painted SP/UP FCR with MW Gray roof (galvanized).

The car was painted Star Brand SP/UP FCR and MW Gray roof to simulate the galvanized panels.

Wet salt-mask.

Water applied to the roof, and salt sprinkled on to form the mask.

Dried salt-mask

Once the salt-mask is dried, I can knock off areas of excessive salt pile to reduce the masked areas.

Painted and scrubbed clean.

The salt-mask is painted with freight car color or roof color and allowed to dry for a day or so.  Then soaked in water and scrubbed off with an old tooth brush.

Additional roof weathering.

I applied some dust weathering along the stepped edges of the roof and over the top of the salt-weathered roof.  This car ended up with much more subtle salt-weathering.  A running board was then attached to the supports in the roof.  A quick pass with dust and a wash of dark gray/black to accent between the running boards.  Then I came back with a piece of scrap plastic 1x4 dipped in dirt colored paint to apply the dirt/mud boot prints along the roof.

Final pre-weathering on left side of car.

These two shots show the car with the most of my weathering applied now.  The car still needs the dimensional and class data applied below the herald.  The weight and dimensional data decals are coming from 87-911 decal set as well.  The tare data and repack stencil are OwlMtModels F-50-series Era-D set.

Final pre-weathering on right side of car.

I decided to put white/light dirt color stains along the floor of the car, leaking out under the sideboards and around the door lock.  This car will probably be regularly assigned to rough freight, which on the Owenyo Branch can include bulk-hand loaded soapstone blocks.  Bagged goods off the SPNG probably would have required boxcars of B-rating, which wouldn't have exposed nail heads or other damaged interior, which could tear the bags.

Backdating the Brakes

AB Brakes removed from Accurail UF, new (old) OMM K-Brake and rod installed.

The spare K-brake that I'm applying to the SP 24864 came from my building of other OwlMtModels F-50-flatcars result in spare AB or K-Brake depending on which brakes are used on the flatcar.  The Accurail mounting pad for the brake cylinder works well for the OMM brake cylinder.  An additional brace will need to be fabricated to support the reservoir end of the K-brake.

In Part 2, I'll be adding some brake lever and rod details to the underframe.

In Closing

Here's the car as it stands at the end of this part.

I still need to apply the end number decals.  I may choose to do some clerk chalk marks. Once all the underbody work is finished, I'll be installing the brake staff and wheel.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

ATSF 129782 Weathering with Prisma Pencils & Acrylics

Modeling SP B-50-series Boxcars (Part 3) - Plastic Options for B-50-8, -10, & -11

Modeling SP B-50-12 class from Tichy USRA Boxcar

Modeling B-50-13 & B-50-14 classes with Accurail Boxcars

Salt-Mask Weathering (Part 1) - First experimenting with salt-masking for roof galvanized weathering.