Westerfield SP B-50-2 (Part 3) - Paint, Decals, & Weathering

SPMW 2257 after first coat of paint and first pass at decalling.

Time to wrap up the build on the SPMW 2257 Ready Boxcar for the Jawbone Branch.  In this post I'll be finishing up the car, details, painting, decals, & weathering to get the car ready for service.

Painting & Roof "Salt Mask" Weathering

The roof was first painted with a light gray "galvanizing" color.

Experimenting with prepping "Salt Masking" with 70% alcohol this time instead of water.

Roof wetting with alcohol, no salt yet.

Alcohol and salt applied.

Side of SPMW 2257 painted SP FCR with unpainted Andrews trucks.

The car is painted over-all SP FCR to match a car that was repainted after 1931, dropping the black ends and roof.

SP FCR painted over salt, then soaked and brushed off.

I used an old toothbrush and a small plastic bowl of water in the sink to soak and scrub off the painted salt crystal mask from the roof.

Roof is overcoated with Apple Barrel Khaki.

The roof is weathered and toned down a bit with 'dust' applied from this car being assigned to the high-desert and general southern California area.  Now that the roof itself is weathered, I'll be applying the running boards and laterals, which I may pre-paint and weather to avoid damaging the roof weathering that is completed.

Replacement Details

I decided to upgrade this model with Harriman Standard detail parts, which turn out to be the same as used on OwlMtModels' F-50-5 class cars.  The resin roping staples didn't drill out cleanly, so they will have to be replaced by OMM 1010 Roping Staples.  While I was at it, instead of fabricating stirrups, I'm using OMM 1011 Stirrup Steps & Brake Wheel on this car.

Roping staple applied.

Stirrups applied along with roping staple.

Underside of the car with OMM 1010 and 1011 brass castings installed.

Decals

I'm testing some new SPMW decals in development with Todd Osterburg on the SPMW 2257.  So some of these decals will be adjusted, possibly even removed and redone on this model.

SPMW 2257 with experimental safety warnings applied... think they're too small.

The B-50-1/2/3/4/5s seem to have used the smaller SP heralds after their very large route slogan heralds were done away with.  However, in the 1930s some early B-50s were shown to be painted with the large basic heralds, so I'm going to put the large version on this model.  The photo of the car with this herald in Thompson Vol 4, is pretty heavily weathered by the 1940s when the photo was taken, so I'll feel pretty comfortable doing some heavier weathering over the herald.

The safety warnings on the door seem to be too small in this version of the decal artwork.  Hopefully, I'll be replacing them with the corrected decals soon!

A-end lettering SPMW 2257 applied to left corner to clear of end-door guides.

Hmmm, I seem to have forgotten to installed the endsill grab irons.  I'm also missed the lower later rung grabs on the side.  So those will be added, and the lower side details will be touched up with SP FCR before weathering happens.

End Details

I'm planning to make the newer MW numbers "restencilled" over a 'fresh patch' of FCR paint, while I weather the rest of the car side around the reporting marks, as this car was retired to MW service in 1940, about 10-15 years before my modeling era.  I may use the solid reporting marks for "SP" on the other side to simulate the left over reporting marks, with only the MW 2257 and weights patching over the revenue lettering and car number.

Getting SPMW 2257 painted, detailed and finished up.

Tichy handbrake platform installed on the B-end of the car.  Next will come the vertical staff hand brake and soldering the OMM brake wheel onto the top.

In Closing

Wrapping up this post for now.

I'll be updating some of the decals with newer versions of the artwork.  Also the car still needs to have all the brake rigging fabricated and installed.  The hand brake staff and brake wheel will be installed at the very end of construction and painting.  The roof walk still needs to be painted and installed as well.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Westerfield SP B-50-2 (Part 1) - SPMW 2257 Ready Boxcar

Westerfield SP B-50-2 (Part 2) - Finishing the Body & Roof

Modeling SP 32451 (Part 1) - Sunshine B-50-15 Resin Kit

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