SP Supply Trains (Part 6) - SPMW 2681 - Repaint & Decal

During the 1997-1998 time frame I built was my original model of SPMW 2681, this was one of my first SPMW cars.  I used a couple of single frames from SP's 'This Is My Railroad' film from 1947 as my prototype reference.  Some minor changes were made as I added grab-ladders to the left of the side doors and stirrups on both sides of the car.  This grab-ladder was typical of MW and Supply Cars so crews could easily access the cars without a platform when distributing materials and supplies along the right-of-way.

Fresh from rebuild, from a full shopping and repaint after 20+ years of service!

Unfortunately, after hand-applying all the SUPPLY CAR decals from the Micro-Scale alphabet sets, the 18-ish year old me didn't moderate the weathering on the car.  Sooo, I've not liked that the reporting marks were overly covered.  Also, the FCR color that I used back then was Floquil Boxcar Brown, which wasn't really red enough for SP's FCR.

My original appearance of SPMW 2681 for over 20 years.

I knew it was time to repaint this car, as for a long time as operators were always complaining about the car number being unreadable, often getting the wrong number on the switchlists as a result.  So, just like the prototype, when you can't see the car number anymore, it's time to fix that with a new coat of paint!

SPMW 2681 Supply Car.  It took several frames to see the whole car number in the few second clip. - Screen shot from the film SP TIMR'46.

The car started as a basic Accurail 40ft single-sheath boxcar with pressed steel ends.  Technically the B-50-10 starting point, probably should still have wood ends, but that would be a bigger rebuild at this point than I'm willing to do, so the car will re-enter service as a stand-in model.   If I ever come up with a simple conversion to make the steel-end Accurail cars like this more accurate, then I'll haul the car into the shop again for another rebuild... hopefully, sooner than another 20 years!

So, Time For a New Coat of Paint!

Alcohol Scrub

Left side after scrubbing off old decals.

I started by washing the car sides with rubbing alcohol and an old tooth brush.  As the decals never really were seated down well enough with smooth paint and MicroSol in the original application... I think I dull-coated the car too soon.  It needed a few more applications of the MicroSol to fully snug down, but I didn't do it.  So this allowed the alcohol under the decals at this point to remove them.

Right side after scrubbing off old decals.

A few parts of the decals around the reporting marks stuck better and were being difficult.  So I used the tip of my carbide scribe to help rub the decals off the rough board details.  The heralds were snugged too well between the ribs, so I decided to leave that alone.

SP FCR Paint

Left side after airbrushing body with fresh coat of SP Freight Car Red paint.

The Star Brand paint went on well, despite the cold wet weather we've been getting in winter of 2023.  Each part of the car was given a light coat from two or three directions to get an even coat.

Right side after a coat of new SP FCR.

I pondered not painting the roof again, but I went ahead and did the whole body.  The prototype car in the 1947 company film was showing the car being completely repainted and in the shot with the crew loading the car for Supply Train service, shows it freshly painted with some over-spray on the stenciling.  So I'll be trying to finish this car as a shop fresh painted car.  The 1956 Roster shows the 2681 was retired from revenue service in May 1943, so for the 1947 film, they could very well have been using the footage from 1943.

Decals

Right side with "SUPPLY CAR" decal cut, lined up and in place.

The Star Brand paint went on smooth enough to apply the PDC.ca decals directly over the paint without an additional gloss coat.

Left side after applying the SUPPLY CAR decal

I tried to match the prototype car's placement of the SUPPLY CAR lettering first.  As the prototype is a B-50-10, and the Accurail model's missing a few of the double diagonal side braces at the ends, this was a bit tricky.  But it's nice to be able to follow the board details and line the decals up horizontally to them.

Reporting Marks & Data Decals

All the decals applied to the car's left side.

The prototype car doesn't have LD LMT stencils applied, as it's not needed for company service.  I went ahead and put on the tare date stencil for 5-43 out of Sacramento General Shops, as I think that's where the car was shown being loaded for Supply service.  It is debatable if they would have bothered with this on company service cars.  However, many MW cars have no other weight data stencils other than the LT WT tare weight.

Right side fully applied decals.

I also added the car assignment stencil for SAC GEN STORES above the tare date.  At the far right end I also added the standard repack data stencil.  So this wraps up all of the basic side lettering for an SP Supply Car.

End Decals

A-End reporting mark decals applied.

I went ahead and cut out the end reporting marks in four pieces.  I believe that many of the SPMW cars put the MW ahead of the number on the second line.

B-End reporting mark decals applied.

Technically, a B-50-10 class car should have wooden ends.  In Anthony Thompson's book no B-50-10/11s were shown with replacement steel ends, so I really should have wooden ends more like my model of SP 24864, but even those aren't quite right as the SP included diagonal end braces on the outer sections of the ends.  As this car is a stand-in, I'm not too worried about it.

In Closing

Right side

Back on the layout for some photos.  My SPMW 2681 was originally planned to fit into my 1946 SPMW SUPPLY TRAIN consist, which I covered in Part 1, which was 9 cars and a caboose.

Right B-end view

I don't really plan to weather this car much this time.  I like that the car looks like the one in the movie film.  The trucks and underframe have enough weathering to be suitable for a car in service within a few months of a fresh paint job.

Left side

I tend to think that the SP didn't allow the Supply Cars to get into that bad of a worn out condition, as the cars were still used in regular freight trains to move the supplies around the system.  So it's good to see the car ready to go back into Supply Train service.  

Left A-End view

Coming up next post in this series, will be a breakdown of Ken Harrison's new book, which has a page in the Appendix covering the 1945 Supply Train Consist out of LA!  Boy, will it be a big breakdown - 25 cars long!  I look forward to finishing that post and seeing you there.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Modeling an SP Supply Train (Part 1) - Overview

Modeling SP Supply Train (Part 2) - Caboose

Modeling SP Supply Trains (Part 3) - Boxcars

Modeling SP Supply Trains (Part 4) - SPMW 2452 Ready Flat - Shop Car

SP Supply Train (Part 5) - SPMW 229 Supply Flat Car with Side Boards

SPMW 161 - Supply Flat - Sacramento General Stores Department