Modeling MoPac "Eagle River" Pullman 6-6-4 (Part 4) - The Blue and the Gray... (Again)

So we're restarting the painting on the 'Eagle River' again this time... I didn't like my custom mixed colors from Part 3 of this blog series.  

My first attempts at mixing my own "Eagle Gray" and "Eagle Blue"... and too light of "MoPac Gray."

And less than 48 hours after I shot the blue onto the model in the previous post... I found that Tru-Color makes the right MoPac colors that I was having the most trouble with mixing myself.  (Sigh) So we try it again!  Hopefully this will be the last time for this model!

Intrusive Thoughts...

I don't know why, but every time I see the 'Eagle River' like this... I think it's a B&O car?!  

Walthers B&O 'Centabella', a Pullman HW 8-1-2 Sleeper.

Maybe I should see what the 'Grand Canyon' looks like with a wondering B&O sleeper in the consist with the MoPac 6-6-4 and Shadowlined Santa Fe cars next to it... they might clash.

MoPac Eagle and B&O Pullman together in Saint Louis Union Station MO Circa 1957 Postcard AB22 - Ebay photo, ended auction

Or maybe I do know, after researching and finding this photo before I started my "Eagle River" 6-6-4 project... I wonder if the MoPac E-unit here is really fading that much, or if the "Eagle Blue" really was that light in color...

Underbodies are Black...

Well, back to the modeling at hand!

Time to paint and mask the underbody black before we get started!

I painted the interior sides of the skirts, the underframe, etc Engine Black... and I can weather it down later with washes, etc.  As most of this stuff is already hidden behind the skirts, I don't mind that it will mostly be a unseen black silhouette.

Masking the interior and roof openings.

Sadly, I found out later that I missed a few spots... so I'll have to touch up the interior where some blue misted into the interior.  Ooops.

Carsides are masked off along with the roof.

I probably should have taken more time to put down a layer of masking tape across the actual top of the interior... and the small windows at both ends... but I didn't bother this time.

... Carsides are Eagle Gray...

Remasked body and repainted the 'Eagle Gray' from Tru-Color.

I painted the whole carside with the 'Eagle Gray' as I wanted to tone down how dark and saturated the "Eagle Blue" will be.

Remasked body and repainted the 'Eagle Gray' from Tru-Color.

So I made sure to get a good coat on the window band and on the skirting, with a medium coverage on the letterboard and lower side panels, which will be repainted blue again shortly.

Masked off the "Eagle Gray" and ready for the "Eagle Blue".

The Tru-Color, like my experience with StarBrand in warm weather dries quickly and I'm able to mask over it without any issues.  Tamyia tape again does the honors of not pulling up the new painted areas.

Masked off the "Eagle Gray" and ready for the "Eagle Blue".

I again didn't try to put the masking right up against the Trim Molding, but allowed the edge of the paint color to land 'somewhere' in the middle of the molding.  This will be dealt with later, after I get the base colors down.

... And then the Blue...

The other change I'm making this time is that I noticed "The Eagle" cars post-1948 had the blue letterboard all the way up to the roofline, with the Yellow stripe immediately below the edge of the roof.  Where as the as-built photos show the "MoPac Gray" coming about 4" down the side of the car, with the yellow stripe crossing the upper berth windows on the 6-6-4 and going across the door, below the door's drip rail.  Later scheme cars had the yellow stripe completely above the door as well.  So I'm painting the entire letterboard blue this time around!

Left side of the Eagle River, with "Eagle Blue" stripes applied.

I went ahead and shot all the "Eagle Blue" areas of the car.  This took a few passes to get good consistent coverage and a nice sheen on the paint.  

Right side of the Eagle River, with "Eagle Blue" stripes applied.

I'd rather do multiple passes than get the paint on too thick in one or two passes.

... And the Trucks...

The black (dark gray) trucks show the contrast to the "Eagle Gray" skirting.

Why not start reassembly... Here's the trucks and she's back on her own wheels! 

Some of the underbody equipment covers extend below the skirting, but are still painted "Eagle Gray".

The only parts of the underframe that are really visible are the generator and the water tank hanging down, and both are mounted on the car's centerline, very far away from the light.

... And the Roof...

Left side of the completed colors on the car.

I remixed my 'roof color' which is my 'best guess' at what "MoPac Gray" is.  It came from a mix of SP Lark Gray, and some MoPac Hopper Gray.  I was actually surprised how much Lark Gray was needed to darken it enough to be darker than the "Eagle Gray" on the window bands and skirting.

Right side of the completed colors on the car.

I suppose the roof and end gray could be darker... but I can leave that for when I do some light weathering to those parts of the car, which will tend to darken them somewhat with soot and road grime between the cars, which doesn't get cleaned by the automatic car washers.

In Closing

The completed colors, showing the end of the car as well.

I believe this color mix will work... the various photos of "MoPac Gray" that I've seen, especially when compared to the "Eagle Gray", doesn't seem to be that much darker... more the difference in not being 'cream colored', but maybe even a hint of blue, which I noticed in the "MoPac Hopper Gray" from Tru-Color.  However, the Hopper Gray was FAR too light in color to be used on the roof and ends of the car.

The other side showing the new colors off... the car looks weird without the Aluminum and Yellow stripes!

Next up will be the Aluminum Trim Molding, and the "Eagle Yellow" stripes at the roof line and lower trim molding with Black pinstripes above the upper stripe and below the lower stripe.  I'm still debating if I want to mask and spray the Gloss Aluminum, like I used on the Santa Fe Shadowline cars... or if I want to use something else... I'm thinking I'll use the Gloss Alumium, as it turned out really well on the Santa Fe cars so far.

Here's the bottles of Tru-Color that I used on this car, it's easy to see how much too light the MP "Hopper Gray" is compared to the "Eagle Gray", when I added the paint dots to the top of the bottles.

The "Eagle Yellow" will also have to be masked and shot on the lower stripe for sure... and I'll probably just do the same for the upper stripe.  I am considering shooting an undercoat of either straight "White" or maybe the "DRGW MOW Gray" first, which should give a consistent light color undercoat for the new "Eagle Yellow" color.  I'm still a bit surprised how much more orange-tan the "Eagle Yellow" actually is, but it does fit with this color pallet very nicely and compliments it more than one would first think.

I'm also looking into decal options for this car... so more on that hunt later!

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

I've done a number of Walthers 6-6-4 sleepers, as well as other arrangements of their cars.  Here's the two recent ones that I've been working on...

Santa Fe's 6-6-4  "Surprise Valley" in Shadowline scheme

SFE "Surprise Valley" Pullman 6-6-4 Shadowline Sleeper (Part 1) - Painting & Decaling Right Side

Starting my long-time planned project to make a Shadowline 6-6-4.

SFE "Surprise Valley" Pullman 6-6-4 Shadowline Sleeper (Part 2) - Decaling Left Side & Reassembly - 

Continuing the Shadowline 6-6-4 project with more decaling!

MoPac's 6-6-4 "Eagle River" in The Eagle scheme

Modeling MoPac "Eagle River" Pullman 6-6-4 (Part 1) - Research and Fluting - Starting into my MoPac 6-6-4 project.

Modeling MoPac "Eagle River" Pullman 6-6-4 (Part 2) - Finish Molding & Masking - Getting the 'Eagle River' ready for paint!

Modeling MoPac "Eagle River" Pullman 6-6-4 (Part 3) - Painting, Or Not? - Like with all good investigations, before the painting... It's best to color-sand the witness!  Also I had to finish the lower trim molding before painting.

Modeling MoPac "Eagle River" Pullman 6-6-4 (Part 4) - The Blue and the Gray... (Again) - I didn't like my custom mixed colors and I found that Tru-Color makes the right MoPac colors that I was having the most trouble with mixing myself.  So we try it again!

Santa Fe Waycars (Part 2) - Steam Era 500 and 2201-class cars

Back in June 2017, I posted Santa Fe Waycars (Part 1) of this blog series focusing on the Athearn "Blue Box" Santa Fe Waycars (aka Cabooses, but Santa Fe called them 'waycars' not 'cabooses' for over 100 years) and the 1300-series wooden Walthers Waycars.

Class One Model Work's ATSF 2232 and 506, as they appear out-of-the-box.

Now in June 2026, I've picked up a couple sample Santa Fe Waycars from the new Class One Model Works 500 and 2201-series Waycars.  Class One still has more of these on their website at this time of posting...  Also of note, these two models are my first experience from Class One, and I have no affiliation with Class One Model Works.  So this will be my unboxing and first thoughts of the models as Part 2 of this series.

Nice box for these cars.

End view of the boxes of these models.  Working markers... you don't say!  No info as to exactly the era each model is supposed to be modeled as... but we'll get into that later.

The box is nicely finished in glossy cardboard, with magnetic front flap.

Ok, now I get to have trains in their own crates!  It is certainly an interesting asthetic to put on the model's boxes themselves.

The flap opens to reveal a basic drawing of the Santa Fe Waycar, and a window to the model itself.

I rather like the idea of including the magnet flap 'locking' feature, as this will keep the box from getting damaged by the flap getting caught accidentally.

ATSF 506 Waycar inside it's plastic packaging and included magnetic wand.

The car is well protected in the soft plastic wrapper, and the locking hard plastic support material.  Carefully open the end flap at the top left in this photo, and lift the top structure away from the car and the plastic wrapping over it. 

Class One's included 'Magnetic Wand' for switching on and off the electric marker lanterns on these waycars.

The magnetic wand is fit into the packaging below the model for safe keeping. 

Here's a short video clip showing the function of the magnetic wand on the marker lanterns.  Enjoy!

It would be possible to take the wand with you while running the waycar if you want to turn the markers off while clear of the main track, which was correct for the rules, circa 1951 that I've seen.

Hidden behind the car inside the box is a one-page data sheet.

This is the data sheet for the 500-class models.  Much of this information is also located on their websites for these cars.  As noted, these cars were built in 1949 and used peaked-roof panels, instead of the previously arched roofs on the earlier steel waycar classes.

The reverse side of the data sheet, with instructions for turning on the marker lights.

One car I ordered is the ATSF 506 and the other car is the ATSF 2232.  Both cars are very nice, I'm impressed by the weight of the model, probably designed to help the contact with the rails to run the lighting systems in the car.   I happened to get cars that had repack and stencil dates for the 1960s. 

Lighted Markers

The track power is needed to charge the marker light capacitors.

Both cars I ordered are the "Wig-Wag" versions.  This version is unique because it has the signaling semaphores on each end of the cupolas and yellow lens in the corner marker lanterns. 

The markers are standard ATSF yellow-yellow-red format, which is correct for my interests on Tehachapi Pass per SP ETT instruction, I'm not sure what the Santa Fe's system-wide standard was.

I'm also very impressed with the length of time the illumination of the markers on these cars lasts.  It seems to last about 5 minutes, although I've not timed the decay time.

Top & Bottom

ATSF 506's roof with corner grab irons on the cupola corners and standard square form roof walks.

Both models have the correct peaked metal roofs, typical of boxcars built during the 1949 era.  Despite the data-sheet's saying these cars were built with wooden roof walks, I believe all cars in the USA built after 1940 were to have metal roof walks, so this 500-class has standard square pattern, which iirc was Apex-type.

ATSF 506's underbody details.

The cars have the correct double brakewheel setup for the underbody rigging for AB-schedule brakes, per 1949 constructed cars.  The Triple-Valve is located on a pedestal, beside one of the tool boxes.  This is a nice touch, as the Athearn BB models I've worked with before, rendered the Triple-Valve between the tool boxes (also those models came with only one box).   Also these cars have see-through mesh on the end steps, which is a nice touch.

ATSF 2232's roof details, including full cupola handrail.

The 2201-class car has Morton roof walk pattern, which have the signature holes for that form of roof walk.  The 2201-class cars also have the full cupola handrails around them, which shows another attention to detail that is different between these two series of cars.

ATSF 2232's underbody details.

The underside of the 2201-class car is basically the same as the 500-class.  I should mention that these cars also have air hoses, and cut levers installed, plus the Kadee-stype knuckle couplers are pre-mounted and do not have magnetic uncoupling pins included.  There are screws retaining the coupler box lids, which is very nice to see.

'Thumb-side' pockets and openings modeled in the coupler, also notice no magnetic uncoupling pin on these cars.

Upon closer inspection of the couplers, I noticed that these Kadee-5 sized couplers (aka full 'over' sized for H0-scale) have the cast in pockets and holes that I've only seen modeled on the Kadee-58-series couplers before, which are smaller head couplers.  So it's nice to see a company outside of Kadee that is catching this little detail.

So... What's the Catch?

So far, I'm very impressed with these models in general...

ATSF 506's side view, tare dates for 7-64.

Unfortunately, as a result both models have the four reflective Santa Fe cross-heralds which post-date my era by at nearly 10 years, not being applied until 1959 according to my information.  The ATSF 506 in this respect is probably the better of the two cars, as the crosses were applied after 1959, and the car's tare info is correct for this... plus it has the fully white handrails and curved boarding rails.

ATSF 2232's side view, 4-22-53 tare date on the repacking data.

However, I haven't seen any pictures of the models on their website that doesn't have these reflective heralds on them.  The ATSF 2232 truly runs afoul of this with it's 4-53 repacking date, which must be updated every 4 months!  It has Mineral Red grabs, which should either be black or freshly painted white per 1953 tare date.  The 1959 crosses are definitely wrong and have to go ASAP.  I may decide to backdate this car to black handrails.

Backdating

ATSF 2232 before reworking.

I went to both models with my fiberglass brush, which allows me to gently scratch away the unwanted lettering and pad printing from models. In this case, removing the crosses from circa 1959, to backdate the waycars to my 1949-1953 era.

Here's the ATSF 2232 being 'de-crossed', this one is about half gone.

I first went after the ATSF 2232, as it was the worst offender with it's 1953 tare date, but 1959 crosses.

One of the end crosses coming off.

The trickier part was removing the crosses from next to the curved handrails.  I mostly used the fiberglass brush, but finished the last line or two that wouldn't clean up with the tip of my Xacto-blade lightly scratching with the blade at roughly 90-100 degrees, so slightly trailing the blade across the offending bit of yellow pad-print ink on the model.

Here's the mostly de-crossed ATSF 506.

The ATSF 506 was next on the de-crossing list... it didn't last long.  About 15 minutes and both cars were backdated.  A few more strokes and I took off the "AG 7-64" repainting stencil from the 506 as well.  I took off the bottom line of repacking stencil too, I'll replace that with a correct era one soon.

In Closing

ATSF 506 de-crossed and with the 1960s repack and repaint stencils removed.

These cars do have very nice rendition of the window screens in the lower windows, which could be opened for ventilation.

Here's the ATSF 2232 'de-crossed' and backdated to 1953-ish, I still need to decide what to do about the grab color... black or white.

So, I was really hoping one of these models with the "Wig-Wags" which were signatures of the early version would be for proper as-built 1949-1953 era version for the models.  This means I've had to take the heralds off and back-date the later era tare dates to match my era.  Not the worst problem, but slightly annoying for a 'prototype correct' models in the over $100 range.  For those modelers circa 1960+ shouldn't have a problem with these cars out-of-the-box, but I didn't think the 'Wig-wags' went that late... which was superseded by the "-R" Radio equipped cars for the post-1960 version until the 1970's conversion to the all-red CE-series rebuild of these cars.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Santa Fe Waycars (Part 1) - Steam Era Athearn and Walthers Models - my post from 2017 on kitbashing Athearn and Walthers models for service.

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 5) - Completing Shadowlines

This project has spanned four blog posts already.  In this Part 5 post, I'm going to finish up the last bit of decaling and a few of the other details that I'm looking at doing.

Left side with new window shades.

This is mostly just a 'catch up' due to the delay in completing the right side decaling because I needed to wait for another set of decals to arrive.  This model uses all "dense" aka 'lower' stripe sets from the MicroScale 87-1243 decal set.

Also I plan to make some upper window sashes for the kitchen windows and apply them to match the prototype photo of the car's left side.

Window Shades

While I was waiting for the decals to show up, I used some of the spare paper-card stock that I sprayed with Gloss Aluminum to make the window shades, cutting the paper and using Tamiya masking tape.

Window Shades added to match photo in San Diego from 1948.

I'm considering making my window shades with a difference shade of silver.  I'm currently leaning towards Light Gun Metal, which should be more like a graphite-metallic gray color.

Close up of the pulled window shades in the rear half of the dining section.

I'm still considering if I want to replace the Rivarossi roof-molded windows with laser-cut windows that could fit much closer to flush with the window frames and present a closer to scale appearance.

Kitchen & Interior

Right side ready to have striping finished.

The kitchen section windows now have a view-blocking interior, which is that portion of a Rivarossi interior.  I may decide to use that rough interior, but I'm planning to upgrade it with some paint if I do.

Kitchen interior at CSRM SFE Lightweight Diner.

As I recall the Santa Fe dining car at CSRM museum in Sacramento had all stainless steel interior, but I don't recall specifically if the aisle was also Stainless paneling or not.

Completion of the Right Side Shadowlines

Starting point of finishing up the right side.

After a couple week break, I'm working to complete the striping decal work.  To recap, I had to stop the decal work because I had to get another set of Shadowline decals due to this model needing all "lower"  stripes (aka "dense stripes") and not need any of the "upper" stripes.

Upper decal stripes over dining section windows applied.

At this point, it is mostly just rehashing the same discussion of applying the decal stripes over the patch panels over the Transom Windows.  the MicroScale MicroSol decal setting fluid is used to snug down the decals over the rivets and paneling.

The last bit of 3-Strip decal applied below the letterboard section.

I lined up the left end of the stripes with the full height upper stripes, and the right end wrapped into the window opening, but before the decal completely set, I cut the decal with an Xacto blade and removed it.  The decals are nearly complete now, I still need to apply the single stripe decal above the letterboard along the top rivet strip.

In Closing

This gets the main body about 95% complete, asside from the last bits of decal and adding grab-irons and small details like that.

Completed right side with the Rivarossi interior section inside.

I found enough spare NERS Air Conditioning Duct to finish this model, so the application of those and roof construction will be coming up in future posts on this project. 

Jason Hill

Related Shadowline Scheme Articles:

SFE 1458 Diner in Shadowline scheme

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 1) with a Rivarossi Model and Opening Thoughts - My on kitbashing a Rivarossi HW Diner into a Shadowlined Santa Fe diner, circa 1948.

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 2) - More Body Work and Paint - My Part 2 on kitbashing a Rivarossi HW Diner into a Shadowlined Santa Fe diner, circa 1948.

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 3) - Mechanical Upgrades - My Part 3 on kitbashing a Rivarossi HW Diner into a Shadowlined Santa Fe diner, circa 1948.

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 4) - Shadowlines - My Part 4 on kitbashing a Rivarossi Diner decaling the car into Shadowline scheme.

SFE 1524 Snack-Coach Diner in Shadowline scheme

Kitbashing SFE 1524 (Part 1) - Shadowlining a HW Chair Car - My kitbash of Walthers 3060-class HW Chair car to a Shadowlined Snack-Lounge/Coach car. In Part 1 I am focusing on window changes and decaling the car.

SFE "Surprise Valley" 6-6-4 in Shadowline scheme

SFE "Surprise Valley" Pullman 6-6-4 Shadowline Sleeper (Part 1) - Painting & Decaling Right Side

Starting my long-time planned project to make a Shadowline 6-6-4.

SFE "Surprise Valley" Pullman 6-6-4 Shadowline Sleeper (Part 2) - Decaling Left Side & Reassembly - 

Continuing the Shadowline 6-6-4 project with more decaling!

Articles from Other Authors:

SFE 1456-class Diner kitbash by Colin Kikawa, along with multiple other interesting kitbashes - Enjoy!

Tom Casey's ATSF_hwt_Diner.pdf - SFE 1404 Kitbashed Diner