![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOc6r7gszGVONOoav9Rh3B26S3gVZhIu__Vwnzd2oS339GYcI7iSU_tQhR4m8jD-IYEHIvCejuzN9M0twJcmxABdn2YgEWXwRWqx-NN0qziekBOFz7bWqp76sbb9GqsgziZoEjlMFZIaPilFV0b0LLNcsGUaAyO8c4qskcxW7d20Fwft7yVkPsi2sg8jU/w640-h224/NC&StL%2015337%20FinishDecal%20Left-A2%202023-08-30%2023-19-24%20(B,R8,S4).jpg) |
Nearly completed NC&StL 15337 at the end of Part 2 |
In the last post in this series
(Part 1), I was starting to work kitbashing an Accurail 36ft Fowler car to be a late-serving NC&StL car into the late 1940s. Well, the time has come to finally get the decals together for my kitbash of an Accurail Fowler 36ft boxcar into NC&StL 15337, an XM-27 class car from July, 1948.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG67_rDjiQ_1jdPQ4J_ms3Ed5stDWUlQmKTbh4PabihAcf4aRyRvPrcN_CNYsgmdT5EVSB__b-NEmip1DVaukFCQa8C-uoTWaJEFwPYw1R_OpLRMoHml83gsYGZME5ydmNGt0c-BAnKxE8FCPebXsTg1YG9XAcE60iXHVlh5ZvtrNCywApTm8AFZ892f3/w640-h270/NC&StL%2015337%20-%20Fowler%20-TRRA%20photo,%20East%20St%20Louis,%20July%201948,%20Illinois,%20Joe%20Collias%20coll,%20Bobs%20Photo%20-%20Ted%20Culotta%20collection2.jpg) |
NC&StL 15337 - Fowler -TRRA photo, East St Louis, July 1948, Illinois, Joe Collias collection, Ted Culotta collection with permission. |
I reviewed my reference photo from the article on kitbashing Accurail Fowler cars, specifically the picture from Ted Culotta collection of the NC&StL 15337. Thanks to Ted for permission to use this photo for this series of modeling posts. The photo shows a couple of minor details that I hadn't bothered changing during Part 1. So I'll be addressing those now, then doing a bit of minor paint touch-up around those spots before proceeding with the decalling.
Additional Kitbashing
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuyQa1EZcQsA54objlQxkVpVG-q4enm7M8EXaXMb69npu6t9N_9x_x8GPuCi24Hs5d16o5HzmQfyQlCg9JNfm8SjaYGH1HAggAboSDbXsZozWuJubcq93SirMB0_pihdI2tbVLoueMQKxSQCSQ1_9mL-KUK1lTuucJkij5khEJWIb7Z50EPxIaNUW0KQz/w640-h246/NC&StL%2015337%20Roof%20Weathered-B%2020220717_223026.jpg) |
Original Accurail Fowler Boxcar with low door stop. |
The first change needed is with the door stops, they should be in a higher position than the stock Accurail model has them.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVos_DrSgI1vO-c5z57_7NplCLaXxmMjHY2V0sOP58zN6lroh1TqZveN6dpgaWe2l1J-ydZ5HM8ebKMyDuR1XKKU7KsUddCsiv2uXZTv21k3xeaSVDcl9d-tdvrI6Jzyr4ZWn55E9WQRzmSSAoMtgR5XW9M5ExEOyFUwWQiXx--UxmpmTWz1DpXh69RFTa/w640-h196/NC&StL%2015337%20Strap-A%2020230803_230259.jpg) |
Right side of the boxcar with moved door stop and guide-strap added. |
This wasn't too hard to do with a No.11 blade, shaving them off, then scraping some of the newer paint off, and reattaching them up at the correct position with Tamiya liquid plastic cement.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJ8ZQNUNiaICZIp5yf7njslrPqNfC9mTe_ycmjMAtE4TTQRWEcoaBphGAdlANpO1jTbP6CtlIrhCvz940aalhBBSjmQLwS94tmZBD3VvGJiAu40bTXMMVC1G_TEy-aw7hP1SfE8CsIcBgpEpno7BgqE1uNgqc-oaMormWqR9OQ177h8r29csP6s14P8iP/w640-h540/NC&StL%2015337%20Strap%20&%20Block-A%2020230803_211321.jpg) |
Adding Strap & Wood Block |
Next I added a piece of Phosphor-Bronze etching sprue, bent to shape, then glued in place with thick ACC/CA cement (aka super glue). The strap is bent to wrap around the two Z-braces. The strap squeezed extra glue out, which I cleaned up with a paper-towel tip and scrapped away with the No.11 Xacto blade.
On the left side of the car the car had an interesting vertical wood block added. I fashioned this "wood" block from a piece of left over OwlMtModels lumber sticker from building a load. These are molded in straw wood color.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinf5r2cOuHfVcKtq7GUJQ_E1TOP5jZIS2ggnH8uQ5WSrmx49tNh6ieQ1zIoSq-6pnBlK0gIbTzu6VR_rMLCZkJyOiIiMTsbJO3UxlKDb5-TacmtnbadY-7ht7pcm6RSn4XAPgFeVht10nKkHsxrjmdNaigVOLDnUrrWmUfg0GcUEKKGVKQQCR00NNd9Bee/w640-h214/NC&StL%2015337%20Strap%20&%20Block-B%2020230803_230240.jpg) |
Overall of left side. |
I then repainted the car-side again with FCR color. The wood block is scrapped to match prototype photo. I used an old wooden close-pin which resulted in the wood grain form being transferred.
Decalling
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG67_rDjiQ_1jdPQ4J_ms3Ed5stDWUlQmKTbh4PabihAcf4aRyRvPrcN_CNYsgmdT5EVSB__b-NEmip1DVaukFCQa8C-uoTWaJEFwPYw1R_OpLRMoHml83gsYGZME5ydmNGt0c-BAnKxE8FCPebXsTg1YG9XAcE60iXHVlh5ZvtrNCywApTm8AFZ892f3/w640-h270/NC&StL%2015337%20-%20Fowler%20-TRRA%20photo,%20East%20St%20Louis,%20July%201948,%20Illinois,%20Joe%20Collias%20coll,%20Bobs%20Photo%20-%20Ted%20Culotta%20collection2.jpg) |
NC&StL 15337 - Fowler -TRRA photo, East St Louis, July 1948, Illinois, Joe Collias collection, Ted Culotta collection with permission. |
The car that I'm modeling is a challenge to find the right decals for.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1sE1_TGAsOBLTzlJB1onXXNXBRC1YQhTKPNI8ZWf0fraE0Ki2rIbXhKTxUzYu2xR-UbDfNyM9hT5G7FQGMvrudAATtBsgCpb3i2geP3oJZTVdn2g47LiaeR28CrHLTXb-7BfQVNI0ts-bgBTydeFTytcX1mD9xb4c64VzxPl1hwdlNu24C-wLYo_X_EfU/w640-h548/K4%20Decals%20NC&StL%20Caboose%20&%20Boxcar%2020230830_153347.jpg) |
New decals from K4 Decals - NC&StL Caboose & Boxcar sets |
I went with
K4 Decals' sets for
NC&StL 36ft, 40ft Boxcar White and
NC&StL Caboose White sets to get the mixture of data for the little 40-ton Fowler and also the right heralds and slogans for the 1940s era. This will allow me to decal-bash and get the right bits to make this car match the prototype photo.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGehkiMYG-zrbkzH9OljwAMAhn9oWIsWRUDozBYFHgKMKceFzx_433SYZm5TKMsXlUmiArZzhXQ5V88klB9El0rOf1qz9ow10jxq6XsdL0xC98AvmrJWgwxCgBoCox8nOQBGwF-cmVx0x4MQJLNWVEarytlGqYf43jCn5GUOAG9Zi-rHimfeXXmRG9Amwj/w540-h640/NC&StL%2015337%20Decals-A2A%2020230830_010226.jpg) |
Starting to apply decals to the car. |
The trouble with the decal sets that have been offered is that none of them have exactly this scheme's slogans, heralds, and even the "&" used in the reporting marks is different. The "Caboose" set has the proper large san-serif paint-brush "TO AND FROM DIXIELAND" slogan and the "NC&St.L" Herald, as opposed to the older script "Dixieland" version and "The DIXIE Line" herald from the "Boxcar" set.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IZIo8bWrsKAr1Vz4gzoxm3STiDg92Dpr5bGs3AD4Q3AugTP4G-NYjp0jwXE_o2WKd8c4NXttLa7fpgRLjmao4aU72MFU0vTJ_lQANXSli85UwCNZqKos_hZnBlmApXE0IrX1lcNb4h0WxwZxv0RT2Y6GR_YT7dLsfoGIi9E-gHZWbSyIjiPG8FxB206u/w640-h238/NC&StL%2015337%20Decals-C2%202023-08-30%2015-08-44%20(B,R8,S4).jpg) |
Partly done decals (left side) |
The car number requires rearranging the numbers, and also some shuffling of the lower roadnumber stripe lengths. The K4 Decals boxcar set doesn't have a data set for the XM27 class, but for XM28... So I cut out the "8" and replaced a "7" from the end-lettering set.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpE9tCS0ij3aQfGb-KAjkXztb-a1aAiVnPij_BCrsQfCcrrq4rHTU8UWeSfkBnDkzQPI2t_0VTNGoUxBhSIwUfz0Zyr1ZgQhF2P-gBZOMHL5DB8359tSGOaVWM8qk0ocMbdgWnGE-JJbWIoxWyppORXf3ckyFIl1mksFrQeh4cAdZhx6EufqI8Fvs11JI/w640-h250/NC&StL%2015337%20Decals-J2%2020230830_022216.jpg) |
The "fat" style & in the reporting marks... isn't right. |
I looked around through the two decal sets and found the other half of the "Boxcar" set has a non-extended version of the "&" which looks more like the prototype photo (below). So I ended up removing the extended & from the model before it was fully set.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihG67_rDjiQ_1jdPQ4J_ms3Ed5stDWUlQmKTbh4PabihAcf4aRyRvPrcN_CNYsgmdT5EVSB__b-NEmip1DVaukFCQa8C-uoTWaJEFwPYw1R_OpLRMoHml83gsYGZME5ydmNGt0c-BAnKxE8FCPebXsTg1YG9XAcE60iXHVlh5ZvtrNCywApTm8AFZ892f3/w640-h270/NC&StL%2015337%20-%20Fowler%20-TRRA%20photo,%20East%20St%20Louis,%20July%201948,%20Illinois,%20Joe%20Collias%20coll,%20Bobs%20Photo%20-%20Ted%20Culotta%20collection2.jpg) |
NC&StL 15337 - Fowler -TRRA photo, East St Louis, July 1948, Illinois, Joe Collias collection, Ted Culotta collection with permission. |
So this car certainly is a tricky car to get the right combination of decal parts to match the photo.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim2xOvyXQZdr_7WBTeXAY1KqWCcMyov39n8iopfoSpuZO4FWHXOyKS_GksUmO-l-ytnbrydRISBSEeDXZ_n1Bd4AThQf_voNBMGgdOw_orqwPltR8WJcafye9U6w97RcUgSCOSPyDBi_Sq_Q91ASgW27xSf3Q4UoVlQ7tjaQhn1twWDOKkvPnsLG0T2sHx/w640-h244/NC&StL%2015337%20Left-B2%2020230830_201528.jpg) |
Prototype left side of the car |
Here's the revised bashed decals, using the "&" from the caboose set, along with the slogan and herald. The rest of the reporting marks are from the boxcar set and the modified data set. I still need to add all the build date and tare data as well.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieLDXToCuM3020R2z6hB8yG1AJRD182F1PGzPe_uaGYW4JnKbU7sR7IWlVSH1jDbSdZAW3tdurgD6Iu15z1PZlwGwYVq6ogzIQ_DRsZvFiGAVrDyxxAw5RdZpf2w33IB_yYKGCvqnGp1vb9KQE9o2UOz-9YPmz7X_2C2IQJC00puQlanjtxOG-eOJtSXzb/w640-h240/NC&StL%2015337%20Right-B2%2020230830_201543.jpg) |
Theorized right side of what the car should look like. |
Decals are almost done here. On the right side of the car, I just sorta went for the "typical" guess of what it might look like. I didn't apply the same door-stop board on this side. Otherwise it's very similar, so that either side looks highly detailed, no matter which side is viewed in a train.
Finished Decalling
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveZqyFEH7_7--CLEjeF9UdaiVg2dWUquAoiivtm46QzA9emPZFrg8gW_6VcMqjZCqwkwhCHTpQQ_sVrkAoV5Rd0PCdwUAo2tEtFfUVwP7up1SNEZH9MAF0PH_mpzw76lRfjvNstFiMT-xQtS4X0bLaO5FXYAoF6HaJjQTHPSQinB_4NyFdDcQQ-FeYFDK/w640-h344/NC&StL%2015337%20FinishDecal%20RightA-A2%202023-08-30%2023-21-17%20(B,R8,S4).jpg) |
K4 Decalling complete on NC&StL 15337, before applying chalk marks & OMM Routing Cards. |
The remaining decals to apply are the tare station and date (N E 4-45), and some fine stenciling below the herald for the Dirt Collector and AB Brake equipped markings which I will draw from the spare OwlMtModels data sets. Then I'll just go for the amount of weathering shown in the picture, which I'll do for Part 3 as I finish up the details and get the car ready for service.
The car's not too beat up in the prototype photo, so as I'm modeling roughly in the 1947-1951 era, when this photo was taken. Weathering will come in Part 3 of this series.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxxh63h0wlmiN9Hf9sADS_i89-_dyOV6aGel-K2WW87hWAiPUH9aXMTb-dqrFjrWWOfvMBZofYIPJoZynbfpTU3L7FpdijNcr8Uo_D0SKJsTFnaHOEGW6lOA0DZv_C_hpOM3GKu_mSVxiUyxogn-lQRZZ34zHMSnQBZazpXfec3Yg1k_ASsM6KkNXf_Bs/w640-h238/NC&StL%2015337%20OMM%201220%20Carded-A2%202023-09-30%2000-09-53%20(C,S4).jpg) |
Finished model with Chalk Marks and OwlMtModels 1220 Routing Cards applied. |
Jason Hill
Related Articles:
Detailing Accurail Fowler Boxcar