OwlMtModels Mini-Kit Conversions for Accurail 40ft Boxcars

Time to upgrade my Accurail SP single-sheathed boxcar fleet

This post is to finally show the new conversion ends from OwlMtModels to make the basic Accurail 40ft Single Sheath USRA clones more like the SP B-50-8,10,11, and -13/14-class cars.  Accurail has offered these kits with either a 1920s "7-8" pressed steel end or a 4-vertical post wood-sheathed end.  Unfortunately, neither is right for SP's ~8000 single sheath boxcars of this rough design.

The stock wood ends of Accurail boxcars are nice, but the details on the ends aren't correct for the SP's boxcars.

Over the years I've built over 20 of the Accurail cars for my fleet during the late 1990s and early 2000s.  While resin models of these cars are available, I don't really want to build a new fleet of resin kits when I have so many Accurail cars already in my fleet.  Now that I'm building the Jawbone Branch layout, these converted Accurail cars will become the backbone of my SP wood-sheathed boxcar fleet.

The answer in the form of OwlMtModels' newly designed 3d printed ends.

The ends are 3d printed and include a large flange on the interior side to bond to the interior of the injection molded roof and sides of the Accurail body.

Multiple versions are in the works at OwlMtModels:

* OMM 4072 B-50-8/10/11 wood ends (with option for either plain end or lumber-door end.)

* OMM 4073 B-50-13/14 rebuilt steel Dreadnought Ends, vertical staff hand brake. (Almost all B-50-14s and many B-50-13s fitted during the 1930s.

* OMM 4074 B-50-13 As-built wood ends (with option for either plain end or lumber-door end.)

* OMM 4075 B-50-13/14 rebuilt steel Dreadnought Ends, with lower platform for power-brake refit.

In this post, I'm only working with pre-production samples of OMM 4073 and OMM 4074, which will be made available for sales at the SPH&TS 2024 Convention in Sparks, NV in mid-October.

The ends are designed to use Carmer cut bars, and so a pivot is provided for such, but not included.  Yarmouth Model Works makes several photo-etched Carmer levers, which should work on these parts.  Grab iron holes are printed into the ends, but probably have back-filled with resin before the processing was completed, so those will need to be drilled out.  The brake staff holes will probably need to be cleared too.  Then a suitable staff (wire) and wheel (probably Cal-Scale) will be installed.  The retaining valve has been printed in-place, but a 0.009" wire retainer pipe should be fitted on the Dreadnaught End version of these parts.  The wood ends have the retainer pipe printed-in-place.

Bonding flange which will allow the glue to form a tight grip between the body shell and the new ends.

Pre-assembly prep on the ends is minimal, but important none the less.  I carefully make a few light passes with my mill file to remove any remains of the support contact points from the bonding areas outside of the rib.  This will insure that the part fits smoothly against the end of the chopped Accurail car body.

Chopping the Body

Two long cuts are made in the ends of the body, just inboard of the sides.

The first step is to chop into the injection molded ends, along the inside edge of the sides.  Once the cuts are made, the end is popped out.  Note: I usually only do one end of the car at a time, this allows the other end to provide good rigidity and support to the sides and help keep everything square throughout the process.

I just bend the end of the car back and forth until it fatigues and breaks loose.

Step two is to trim back the sides to remove the original corner posts.  I did part of this with the razor saw in the past, as I got a little impatient on the second end (A-end), I went ahead and chomped through the last 1/16" of sides with my sprue-cutters.  I marked the parts to discard with a black Sharpie marker, stopping just at the edge of the wood boards.  It did require some careful alignment to be sure I wasn't going to bite too much off.  

Dry fitting the A-end for B-50-13/14 'as-built' wood end.

Side view of A-end after filing is complete on 1st prototype print.

In Step three, the last 0.015-0.025" of the sides are filed or sanded down to the ends of the wooden boards.  On the roof, the lateral 'running board' support should be as far back as I trim that section.  File everything smooth and even across the whole end.  I check the progress on keeping it square and even with a regular dry test fitting of the part.

Finished prep work sanding and filing car-end.

I should note at this stage I also am sure to clean the remains of the ends down to the inside shape of the body.  The new ends are designed to match the shape of the body's natural interior.  If I cut deeply into it, or make a chamfer around the end, it shouldn't be a problem.  However, I do like to keep the structure as clean as possible.  A few scratches or even rough sand paper marks could help with the bonding, but I don't want anything that will prevent the ribs on the new end from fitting down tightly when fitted.

Inside view of bonding flange with a bit of extra ACC flowed in after primary glue pass was made.

When satisfied that the dry fitting is good, as in the ends fit tightly against the body all the way around the joined edge with the Accurail body.  I remove the end and carefully put a small amount of thickened ACC/CA type glue along the inside corner of the end and the exterior side of the bonding rib.  I extend the glue application down the ends to the bottom, past the rib, where the end will still be in contact with the car-side.

I found often it is helpful at this point to have the frame of the car in-place inside the body.

Showing how I pivoted the end into place.  This is a little trickier with the larger flanged end.

The end is then slipped into place from above, allowing the notch in the end to wrap around the coupler box, but not bond to it.  In the past I've used a couple rubber bands to hold the end in place, however if any ACC/CA glue squeezes out, then it's very easy to end up with parts of a rubber band glued to the exterior of the car!  When I built this pre-production test conversion, I just held it with my fingers on the end, avoiding the sides of the end until the glue was cured.  This took only about two minutes before I could let go and it was well bonded.  (Production 3d prints have a checker pattern on the exterior of the flange, which should allow for an even stronger bond to form.

3d printed end and rubber bands to hold them in place while the glue dries.

Another option on the bonding process, is to use larger rubber bands (I used ones from larger broccoli bundles from the grocery store), and the carefully stretch these around the car body with the underframe in place.  I usually like to add a bit of shim to the car-side over the non-ladder area, so the rubber band can't get down against the joint where any ACC could come out, bonding the rubber band to the model!

In Closing

That pretty well wraps up the list of how to do the conversion of the basic Accurail car.  This should be applicable to even factory painted models.  Pre-painting the end should be possible, although I would avoid getting paint on the area which will be the bonding surfaces of the 3d print.  

Pacific Electric B-50-13 with B-50-13/14 Dreadnought End installed, before detailing.

A few details still need to be installed; wire grabs, roof walk end supports, and brake wheel/staff.  Also on most of my conversions, it's easier to just remove the plastic stirrup steps on the model.  I'll be replacing them with standard U-shape A-Line stirrups installed.  The PE car will be getting the 45ft radii curve brake rigging modification to match detail photos in a separate blog post.

T&NO B-50-13 with original Wood Ends.

New end reporting mark decals will be needed to finish the car after the conversion is complete.  Remember that the SP standard in the 1910s-1931 were to have the ends and roof painted black or have black car-cement (aka tar) applied.  After 1931 the SP started shifting to overall Freight Car Red, and Anthony Thompson suggests that the last black roof/end cars were so painted around 1942.  So paint your models accordingly.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Previous modeling posts on these classes, before these ends are available.

Modeling B-50-Series Boxcars (Part 3) - Plastic Options for B-50-8, -10, & -11 class cars

Plastic Options for B-50-12, B-50-13, B-50-14 class cars - Accurail & Tichy models

SP 24864 (Part 1) - Kitbashing B-50-10 from Accurail 40ft Boxcar - Not including these parts, I'm waiting for the earlier B-50-8/10/11 ends to be produced.

NAHX Leased Covered Hoppers - Pullman PS-2 & Greenville Prototype

Kadee PS-2 NAHX Trona & Potash shipping covered hopper model.

I've been mentioning leased covered hoppers on my SP Jawbone Branch (Part 46) blog of late, so I wanted to look a bit more into the prototypes and how viable it would be to put any effort into modeling them for use on the Jawbone Branch.

American Potash & Chemical Corp leased NAHX Greenville Cars

These cars certainly fits my modeling era of pre-1954, but these cars were assigned lease to American Potash & Chemical Corp, which sub-lettered these cars to be returned to Trona, Calif. when Empty. Certainly. As such, they would be a prime prototype to model if I was modeling the Searles Turn side of the Jawbone Branch.

NAHX 30229 - American Potash & Chemical Corp, Trona - NEW 5-51 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

These photos are from Pullman-Library on smugmug.com, no infringement is intended, but to discuss the modeling possibilities.

NAHX 30229-Side - American Potash & Chemical Corp, Trona - NEW 5-51 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

Notice the slight tapered side-sills just inboard of the bolsters, which makes these cars unique from the AC&F-built cars.  These cars all seem to have had black trucks and light gray body, which is a nice looking scheme, but would obviously get weathered somewhat in service.  These builder's photos don't reflect what they'd look like after a few trips in the dusty alkali desert environment.

Pacific Coast Borax Leased Greenville NAHX Cars

Pacific Coast Borax was the inheritor of the 20 Mule Team brand of Borax, and included the operations out of the Death Valley, Tonapah & Tidewater, to the Santa Fe at Ludlow and the Calico Mountains near Yermo, interchanging to ATSF at Daggett, Calif..  Processing plants were at Alameda, Calif. and Bayonne, New Jersey.

NAHX 30230 - Pacific Coast Borax Co - NEW 5-51 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

The NAHX 30230 is also a product of Greenville Steel Car Co, in 1951, so this car is certainly within my era, but these cars physically wouldn't have been likely to come up the Jawbone Branch in any form of regularity.  Unless Columbia-Southern Chemical was selling Borax to PCB, but I don't have any evidence of this.

Pullman PS-2 by Kadee

NAHX 31235 - American Potash & Chemical Corp, Trona - NEW 11-55 - Pullman-Lib,smugmug,com

The PS-2s from Pullman are somewhat signature with the round hatches, and were put into production in 1954, which really pushes my cutoff year's boundaries for era.

Kadee's PS-2 model lettered for NAHX's leased cars to AP&CC for Trona/West End service.

The Kadee model's very nice model, but it's really a couple years too new for me to use.  The trucks use their new 'bolster centering wedge' design, which keeps the body bolster screws from being properly tightened without binding up their rotation.  I understand why they fashioned the wedges, to align the trucks with straight track to make it easier to rerail the car, but it goes against the LMRC mechanical standards that I've built all my cars to for the last 28 years.

In Closing

While there's some great models out there to model this sort of traffic, I don't really need any of these cars for my Jawbone Branch layout.  So I'm not sure if I'll keep the Kadee PS-2 car, outside of lettering reference to come up with decals to make the earlier Greenville, and I'd have to figure out what manufacturer makes a Greenville Covered Hopper.

My not quite complete SP 165000-series H-70-8 (iirc) class with side sheet cut-outs by Bowser.

I know that Bowser and Kato's models are more like the AC&F prototype, which were straight silled, so these cars aren't really 100% accurate to model the NAHX Trona/West End cars.  I was hoping that I could re-purpose Bowser or Kato models to make the earlier series of NAHX Greenville cars, I don't think they'd really work given the clearly tapered side sills.  At this point, I'm probably not going to worry much more about doing any more covered hoppers for the Jawbone Branch.given my prototype research for both the Jawbone's industries and the modeling starting options.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

SP Jawbone Branch (Part 46) - Printing Full-size Bartlett Template

Owens Valley Mining (Part 2) - Bartlett Plant - Columbia-Southern Chemical Corp - Soda Ash, Trona, & Boron

NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 2) - Basic Mechanical & Detail Upgrades

In the previous post in this series (NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 1) - Another Signature Freight Car), I was mostly pointing out prototype information and roster data.  Recently, I was able to get a couple more NYC boxcars from the BLI's production.  However, these models now seem to be in very short supply if you want to find one on Ebay or other web-site suppliers.

NYC 123242 stock out-of-box look at one of the BLI cars.

This time I'm going to show some of the upgrades and changes I make to the BLI models when I get them.  Here's a photo of one of the boxcars right out of the box.  Oh boy, looks like this one will need some help...

Issues with the Model

Box Label for 4-pack of NYC steel boxcars

Here's the info on the cars that were included in this 4-car set.  As I already have a finished and weathered an NYC 121134, I may renumber the car from the new set in the future.

4-pack of cars in very awkwardly sized box.

I think I should have stayed with the single-packaged cars, honestly.  The functionality of using the 4-pack box is pretty bad.  The inner tray gets stuck regularly, making it very hard to get the models out of the box.  Also this new group of cars have some more physical issues than my original models had ~10 years ago... or maybe my memory is just being selective on the issues that long ago. - Severely traumatic modeling tends to do that!

Running Boards, or Not?

All of the etched running boards on the newly purchased batch have come loose in the box.  I'm guessing this is a heating-cooling cycle problem from these being in stored in their box for 10+ years before being purchased.

And the roof walk is off when all four came stock in the box.  Excess heat on the box over the last 10+ years is my guess.

While annoying, this really shouldn't be a problem.  Several of my old models also have partial glue failure on the running boards.  So I've worked over the years to apply canopy cement (Testors) to the running board supports.  

The new cars have completely lost any bonds to the running boards, so I'll probably do some additional work on weathering the metal panel roof, probably adding some galvanizing paint failures, before remounting the running boards.

Having to re-apply the whole running board is just another step higher in the fact that now I have to align it correctly.  Although sometimes the half-applied but loose running boards are more challenging to get the canopy cement just on the tops of the running boards support blocks, and not all over the roof panels or filling the fine holes in the etching.

Oddities of BLI's Choice of Truck Bolster Design

Compared to standard bolster designs in HO, this one might take the cake for the over-the-top goofy engineering award.

It seems that BLI was trying to contain the lateral rocking of the truck and to some extent the longitudinal rocking as well with this extra height collar.  There's also an alignment key molded into it which aligns the truck towards the draftgear... so the truck can't rotate excessively?! - Very weird.  Functional, but weird.  The flanged truck bolster screw threads into the internal bolster hole, which is within the collar of the truck.

I may have to put a slight drop of canopy cement on the threads, as several of the car's screwes still seem loose when they are backed off just enough to allow the trucks to rotate correctly. - So must be an issue with how long each of these very deep cavities are when the frame and truck was cast.

One of the cars had a truck that came completely loose in the box, probably from the screws slowly backing out due to heat-expansions of the metal body frame.  This really isn't a problem, but it certainly puts these cars into a unique truck-body design category, so that the trucks can't easily be replaced by any other maker's trucks.  This seems to be a trend with manufactures since ~2000, when it seems several manufacture's in China decided to get "brilliant" with their engineering staffs.  I'm still more in the camp of if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Wheels

Previous cars actually had pad-printed 'cooling rib' shadows on the backs of the wheelsets.  This batch looks like they have a coating of black paint or blackening on the wheels, including the treads.  I don't like having chemical blackening or paint on the wheel treads because it will wear off directly onto the railheads and cause dirt problems for operations.  Therefore, I'll have to clean the wheel treads off before the cars go into operation.

Wheels tight according to LMRC standards for wheel gauging of sub-RP25 contour flanged wheels.

I'm pretty sure these wheelsets can not be changed to IMRC 33", if the truck tooling is the same as it was 10 years ago.  These wheelsets were some of the tightest press-fitted insulation I've ever seen. - which is not a good thing, if you need to re-gauge the wheelsets.

As the coatings on the wheels (blackening or paint - I think paint) is going to be a pain to remove, I'll probably replace all the wheels with IMRC's after I use the "truck tuner" from NWSL to ream out the journal bearing cones to the standard IMRC wheelset length.  Looking closely at one of my older cars that I've run for a couple of years, the underlying wheels aren't even nickle plated, and wore quickly through into the brass, which is not ideal for my use on the Jawbone Branch.

Door Latches & Opening Doors

Door shown here about 1/2 open.

The stock models can have their doors moved to various positions.  For some reason BLI tooled the body's door latches as part of the doors, not the body. (sigh)... So, if the doors are to be modeled as open, then the body door latches will need to be cut off and remounted on the body to the left of the door.

Modifications

Let's see what I can do to 'fix' these cars and get them ready for service on the Jawbone Branch.  The only real industries on the Jawbone Branch where I'll be able to see an open boxcar door will be at the Bartlett plant.  Usually, if I plan to detail a boxcar interior and have a door open or mostly open, I need to have access inside the car to detail the interior.  I don't have easy access into the interior of the BLI cars, so I may just elect to go with the closed doors again on the new cars.  

Oddly misunderstood tooling for the door hardware by the tool maker. - sigh

The original cars that I built, I glued the doors closed, with one slight exception on NYC 121134 shown below.  In some of the photos here, I'll be using the new batch of models and in others I'll be showing the models I've already done the weathering and various chalk marks, routing cards, etc on for 10 years.

NYC 121134 which I built with slightly open door, and transferred the door lock details to the carbody.

My old NYC 121134 was built with a partly open door, but I kept the opening small so that the view into the unfinished interior would be kept to a minimum.

Tare Dates

All four cars have pad printed tare dates for 1955, which is fine for cars running on layouts modeling between 1955-1959.  One of the regular things I also need to do on most cars for use on my Jawbone Branch layout is to patch out the tare date and reapply it for something more in my ~1948-1954 era.  The tare dates for boxcars during this era was 48 months.  So, ideally tare dates before 1952-53 as with most of my other cars in the fleet, as I cut off in 1954, so 1946-1953 tare dates are ideal for me.

OwlMtModels 1222 Reweigh Patch decal in place, but slightly crooked to the right of the panel seam.

 I used "Repack Patch" decals (OMM 1222) for the brown blanks to cover the BLI reweigh dates and respliced station and date from an OMM Era-D (1946-1966) set.  The patch decal didn't go on perfectly horizontal, it looks like the right side shifted when the Micro-Sol was applied.  It's not really a problem, as I'll probably add some light earthy weathering over the top of the repack area, hiding any oddities.  Prototype patching for restencils weren't always perfect by any means either.  So my story is this was either a Monday morning job, just after New Years where the paint man was hung over or a late Friday afternoon, when it was cold and he wanted to go for the quit!

Reweigh station code and date decals in place on NYC 121134, one of my original cars.

I decided to go with reweigh station "JY" on the NYC, which is Junction Yard in Detroit, Mich, and date the reweight for January, 1950 (1-50). 

NYC 121134 Side View with replacement tare data and the slightly open door.

Chalk marks on this side include a fairly new "X-ld", which was common for empty-to-load, which would fit with this side where the door's not been secured.  The car's also been graded with a "C" card on the door, indicating what products it is suitable to be loaded with.

Weathering

The silver lining, if there is one, for all the roof walks being unattached is that I have complete access to the roof panels for weathering techniques.  I have pretty much free reign to play with multiple styles of weathering and painting.

NYC 123242 Roof Weathering Effects

Roof weathering with roofwalk removed.

I decided on this car to try some basic weathering for the galvanizing and some white gel-pen outlines for the freshly failed paint areas.

Drops of Testors Canopy Cement applied to the supports.

I added an acrylic wash of Pavement" color thinned with water, however even the water-paint mix attacked the gel-pen effects... so I'll have to touch that up afterwords.

With regular FCR roofwalk installed.

I decided to leave the roof walk painted for this car.  On one of the others, I painted the roof walk with galvanized gray color, to show one where the paint had failed from the top surfaces.

Roof weathering touched up with the white gel-pen again on some edges.

I went back and reapplied some of the white gel-pen to the lower edges of the paint failure areas, where the most recent paint failings have happened.  Some of the areas I also gently wiped with my finger to blend away some of the stark brightness of the white, leaving a partial remaining color behind, rather like chalk weathering.  

Under layout lighting, NYC 123242's fairly completed roof weathering... for now.

I also used a light gray 'moonlight' gel-pen to make some failed paint on the running board tread areas.  I'll put on a dullcoat pass to seal this step in place before I do any more with acrylics.

In Closing

At some level, with all the oddities of these BLI cars and the difficulties in finding any more out there, I might be tempted to do the resin examples over all the work needed on the BLI models.  Perhaps this is why BLI didn't make anymore runs of these in the more recent past?

I've not weathered the sides of NYC 123242 yet, but have applied a few gel-pen chalk marks.

I put a few gel-pen chalk marks on the new NYC 123242 and a little of the roof's pavement toning down wash over the trucks as more of a dry-brushing.  I still need to put the re-tare dates on the model and do some side weathering.  I'll probably aim to do each of the 'new' cars slightly differently in terms of weathering and finishing, so each tells a unique story.  Obviously, NYC 123242's roof has had better paint at one time.  I'll probably do one as a recently full repaint, with bare minimum weathering. - But I'll cover those in future posts in this series.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

NYC Roster List - Canada Southern (dot) com - Link to roster data I used in this post.

NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 1) - Another Signature Freight Car

Modeling X29 (Part 1) - PRR 100813 Basic Construction - Link to the PRR's competing design, the X29.

Modeling X29 (Part 2) - PRR 100305 - Ex-Battery Car - Redecalling PRR MW car back to general service circle keystone scheme.

Modeling X29 (Part 3) - PRR 504385 Early X29s - Checking out the IMRC's "early" X29 with vertical staff hand brake and plate-steel ends.

Modeling X29 (Part 3) - PRR 504385 Early X29s

Recently, I decided to pick up one of the IMRC's new X29s from late 2023 run.  I've mentioned in previous posts in this series, the PRR X29 models have always seemed to elude me.  So I finally bit the bullet and ordered one.  This Ready-to-Run (RTR) model comes with installed KD-5 couplers.  The model is of an early production X29s prototype, which had three-panel doors, plate ends, and vertical staff handbrake.

Differences of "Early" X29s

An example of the "Early" X29s which had the 3-panel doors and plate ends. IMRC 2023 RTR production.

The early X29s, like the early NYC steel boxcars of the mid-1920s used double rivet rows in the construction of the car sides (one tight spaced row, with the second row using double-spaced between its rivets).  This pattern looks similar to that used on the SP's B-50-24 class of boxcar 20 years later, which were called ACR (Alternating Center Rivet) and had to do with the shape and construction of the vertical framing of the carside and attachment of the side sheets.  This is modeled nicely on the early X29 body and I'll be highlighting it when I weather the car in the future.  I should note the Red Caboose/IMRC's later X29 (and BLI's later NYC) cars model the simplified sides, which used only a single rivet rows of the standard tighter spacing.  The AAR '37 boxcars also used single row riveted construction at their panel joints.

Some Prototype Photos from Web-search

PRR X29 horseshoe with freight cars - Matt Glumac collection - found on-line - Cropped

This is a nice weathered example of an early X29 with the details that match those of IMRC's 504385.  This photo's a little later than my modeling era, as there are GP7/9s helping a passenger train in the full photo.  There appears to be a bit of rust starting to blister through to the right of the herald.  Dirt/mud is coating the truck sideframes and lower carsides.  The car still has vertical staff hand brake.  Of note is that it has the extra door stop next to the data block stenciling.  It is hard to tell from this photo if this car has the replacement lower carsides.

PRR 572857 very early 1924-series X29 & NYC Steel Boxcar - antiquesnavigator,com collection

Also note that this model has a vertical staff handbrake and AB-brakes installed, while the PRR 100813 kit I was building in X29 Part 1 has the upgraded geared hand brake assembly.  I think I'll leave the vertical staff handbrake on this model.

PRR 570862 very early X29 (circa 1924) - Antiquesnavigator,com collection

As they did stay around, even after the car was upgrade to AB schedule air brakes.  Many of the SP's single-sheath boxcars from the 1920s also kept their vertical handbrakes after upgrading to AB schedule equipment was hung on the underframes.

Here's a comparison between the "late" X29 (left) and the "early" X29 (right)

The PRR 100813 kit that I assembled in Part 1 of this series is shown with the RTR 2023-produced 504385 from IMRC at right.  The visual differences of the Youngstown door (left) and 3-panel door (right) provide some variety between the otherwise nearly identical models from a few feet away.
It is interesting to note the subtle change in PRR Freight Car Red which was used on the newer model.  These sorts of color changes on a model don't really bother me, as the weathering on these two models will actually look better if not all my cars are exactly the same base color.

Another comparison between the X31F automobile boxcar with raised roof (left) and the "early" X29, which was much shorter in height.

Just to compare some more examples of various manufacture's choice of PRR's FCR color, I pulled out my X31F which I covered last year, which is a newer Bowser model with better lettering than the older 2000-vintage models.  The IMRC X29 has a slightly more red hue to it.  Again, only one or two shades, and any weathering will easily account for that.  Just the color change that paint normally goes through in the first few months could account for this.

Prototype Repairs & Upgrades

Side view of PRR 504385 with patched lower side panels.

Plus an extra feature molded into this model is the typical "patched sides" which was required on many X29s as the lower sides tended to "rust out" before the rest of the body or underframe.

"P441 10-53" Tare stencil on PRR early X29 patched sides - Pintrest webphoto

The Red Caboose tooling, which includes the patched panels is a good basic starting point to simulate this repair on the cars.  I'll cover more in the future kit-builds on the patch-panels on the sides.  However, the variations in size of these patches were installed is not 'standard' so I'll be looking to create custom-sized patches on my future kit-builds!

Model Upgrades

A 3/4 view of the A-end of the 504385.

I need to cross check my sources on PRR's painting standards if they really maintained the black underbody and trucks into the 1950s or if they, like the SP, switched to all over FCR scheme - including the underframe and trucks.

Truck washer and scale-head coupler installed.

As I'm continuing to work on cars for the Jawbone Branch fleet, I've decided when possible to replace the larger KD-5 couplers with the 158 'scale head, whisker spring' couplers.  This car thankfully was easily converted by popping out the out-board wheelsets, unscrewing the coupler box lid, and then installing the 158 couplers.

One truck's brake beam assembly was loose in the box and the second truck's brake beam came loose when I removed the wheelset.  After changing couplers, I reinstalled the brake beam detail part (which is sprung in place with a few small tabs between the truck sideframes.  This time I added a few drops of thick ACC superglue to the holes in the truck side frames.  This should help keep the part from randomly popping out in the future.

I also noticed that the stock model has some larger metal washers in the truck bolsters, to raise the car's coupler height.  I'm not sure why this was needed from the factory, other than they have changed to a AAR U-section IMRC truck from the original PRR prototype trucks that were supplied with the Red Caboose era model.  I've checked the coupler height and the height is correct, but the older kits didn't need this modification, as they were also correct height.

Early Phase of Weathering

Roof weathering started with Apple Barrel "Pavement" wash.

I started my weathering process on this new model with some dirt and dust on the trucks and underbody.  

First pass on the flat panels of the roof and running boards.

Then I moved onto the roof with a wash of Apple Barrel "Pavement" wash with brush manipulation.  I put a few dark gauge wheel-streaks up the end plates.  I kept the weathering off of the car sides for now, so that I can deal with an oddity in IMRC's lettering of the car.

Oddity of Stock Tare Date

I've seen for years the PRR used a "P-code" for their weighing station shop code.  Thankfully Richard Hendrickson, Bob Johnson, Art O'Toole, Frank Peacock and Jerry Stewart put together a spreadsheet that documents tens-of-thousands of photographs with tare codes and decoded them for dozens of common carriers across North America. 

Close-up view of IMRC's 2023 X29 details of the lettering.

The IMRC 2023 sample X29 I have shows the tare stencil as "P7-1-21-51" - which is complete jibrish according to the standard code format that has been used on multiple manufactures and Ted Culotta's Speedwitch decals.

Tare codes do not use "day-week-year" format, instead they used "station month-year format."  The more likely stencil for the IMRC model should be "P-712 1-51", which would be P712 PRR at New Shop at Terre Haute, IN researched by Schoenberg.

"P441 10-53" Tare stencil on PRR early X29 patched sides - Pintrest webphoto

I'll be patching over the tare stencil with an appropriate FCR paint color and pull out one of my Speedwitch decal sets to put together a new tare stencil.  One of the favorite tare stations to use by module manufactures is P57, East Altoona, PA.  However some of the research photos on-line that I found show "P441" in 10-53.  Another tare station I might use on one of these cars is "P456" PRR 55th St. Yard WB IL, Chicago, or some of the other larger yards around the east coast.

I wonder if PRR cars would have been grabbed out of LA or the San Joaquin Valley for loading at Bartlett at the Southern Columbia Chemical Co., which was owned by Pittsburg Plate Glass Co., to ship bagged soda ash east to PPG manufacturing plants.

The small tack-boards for routing cards is just to the left of the door along the bottom sill.  The IMRC detail part is glued on a little bit oddly, so I'll probably cut it off, sand/file the back of the tack-board, and maybe cut into the detail on the carside just slightly to ensure that it has a level place to be glued in place.  I really don't want to have it catch and get pulled off the model with the way it is attached now.  After weathering and finishing, I'm sure I'll be putting a couple OwlMtModels 1220 Routing Card decals on my X29s!

In Closing

Basic weathered model, ready for service.

This will do it for now on this car, I'll be doing more on all three models finishing up the details and getting into the weathering in Modeling X29 (Part 4).

Jason Hill

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Modeling X29 (Part 2) - PRR 100305 - Ex-Battery Car

NYC "Standard" Steel Boxcars by BLI (Part 1) - Another Signature Freight Car - Competing design from the NYC for the "Standard" boxcar.