I am currently building one of these cars from a kit. The picture on the box shows it painted oxide red and there are white Borden's decals with the kit. I don't really like that color and wondered what other colors might be appropriate. Most of the pictures of these are black and white. I have seen these cars with silver paint and black lettering and might have also seen one painted white but my memory of that is not clear. Were any of these painted green which was the standard color for most milk tank cars of that era? That would be my preference but not if there isn't a prototype for that.
Here's some information on those cars, with photos. There's a prototype at the IRM.
Wayne
For what it is worth, Brass Trains shows this one in green:
https://www.brasstrains.com/BrassGuide/Pdg/Detail/18580/HO-Rolling-Stock-Milk-Car-Precision-Scale-Co-PSC-17224-4-Tank-Borden-s-MILK-CAR
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain For what it is worth, Brass Trains shows this one in green: https://www.brasstrains.com/BrassGuide/Pdg/Detail/18580/HO-Rolling-Stock-Milk-Car-Precision-Scale-Co-PSC-17224-4-Tank-Borden-s-MILK-CAR Rich
While not definitive, I think I'll go with this paint/decal scheme. I should be able to copy that image and create my own decals from it. The white one also has some appeal. It's given me something to think about.
Most of the models that I have seen are white including the one that Gary Hoover built for his Dearborn Station layout. On his layout, the Borden's milk car serviced the cold storage Meadow Gold Butter facility. The prototype Borden's milk car displayed at the Illinois Railroad Museum is also white.
My kit is from Funaro & Camerlengo. I've found several of these kits on ebay in various colors.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/311603186280
https://www.ebay.com/itm/312168167814
https://www.ebay.com/itm/312852606844
https://www.ebay.com/itm/233089267047
The last one shows the paint scheme on my box although my decals are white, not yellow. I intend to use mine in a milk train, not for chemicals which two of the above are showing.
Here are a couple somebody painted in silver:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hj8PE-21xGM/T4jHfx_SgqI/AAAAAAAABIU/3UuknaA0k5g/s640/Borden+Butter+dish+car+2.jpg
I kind of like that although I'd have to create my own decals.
Unfortunately, I can't find a single color photo of a prototype other than the one at the Illinois museum. I've found some black and white photos which are definitely not white but it is impossible to tell if they are oxide red, green, or some other color.
I think the latest release of Photoshop has a feature that allows colorization of black and white photos. I don't know if that would give me the answer I am looking for.
John-NYBW My kit is from Funaro & Camerlengo.
My kit is from Funaro & Camerlengo.
Can you tell us more about the F&C milk car? Is is made totally out of resin. What type of glue do you use? Is it a difficult build?
I would rate it moderately difficult. It is a resin kit but to simplify things, I had a short flat car on the shelf that is the same length and that I wasn't using and I simply substituted that and will glue the tank on to that. I will have to reletter it. Because I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet I haven't attached the hand rail and that looks like it could be a bit of a challenge. Each of the brackets will have to be glued individually to the body of the tank and then the rail will have to be bent around the ends. I haven't had much experience in bending that kind of stiff wire so I'm not sure how difficult that is going to be.
richhotrain John-NYBW My kit is from Funaro & Camerlengo. I am considering the F&C kit to build the Borden's Dairy Milk Car on my layout which includes a model structure of the huge Meadow Gold Butter cold storage building in downtown Chicago. Can you tell us more about the F&C milk car? Is is made totally out of resin. What type of glue do you use? Is it a difficult build? Rich
I am considering the F&C kit to build the Borden's Dairy Milk Car on my layout which includes a model structure of the huge Meadow Gold Butter cold storage building in downtown Chicago.
I like 5 minute epoxy for the big parts, ACC for the little parts, I don't really like ACC for anything, but sometimes it is the right choice.......
They take time, if you equate time with difficulty, than they are difficult.
They do not require dramaticly different skills than say a Proto2000 or Branchline plastic freight car kit with lots of small parts.
But you do have to clean and fit parts before assembly.
Sheldon
Maybe once I get going again, I will find the patience to build the station kit I have. Maybe I should build the flat cars first. I have no problem with the P2K kits and their tiny plastic details, but I opened the station kit and, well, the under eaves support pieces, being quiet decorative bits of wood on the real thing, are basically a couple of sheets of flash with small parts embedded within. After doing one sheet, I was already getting a bit fed up so I put it all back in the box and put it aside for some later time.
I unsderstand why they make kits like this with resin casting. It would be ridiculously expensive to tool up injection molding, and this tiny little station that I think cost me $30 direct from F&C's table at a train show would he more like $300 and I never would have purchased it. But they are indeed a lot more work than even a more craftsman leaning styrene kit. None of it looks really difficult, especially their newer kits with one piece bodies. Just time consuming to clean off all the flash and true up the edges so it all fits together nicely. In return you get an affordable model of something that simply isn't available anywhere else, other than possibly brass. Resin casting methods make it possible to offer even minor variations of a given prototype.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
John-NYBWMy kit is from Funaro & Camerlengo.
Almost hijacking the original conversation, I bought a F&C gondola at Timonium a couple years ago. The sides were warped in at the corners but easily fixed with just a hairdryer. Except, the fix didn't last and they are warped again. Is this common?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I looked at the chapter in Jeff Wilson's new Milk Trains and Traffic (shamless plug: https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12815) and he says the cars were originally painted white or aluminum with individual yellow sheet-metal letters bolted to the hood. By the late '40s, the bodies were painted red-orange with yellow lettering, and by the '50s, aluminum with black lettering.
Eric
doctorwayne Here's some information on those cars, with photos. There's a prototype at the IRM. Wayne
Lovely!!
Sixty Thousand Gallons?
Thank You.
NDG Lovely!! Sixty Thousand Gallons? Thank You.
What, you never heard of Borden's Condensed Milk?
Love It!!!
Eric White I looked at the chapter in Jeff Wilson's new Milk Trains and Traffic (shamless plug: https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12815) and he says the cars were originally painted white or aluminum with individual yellow sheet-metal letters bolted to the hood. By the late '40s, the bodies were painted red-orange with yellow lettering, and by the '50s, aluminum with black lettering. Eric
Excellent information. Thank you.
Since my layout is set in 1956, I think I'll go with the aluminum scheme and make the black letter decals.