For 1968, most of the Moloco box cars labeled "Delivery" as the box cars painted in their original mid-1960's as built schemes. The yellow MODX, WADX, Wabash would qualify as well as the Delivery SLSF. Most of the new FGE Plate B 12' Center Plug Door cars are 1960's as well.
RailCarPhoto's is one of my "go to" sites to look up freight cars and it's pretty user friendly to search. Another one is Fallen Flags which you search by RR and most photo's are listed by year taken:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/
Another model maker that offers a lot of nice, highly detailed freight cars which fit the 1960's is Tangent Scale Models - they are a little less expensive but spendy and very nice. David posts prototype photo's with many of his models to show how accurate they are.
https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/view-buy-models/
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
m hortonThanks to all, riogrande5761, those moloco cars are nice, but that's a hefty price tag,
Of course YMMV. Yes, Moloco are among the priciest but worth it. It's taken me 3 or 4 years to collect the 15 or 16 I have so far but they are worth it if you can swing one here and one there.
finding good prototype photos of 50' mechanical reefers is almost impossible , I may grab one to run with a rebuilt athearn, a concor, and a pacific ho car, some times close enough wins.
As always, you have to decide what works for you. I've bought some Atlas 50' box cars that are "close" but not exact matches to a number of box cars. With some care and research, you can build a fleet of freight cars that are pretty darn close and avoid the fantasy/foobie cars.
BTW, I've found RailCarPhoto's website to be one good resource for hunting down photo's of real freight cars. The search parameters work pretty well. Often if you know the reporting marks (e.g. DRGW, CR, PFE) and choose the general freight car type (REEFER), you can often find photo's of the specific car you are looking for. By way of example, here is a link filtered simply on "reefers".
http://www.railcarphotos.com/Search.php
Save up and buy a Moloco box car or two and I you might find they are addictive! FYI, most of his freight cars are in the 1965 - 1985 time period. Some are "as-built" in the 1960's but some are offered in schemes as repainted in the 1970's, and a few in the 1980's. Nick Molo posts photo's of the real cars they copy so you know they are dead-on!
Thanks Wayne, using an iron is what I have doing. I get too carried away! The last car I did distorted the lettering way more than I wanted it.
The sides of a typical model gondola car are so thick, to begin with.
After the iron treatment, it's hard to get the inside surface to NOT look like melted plastic. Takes a lot of sanding, and maybe a lot of patience to begin with?
I just might try the tape as an experiment. I have a couple rolls, from experimenting with making steel coils.
Mike.
My You Tube
Ed and Mike, thank you for your kind comments.
The panels were cut from a foil tape (aluminum, with a backing paper which protects the adhesive until it's applied) used by insulators for wrapping industrial pipes with insulation.There's a version of it available at home improvement and hardware stores, but mine is the industrial stuff, and, I've been told, rather expensive. I used a new blade in my utility knife to cut the individual panels from the roll, then, with the backing paper partially removed from one edge, pressed it into place, rolling the remainder of the backing off as I smoothed down the foil. The key to getting good adhesion is to burnish the surface rapidly, in order to generate some heat - I'd guess in some industrial applications the heat would already be in the pipe. If the sheet isn't aligned properly, you can, sometimes with difficulty, remove the panel, but it won't be re-useable, as it usually tears due to the strength of the adhesive.
With the backing paper removed, the aluminum is .003" thick, or roughly 1/4" in HO scale.
The Seaboard car was my first experiment in using it as full side-sheets on a model, and didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped (due to my mistakes rather than any fault with the materials), but it's definitely a useable material for modelling.
Some years ago, I used the version from a local hardware store to replicate a real car in a photo. The model is a modified Train Miniature car, with dry transfer lettering from C-D-S. On these early steel cars, like the Pennsy's X-29s, the side sheets tended to rust out near their attachment to the sidesills, with many being repaired with sheet metal. The prototype had the full treatment to the right of the door, but only on the outer four panels to the left of the door...
The patches are still in place, so the cheaper stuff seems to stick pretty-well, too. Red Caboose offered several versions of the X-29, including one with simulated side patches.
I think that the foil is probably too thin to use as car sides without some sort of backing, but it's pretty easy to do those bulging gondola sides...
The car is from the bargain table of my former hobbyshop, a Proto model somewhat botched in assembly by its original owner. I repaired it as necessary, then stripped off the original lettering, repainted and re-lettered it, then added the signs of abuse which most gondolas seem to acquire.
Years ago, I tried this with a soldering iron, pushing the hot tip against the interior of the sides....naturally, it didn't take long before "Something stinks!!" echoed down the basement stairs. The results were a bit hit-or-miss.The example above also used a soldering iron, but it was used only to heat the plastic, without contact. I then used the round handle of some tool to deform the side panels...
As I recall, the soldering iron was a 200 watt model - no tedious waiting for the plastic to soften.
Wayne
Wayne, what are those panels made from? Foil, or a foil type tape? like the shiny ductape?
I gotta try that. I bet they would make great gondola sides, showing the dents and bulges that you see on the sides of a well used gondola.
It sure is impressive on your box cars!
m horton does any one know how correct the new reefers from Walthers are? They say they're based on Burlington cars, but offer several names, are they close or close enough? Thank you in advance.mh
does any one know how correct the new reefers from Walthers are? They say they're based on Burlington cars, but offer several names, are they close or close enough? Thank you in advance.mh
With Wathers rolling stock, it's buyer beware. Many are fantasy although occasionally some are fairly close to real freight cars. If you can find some good prototype photo's, you can do some comparisons of model vs real thing and weed out most of the fantasy models, if that matters.
Often, you get what you pay for. Speaking of Burlington, Moloco is now offering FGE type box cars which are very accurate and the 12' door versions include CB&Q, NP and CG. They aren't cheap but they are extemely nice!
https://www.molocotrains.com/collections/freight-cars/FGE12
10' door version are coming next.
Red Caboose and Intermountain make some nice 57' Mechanical Reefers (R-70-15 and R-70-20, respectively). You can see the upcoming versions in this list and scroll to the bottom:
https://www.intermountain-railway.com/ho/horeefers.htm
Not all of IMRC's are correct either but I believe the PFE/SPFE/UPFE are correct.
doctorwayne 7j43k ...Rivets are too large--a VERY difficult fix.... Not that difficult nowadays: A sharp #17 blade and some rivet decals could fix that problem quite easily...
7j43k ...Rivets are too large--a VERY difficult fix....
Not that difficult nowadays: A sharp #17 blade and some rivet decals could fix that problem quite easily...
You've just moved those old kits a little closer to the forefront of modelbuilding.
They, and I, thank you for your suggestion.
Ed
7j43k...Rivets are too large--a VERY difficult fix....
Pacific HO kits represent the earlier mechanical reefer, I believe it has the shorter smaller plug door, and it doesn't have hydro-cushioning under frames . Ladders and brake wheels can be replaced with newer better detailed ones. Athearns car is a miss mosh of them using same dies from earlier kits, I believe one end is wrong and so is roof.mh
I'm sure those kits are good for: GN, CB&Q, NP and Fruit Growers. All built at the Fruit Growers shop in Alexandria, VA.
They were the cat's whiskers (or whatever) when they came out. Maybe around 1963 or so? Absolute best HO kits. Except maybe for the "old" metal Athearn. Or something else I forget. Certainly the best HO PLASTIC kits.
Now?
Rivets are too large--a VERY difficult fix
Ladders too coarse--certainly an easier fix
Roofwalk--Uh, Plano??
Some of the paint/lettering--the silver of the NP is "unfortunate", for one
But. They're still accurate models. And VERY useful. I, too, have a few tucked away, awaiting decisions. Including an NP.
7j43k They look to be decent models of the Burlington cars, except for the cast-on ladders. Whether that matters is up to the individual. I will be passing on them for that reason. I checked the PFE car, and it's wrong. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say all the others are, too. Ed
They look to be decent models of the Burlington cars, except for the cast-on ladders. Whether that matters is up to the individual. I will be passing on them for that reason.
I checked the PFE car, and it's wrong. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say all the others are, too.
I do not mean to highjack the thread, but what about the old Pacific HO plastic reefer kit -- one of the earlier plastic kits that was not "shake the box." They were offered by Walthers for a time when they acquired Silver Streak, which is why I felt free to ask that here. Is that a BREX prototype or FGEX or a hybrid or what? I have two of them unbuilt on the shelves, one lettered for Burlington, and thought maybe it would make a good winter time project to finally construct the darn things.
http://hoseeker.net/pacificho/pacifichogoldenspikereefer.jpg
Dave Nelson
m horton I thought maybe, seems like some parts could be right, roof, sides but not sure of ends, kind of like athearns old version, claims to be a havelock build from cbq.
I thought maybe, seems like some parts could be right, roof, sides but not sure of ends, kind of like athearns old version, claims to be a havelock build from cbq.
I checked the ends. They look right to me.
Damn shame they didn't do it as a Proto.
50 ft AAR design. Similar probably used by a number of roads But not PFE or Santa Fe (SFRD).
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.