I need to remove a running board from an Athearn RTR boxcar. Assuming I've removed the RB and filed down the nubs, what is the process for painting the roof? Do I tape the sides of the car, apply alcohol to the roof to remove the old paint then repaint with an airbrush or spray can? Or can I just touch up with some light layers of paint? Please advise. The first run will be an old discard boxcar.
LIONS are not fussy with their paints, and neither are the railroads. They could jut cut it off and leave the old brackets to rust.
Personally I'd file down and/or fill the holes, amd then just repaint the roof. we will assume that the shop was not doing the whole car, which of course you could do,.
Or rather than repaint the roof, just weather it reall good, maybe with a blotch of rust or other discoloration where the surgery occurred.
Some modelers are just too darn fussy with their cars. It is a railroad, wear and tear is expected, besides the roofs are exposed to more rain, ice and sunlight than the sides, so even a car a few months out of the paint shop will have weathering already.
Of course the LION models subway trains, and big can of Bondo keeps those things running forever.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Always enjoy your posts Lion! Thanks
I don't get the "filing down the nubs" parts. But I'm only familiar with the BB box cars, and when you remove the running boards, there is a hole you have to fill.
But anyway, I'd just touch up the paint, and Lions idea is also good, weather it, make it look like a patch, or the shop crew matched the paint as close as they could, and left it.
Your removing the running board because it doesn't fit your time period? I would believe if the prototype did this, they wouldn't even bother with any patching or painting, except maybe to get rid of rust.
Mike.
My You Tube
Hello Mike,
Yes, having a running board doesn't fit my time frame. The car is a BN Western Fruit Express. I was thinking I could cut off the "nubs" that hold the running board on the model and cutting would leave nub piece sticking up out of the roof. I don't know if the running board is molded in a sliver color or if it is white with silver spray paint on the outside. Little white nubs sticking out of the roof would look kinda weird, right?
IDRickLittle white nubs sticking out of the roof would look kinda weird, right?
Detail Associates HO #6224 Box Car Roof Plugs
https://www.walthers.com/boxcar-parts-plugs-for-running-board-mounting-holes-pkg-4
Package of 4? or is it actually 8?
https://tinyurl.com/y4uwddmn
* I have never actually used these but I seem to recall that they are contoured to fit the shape of the roof stamping so there is only a little filing to do after pressing in place.
Good Luck, Ed
IDRick Little white nubs sticking out of the roof would look kinda weird, right?
Well, yea. I wasn't sure if you had holes in the roof, or nubs sticking out. If you have the holes, like a BB car would, that what Ed linked to would work great. I just used round stock, or I filed a piece of sprue to fit the hole.
But you have nubs, not holes, must be one of the differences between BB and RTR cars, as I don't have any of the RTR cars with running boards, so maybe you can file them down to "match" the roof.
Relatively few prototype cars had the brackets removed. Most retained the hardware on the roof ribs. Not that other modifications were also required by regulation in addition to removing the running boards, but I'm not sure how much work you wanted to invest.
DSC01084 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
DSC01084
This B&O car was built from a Front Range kit, and I left the brackets on the roof. The adjacent SPFE reefer from Red Caboose includes separate brackets mounted on the ribs to provide better detail since these were so prominent when looking at modified cars.
UP 172192 by wp8thsub, on Flickr
UP 172192
This prototype UP car also clearly shows the brackets that were left behind.
Rob Spangler
I would spray a slightly lighter color with an aribrush directly downward onto the roof to keep as much paint off of the sides as possible.
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Then some simple pastel weathering, and it should look just fine.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Ed, thanks for posting the link to the plugs, they a good option!
Mike, my earlier post was a guess, I had assumed that I could cut off the nubs with an exacto blade. But, simply lifting gently removed and left 4 uniform holes. The RTR Athearn had square holes for the running board while a conventional BB had round holes. It looks like I could simply cut off the nubs from the running board and use Faller adhesive to attach them inside the holes. I'll probably try that first on one or two holes to see how big of a hassle it is to file them down. The plugs might be an easier solution.
Rob, thanks for posting the pictures. I'll follow your lead and leave the brackets alone. Interesting, on the BB, the roof was black below the running board and BN green elsewhere whereas the silver RTR roof was also silver below the running board.
Kevin, thanks for the airbrushing tip. It will be much quicker with than RTR than with the BB Athearn.
Thanks guys!
I vividly remember the time when it was common to see cars that were built with runnings boards but had them removed due to changes in the requirements.
In almost all cases such cars showed various "wounds" from the removal. The brackets that held the running boards in place (which are not modeled on Blue Box cars or most other cars for that matter) remained, so ironically they would need to be added. Someone made these in HO but Walthers has cut back so severely on detailing parts that I cannot find them. Bits of styrene would suffice; see the Wilson book for ideas.
Obviously the holes for the model running boards would need to be filled. In most cases you could still see a ghost outline of where the running board had been. This ghost outline is present on most Blue Box cars BUT that ghost outline is often bare black plastic that escaped painting when the running board was in place. Not realistic.
Rather than repaint the entire roof, try to capture a very common bit of weathering, that is, the paint flaking away revealing the dull galvanized metal beneath. Jeff Wilson shows this in his Kalmbach book on freight car detailing.
Dave Nelson
I’d say you may want to look at prototype pictures for what the real shop crews did when theye removed the roof, be sure to look at what color they painted it and what kind of hardware they left behind. This will give you a better idea of what to do. Be sure to look at cars in similar number series, if not the exact road number, so you’ll get an idea of what the railroad did on you specific car.
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
As I recall them, the runningboard had round mounting pegs moulded to its underside while the holes in the roof were somewhat elongated with curved ends.
I keep a full range of Evergreen styrene rod on hand for plugging holes of all sorts. Simply re-drill the holes in the roof to a size about .003" or .004" smaller than the size of rod needed to completely fill the hole. Coat the end and sides of the rod and the circumference of the hole with solvent-type cement, then jam the rod into the slightly too-small hole - the solvent cement will have softened the mating surfaces and when the joint hardens, the plug will be an integral part of the roof, needing only to be trimmmed or filed to match the profile into which it's been inserted.Using an airbrush, it's easy enough to control the direction of the spray in a manner that no masking would be required if the entire roof needs to be painted. If only the plugs and surrounding area need to be re-painted, a brush with a paint similar to the rest of the roof (but not necessarily an exact match) could be used to create a quick touch-up, similar to what the prototype might have done.
Wayne
IDRick Interesting, on the BB, the roof was black below the running board and BN green elsewhere whereas the silver RTR roof was also silver below the running board.
Depends on how it was painted at the factory probably. The black below the running board probably means the running board was applied first onto the black plastic body and then it was all painted together. Thus the roofwalk masked the body so no paint underneath.
As Rob has pointed out in other topics and can be seen in photo's, running boards did exist in a few cases even into the early-mid 1980's.
I remember back in the 80's I was under the assumption that I needed to remove the running boards from all my models to represent "modern" times. While many were removed, there were some that had not been. Just sayin ...
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
About when were running boards outlawed?
Joe Staten Island West
IDRickapply alcohol to the roof to remove the old paint then repaint
Alcohol is not nearly as precise as you imagine. Unless you want to repaint the whole car, I would just paint over it.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
joe323About when were running boards outlawed?