painting – Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads

What is box car red?

Six cars with new decals are ready for the next step.

Freight car colors are a constant topic with many modelers. We aim to paint our models reflecting the prototypes as closely as possible. The lead photo here represents my efforts on six Accurail USRA double-sheathed box car kits. The photo captures them after the gloss coat dried to seal the Westerfield Models decals.

Fixing a finish

There are few things more frustrating than arriving at the end of a long term modeling project only to have an issue arise with the finish coat. That’s my opinion at least.

Modeling update

I’ve been slackin’ on blog posting, but model projects have kept moving. It’s time to catch up.

Line up card

After building a handful of freight car kits and detailing a few more, I had a traffic jam at my paint booth. I prefer to paint several models at a time but wasn’t expecting an eleven car pile up.

Gloss coat and RPMs

A couple models have inched forward in the finishing process. I recently painted and decaled a couple of box cars. I employ several steps to move a model from the undecorated state to one that is ready to weather. The B&O M-15b seen in this lead photo has a fresh gloss coat.