Page 12 - NMRA Roundhouse March-April 2018

SP Boxcar Kit Bash
Paul Doggett
This kit bash started life as a Red Caboose Southern Pacific boxcar painted in Overnight service, whilst the painting of the car is very good it needs one or two modifications such as modified Youngstown doors, mod- ified Dreadnought ends and Morton Plano running boards. To correct
the problems to modify the car to a Southern Pacific B50-24, I ground most of both ends off finishing them off with emery boards. The doors were a simple modification by apply- ing two strips of evergreen styrene see photo 1.
For the replacement end, the four centre holes were filled with Squad- ron Green Filler and sanded smooth when dry. The top single rib was then removed using a Swann Morton chis- el, this is an excellent tool for remov- ing thin plastic photo 2. End panel as modified photo 3.
The modified ends were then held in place with a rubber band to check they were a good fit once they were found to be a good fit they were
given a thin coat of acrylic car primer then a couple of coats of acrylic rattle can satin black photo 4.
The doors where tried to make sure they fit as the doors and ends are Intermountain parts. The doors and ends were then attached to the body and the rest of the parts added. The Plano running boards were very lightly sanded to help key the paint, they were given a light coat of acrylic car primer followed by two very light coats of rattle can black satin. When the body had set the running boards were attached using small dabs of Evo Stick. The corner grabs were
bent up using 0.010 brass and glued in place with super glue.
The whole car was given a coat of Dullcote. Then a coat of grimy black to blend everything together the reweigh data and dates were patch painted out and new weights and dates applied. The axle box repack data was also patch painted and fresh data added. The chalk marks were done with white ink and a map- ping pen see title photo.
The end showing the car number which was added before the Dullcote and is now ready for service photo 5.
12 ROUNDHOUSE - April 2018