Modeling Tips

Assembling and Finishing Cars ‘N Scale

Start by dragging the car bottom and back side of the wheels across a piece of sandpaper. Remove any remaining flash with a hobby knife. As with any resin casting, rough up any areas to be glued, in this case the back of the wheel and the wheel well on the body casting. Any type of super glue will work just fine for assembly.

It’s much easier to paint and detail before gluing on the wheels, so let’s get on with the paint work.

If you’re not old enough to remember, there weren’t any fancy paint jobs back then. Well, at least not from the Ford or Chevrolet factory. Black, maroon, dark green, light and dark gray were probably the most common. I guess a yellow or red car showed up once in awhile. Anyway, stick with simple colors. Resin will accept any kind of model paint, but wash the castings with soap and warm water to remove any mold-release residue that might interfere with the paint, then spray on whatever color you want for the body. (I drilled a couple holes in the bottom to hold it with tweezers while painting.) When dry, spray with Testor’s GlossCoat. A couple coats so you get a hard, shiny surface will do.

I suggest a medium gray for the windows. Black, silver, or white don’t quite look right. Don’t know why, they just don’t. Now, brushing all those windows neatly may seem daunting, but relax and read on. Use a water-base paint and keep a damp cloth handy. Paint a window, then wipe off any excess with the cloth. The previous coat of Gloss finish will let you wipe it off cleanly.

For bumpers and chrome trim, I prefer ScaleCoat silver, but use whatever’s handy in your paint box. A fine brush, lightly loaded with paint, dragged on its side over chrome strips works well for me. If you get an ugly blob, uhmmm, that side goes away from the audience. We’re practical here.

A dab of silver in each headlight, and a touch of red on the tail light works great. And, a little color on the license plate is a nice touch.

Wheels were usually painted the same color as the car body fitted with small hubcaps and chrome trim rings around the edge, and sometimes full chrome wheel covers. Paint whatever combination you want on each wheel. No need to paint the tire, as it’s already black.

Next, glue each wheel in place, noting that you have room to mount the front wheels in a turning position if you want. On the subject of wheels, I find a lot of model cars sit way too high and these are no exception, so I trimmed a little off the top as necessary to get them a little farther up into the wheel well. The ’54 Cad Hearse/Ambulance and the ’62 Corvette need special attention to “ride height”.

Once the wheels are in and secure, gently drag the car over a piece of flat sandpaper. There are two reasons for this. First, it’s hard to get all four wheels touching the ground evenly. Second, on real cars the bottom of the tire is flat to the pavement. Sanding the bottom flat “grounds” the car making it much more convincing, even at a distance.

Finally, spray the whole thing with Testor’s DullCoat. I still don’t know why, but stuff that’s left shiny just looks toylike.

That’s it. Hope you like ‘em. Happy modeling!

Random observations on caboose interiors

We made these to fit the new factory-glazed M/T caboose. The glazing is a clear molding that lines the caboose walls. It’s about 30-thousandths thick, and the interior is a press-fit to the inside. Of course they will fit earlier models even if you’ve glazed them with clear acetate.

Additionally, they are made to accommodate a Richmond Controls lighting module which sticks to the caboose roof. The C-30 caboose, among others, had a wooden toolbox mounted to the underframe oppsite the large air reservoir tank. The tool box included in our kit is notched to locate and fit around the crossbeams.

If you’re using some other form of interior light that doesn’t use a circuit board, the cupola seats can be split off the center panel so a faint light will shine up into the cupola area.

What about color? Early builder’s photos look like the interior was natural wood varnished. I’m only guessing that cushions were probably black or green leather.
George has information that somewhere in the forties interiors were painted a light green. I’d also guess that cushions were then made of a green naugahyde.

For the really persnickity among us, a piece of round styrene can be glued to the back of the pot-belly stove and it will line up pretty well with the roof stack.

Hope you have fun with this!

Weathering Tips

This photo shows one of my favorite engines, a ConCor® Challenger. Reliable and smooth-running, it's been a workhorse in my roster for years. With fifty or sixty reefers strung out behind, it's an impressive sight.

I introduce it here not so much for modelling tips, but inspiration, hoping you'll try some extra detailing and weathering on your locomotives. Let's face it, they're just plastic and metal and the worst that can happen is you make a mistake and start over. The results, however, can be truly satisfying and set your equipment leagues apart from "out-of-the-box-and-onto-the-track" engines.

Weathering makes the most dramatic difference. Locomotives, especially steamers got filthy even after the first run. Grease, steam condensate, and soot made a mess awfully fast. I use combinations of chalk and washes and articles are always showing up in your favorite magazines illustrating different techniques. A most important part of the process is getting it authentic, and photos of the real thing are my best resource. The pictures needn't be of the specific engine you're working on, but should show you what kind of grime collects where. Steam generators spew a lot of white calcification that falls back down on the boiler. Of course, the stack dumps soot on every horizontal surface. Grease gets thrown around the drivers, rods, oilers, and journals, while rain and dust smears it all together. You get the idea.

The next biggest impact, particularly on plastic steamers, comes from replacing the molded handrails with brass wire. This engine has all new wire handrails, including those on the pilot veranda, the platform at the front of the engine.

Cut levers on the tender and pilot have also been fabricated. Again, check the archives of your favorite magazines for specific "how-to's".

A couple special features on this engine are lighting and wheels. Constant voltage lighting has been installed, and the number boards have been lighted using tiny axial bulbs fitted inside the number board housings.

All the wheels, including drivers, have had their flanges turned down to RP-25 standards, courtesy of Loren Perry at GOLD MEDAL MODELS. (I guess this is one operation that CAN actually ruin the engine if not properly done. On the other hand, you can ususally buy new wheels!)

And, finally, unless it's parked on a siding, an engine should have a crew.

Give it a try. I'm sure you'll like the results and enjoy the process.