"You don't want to rush these things ...."

 It's been far too long since I've posted on this blog (although I do a better job keeping my Central Vermont blog up to date). 

I truly hope everyone has had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. I also sincerely hope your personal situation has been such that you've been able to spend time on trivial items like model railroading!

After having my car living in the driveway for going on a year, I took advantage of the unseasonably warm waether this weekend to (finally) clear out the garage - at least the point where both cars would fit. 

Most of the stuff was, as I suspected, items we no longer need or simply junk. They have now all found their way to the appropriate places - which means they're no longer taking up space better suited for my car! 

I did come across one plastic tote that had, among other things, several brown Westerfield boxes. After we moved out of the old house and into the temporary apartment I'd ordered several Westerfield kits as part of the November sale. (As an aside, this years sale is going on until the end of November. You can find details on the Westerfield website <HERE>). Naturally, I figured these were those kits. 

But when I got these cars into the house I noticed one of the labels had a "BUILT" notation on them. 

Sharp-eyed readers will note this is the old school Westerfield resin. Back in my Navy shipboard days I'd pick up a few Westerfield (or very early F&C) kits and bring them to build on the ship. I got a fair number of them built - especially when I was assigned to a fleet oiler. The one thing I couldn't do is paint these on the ship - so I built them and painted them when I got home. 

I'm fairly certain this is one of those cars. That would mean I started it in 1990 or 91... and it's still not finished. Thirty years from start to completion of a model - a new personal best!

The model survived its long slumber remarkably intact. One of the running board supports is gone, and the brake wheel is lost to the ages. Otherwise, it looks pretty good. It has trucks which means I must have done something with it off the ship at some point - I learned the hard way not to put trucks on the models I built on the ship - after finding a Westerfield H21 "rekitted" on the deck of the stateroom after a bouncy night of Cape Hatteras! 

I'd made note of which Floquil paint I was going to use on this model, but that doesn't do me much good. Anyone have a suggestion for a currently available paint (preferably Vallejo) that would work for this car? 

Of course, if pressed I can claim I was waiting for a better decal set to come along.

After all, you don't want to rush these things!

Westerfield I-GN boxcar - ready for weathering

I finished dealing the Westerfield I-GN boxcar, and added an overcoat of Future floor polish followed by a coat of Vallejo Matte clear. I think it makes a nice addition to the "late 1920s" roster. 

I think I'm going to hold off on weathering the car until I get some other half-finished freight car projects completed. 

Westerfield I-GN Boxcar

As I was sorting and packing some of the smaller items that reside in various small plastic containers, I came across the decals for a Westerfield International Great Northern 40-foot single sheathed boxcar that I'd built almost two years ago.

Having no idea how the decals ended up separated from the car, and knowing full well that it would happen again if I didn't take drastic measures, I opted to spend a pleasant hour or so this past Sunday evening getting the decals on one side of the car. Side #2 has since been completed.

For the record, and my reference, the car was painted with a base coat of Vallejo "Boxcar Red" sold by Micro-Mark. The Vallejo labels reveals they refer to this color as "Rust." The paint was allowed to dry completely (although the 26 months this paint dried may have been excessive!) before I hit the model with an airbrushed coat of Future clear acrylic (or whatever they're calling it this week).  

When this photo was taken I hadn't yet "snuggled"* the decals in place, which is why there's so much decal film showing.  When I decal a car I like to leave it on the modeling desk for a week or so - every evening I'll add another application of Microscale setting solution. After a few days of this most of the film disappears. 

Once the decaling was complete I added an overcoat of Future floor polish, followed by a coat of Vallejo Matte clear. 

I'm going to hold off on weathering the car until I get some other half-finished freight car projects completed. 

Sharp-eyed freight car fanatics will note this car is lettered to reflect lettering styles that predate my typical 1950s roster. 

No further comment on that at this time.  

*When I was on the Model Railroader staff we were always debating the best way to describe of process of softening decals using settling solution to get them to conform to the various details, ridges, rivets and the like. Somehow, someone (likely Jim Kelly, it sounds like something he'd come up it!) suggest the term "snuggling" the decals....it stuck.

Review: Westerfield NCandStL Fowler Boxcar

By Charlie Duckworth
Photo by the author

Westerfield Models HO scale 4355-2 Two-Brace Fowler Boxcar Modern NC&StL
Decals
I used a prototype photo I had to judge the accuracy of the decals in this kit.  The decals were a little confusing in the area of the initials used on the sides.  The decal sheet provides for two different sizes of letters but the smaller lettering for the side did not have the letters ‘StL’ and the ‘&’ sign included on the decal sheet.  I ended up using the larger letters and removed the period from each of the letters.  They appear to be a little larger that the letters in the prototype photo but in contrast the smaller lettering appears to be smaller in height when looking at the board width on the prototype.  The decals were thin but I still had to use liberal amounts of Solvaset and make several scoring cuts to get them to lay flat in the vertical seams.
Instructions
Westerfield's instructions are very detailed and give you step by step instructions for building this car with nice photos.  I do wish Westerfield would recommend a paint match for these cars vs using the generic 'Boxcar Red' in their instructions.  I was told by Justin May these cars were painted a ‘Oxblood Maroon’ by the railroad.  Looked on the web for an Oxblood Maroon color and ended up mixing my own using Floquil Rail Brown and Special Oxide Red. Justin recommends a mix of Floquil Zinc Chromate Primer and Oxide Red, tinted to suit your degree of weathering. He provided the following links as to NC&StL's color.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-n/ncst22157ajs.jpg
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=63835

So your painting mixes are up to you.
Castings
This is a flat kit meaning the sides, ends, roof and unferframe are all separate castings.  There were no surface air bubbles and all the parts were cleanly cast with very thin flash to clean up.  Be careful handling the side and ends as the thin details along the top of the side and bottom of the ends can be easily broken off.  The was some minor build-up of resin around the lower part of two of the ‘Z’ braces but it wasn’t enough to be concerned with and disappears after painting and weathering.   The steps are made from commerical plastic
that will hold up to handling during operations.
Ease of assembly
I use four Legos in the interior structure when building a flat kit. The Lego is first glued to the sides with the small end facing the end of the car.  This gives you a pretty large surface to glue the ends on to as well as creating a perfect 90 surface as you build up the car
body box.   I also cut a piece of Evergreen plain .030 styrene to make an interior roof.  This allows you to glue the interior of the sides to get a perfectly straight sides.  I also use a piece of HO 8” x 8’, gluing it from the top of the two ends to give me more support to glue the roof to.  I found this model to be very easy to build - even with the number of holes that had to be drilled for the wire hand grabs and the underframe is simple to build.

Available direct from Westerfield Models:
https://id18538.securedata.net/westerfieldmodels.com/merchantmanager/index.php?cPath=39&page=3

Population:
January 1940 - 1,441
October 1953 - 59

Review: Westerfield Models Great Northern 9000-series

By Charlie Duckworth
Photo by the author

Westerfield Models HO scale Great Northern kit No.10453 9000 series with 1948 Lettering.

Decals:
I used Larry Kline and Ted Culotta's The Postwar Freight Car Fleet to judge the accuracy of the decals on this kit (page 19).  They appear to be very accurate as to the lettering designed used by the Great Northern for these cars.  The decals were thin but I still had to use liberal amounts of Solvaset and make several scoring cuts to get them to lay flat in the vertical seams.
Instructions:
Westerfield's instructions are very detailed and give you step by step instructions for building this car with nice photos.  I do wish Westerfield would recommend a paint match for these cars vs using the generic 'Boxcar Red' in their instructions.  My understanding is these cars were painted a Mineral Red.
Castings:
This is a one piece body and on my kit the sides warped inward; to fix this I cut six .040 Evergreen styrene shapes and glued them in the inside of the carbody to help push the sides out.  While this warp-age is noticeable during construction after painting and weathering it isn't a distraction.  There were no surface air bubbles and all the parts were cleanly cast.  The nut and bolt castings on the ends are very well done.  On the down side, I don't like the resin steps as they break easily once the car is finished.
Ease of assembly:
The one piece body will be welcomed by many builders but due to the nature of the resin the sides or roof can be warped.  I found this car to be very easy to build - even with the number of holes that had to be drilled for the wire hand grabs.  the underframe takes time due to the numerous truss rods but this is what makes the car unique on your layout. If I were to recommend a first Westerfield kit to a modeler wanting to build their first resin kit this would be one I would pick. The 1948 paint scheme does not require any masking. I used Floquil paint and glaze to paint the model.

Available direct from Westerfield Models:
https://id18538.securedata.net/westerfieldmodels.com/merchantmanager/index.php?cPath=83

Population:
January 1940 - 979 cars
April 1952 - 783 cars
January 1955 - 290 cars