I've been working on a 40 ft gondola after finding a suitable model for reskinning. I thought the rust textures came out very well but I'm not quite sure about the color. I was shooting for a faded boxcar red. What does everyone think?
Very nice and I agree about the rust looking realistic. I think the color looks good. The sun fades color so I think you did a fine job.
The base color should be a little darker brownish red, and the trucks should have friction bearings, not roller bearings. Ken McElreath
There was not a sharp line of demarcation, but even though roller bearing trucks were seen as early as the late 1930's and 1940's, it wasn't until the 1960's that roller bearing trucks started to show up in big numbers on new freight car orders. It was still later before existing cars riding on solid bearing trucks started to be retro-fitted with r/b's. Gondolas, being rough, tough workhorse types of cars, would have been well down the list to receive roller bearing retro-fit trucks. Certainly in the 1970's and 1980's, new gon orders would likely have come with r/b trucks. I doubt that the Frisco's shorter 40 ft gons, like the one you have skillfully modeled in V-scale, would ever have seen a roller bearing, unless they happened to haul a load of them. Ken
