I tried to sell 6 of these undecorated assembled hoppers didn't even get a stinking bid. so, I decided to just paint and decal them, now I see that I ended up duplicating a stock number! Man I hate when that happens. Made some of the decals myself and used some Microscale ones too. Painted them with Scalecoat Silver and weathered them using Polyscale washes airbrushed on, and cement powder. Regards Tom Holley
Looking real good Tom, as usual! You get more done in a week or two than I do in a whole year! I'm working on a Frisco coach right now - I started it in April! What were the original models - undec Atlas? Ken
Thanks Robert and Ken! They are indeed Atlas. I consider them very good models. I did however add 2 OZ of weight to each car. The only problem I found was the coupler pocket covers needed an attitude adjustment to close properly and maintain the right height under "Load". Otherwise, I consider the trucks, and other details of fine quality. Although Ken is our undisputed "truck man". Thanks guys Tom Holley
In general, the Atlas trucks are quite good. The set on the 6-bay cylindrical hoppers are ASF A-3 Ride Control 100 ton roller bearing trucks. The A-3 was a Frisco favorite (as with many other roads). I don't like the Atlas wheelsets, though. They roll very well, but I don't like their looks. I usually replace them with Kadees. Ken (aka "truck man". Ha!)
That's a nice job of weathering on 81003. We should establish a list of frisco.org "Master Modelers" ..... Tom would be high on the list! Ken
Thanks Guys! For the great comments. It is sure gratifying to get comments like that from a pretty special bunch of people. I tried a little experiment on one car will post pics when it's done. I actually took some Portland (powder) cement, mixed it with water and a bit of Iso Alcohol and sprayed it onto the tops and upper sides, of the cars. Was kind of a pain but it turned out OK I guess tried to brush it on but it would not stick too good and blew off when dull coating... Thanks again Tom Holley
|-|SLSF 81002 transformation photos Photo 47, first we start with the just the wheels painted. photo 48, is just an example of the thin Polyscale wash. photo 50, Then the trucks get many coats of the thin wash airbrushed on. photo 51 here we have the truck weathering started and a light coat of dust, dirt, grime, smoke colors on the car too. photo 57, I use a cheap brass brush to gently brush the car from top to bottom, this resembles the streaking you see on equipment as a result of rain and such. The next photo is of the Portland cement wash I made by screening the cement thru a #200 screen, and putting in a paint bottle with a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of alcohol and distilled water. I then put many coats of that on the top as well as the tops of the sides and ends of the car. photo 70, This effect had placed the cement where I wanted and it could taken off with a soft brush or my fingers, thinned it where I wanted. photos74, 83, 86, 89, Show the car air brushed with Scalecoat flat glaze to hold the cement and weathering in place. I have between 45 minutes and a hour in weathering each car. photos 90,91 show the six cars complete, all I need to do is make it to the MRR without tearing them up now Thanks for looking Tom Holley|-|
Tom, those are really great looking cars. You should be very proud of them. I only looked at 90 and 91. There is no chance I could do that kind of work. Better than, well done Bill Jackson
Thanks Chris and Bill, It was a fun little project, the hardest part about the whole thing was cleaning the faces of the wheels I liked to never got that paint a grime off of them. Bill I think you can do it its not all that difficult, just make the washes real thin so you cant put too much on at once. Thanks guys! Tom Holley
Thank you so much for posting up these pictures and tips. Your detail work is excellent! Thanks for showing how you do your weathering. Awesome! I'm going to get one of those brass brushes and rough up my flat car decks.
These Frisco cars were interesting. Built 1962, made to the early pioneering ACF "Center Flow" covered hopper design, but the Frisco went with the aluminum construction option to lower the tare weight of the car. This was Frisco's first center discharge gate covered hopper. Note it had three hopper bays, six Keystone discharge gates (two per bay), but only five loading hatches (center bay only got one). It was a 4000 ft3 car, 100 ton, 36" wheels, ASF A-3 "Ride Control" Timken roller bearing trucks, Universal brake wheel. Car was ~51ft long, class LO. Built at ACF's Berwick plant. They left the shiny aluminum exterior unpainted, but after a few years it developed a healthy coating of aluminum oxide and grime, giving the car a dull buff gray appearance. This ACF design was only a marginal success. It worked fine, but was very expensive to fabricate, be it of steel or aluminum construction. ACF modified the design to the now very common "Center Flow" design made in all sorts of sizes and capacities, and had a real hit on their hands, still being sold. Our SLSF helped pioneer this type of covered hopper. It is interesting the Frisco only bought one other ACF "Center Flow" covered hopper - the two-bay SLSF 78500-78749 cement/chemical covered hopper series. Wonder why? Many other roads bought the ACF car in many other capacities and sizes. The Frisco, however, was a real Pullman Standard (PS) fan. The Atlas HO model is well done - the second run is better than the first, but either works well Ken
Thanks Ken As usual I didn't do the research to the degree I should have I bet these were expensive to build. Wonder what kind of paint they used over aluminum? Looks like it lasted OK though. How long were they in service? Also what are the differences between the first and second run on these cars? I didn't know they did 2 runs. Thanks for the information Ken Tom Holley
Tom - The first Atlas run of these cars was in that three-car Frisco special pack - the ACF covered hopper, a P-S two bay, and a o/w wide vision cab, about 8 years ago I guess. I bought that set - got rid of the o/w wide vision cab, still have the two covered hoppers. About two years ago, Atlas re-released the aluminum cylindrical hopper, this time as an individual car (i.e, not in a set). The second release had finer deck gratings and some other enhancements, plus was a different number. I'd wager Tom's cars are second releases as they were undecs. Either release is a very nice car. Ken
Thanks Ken I didn't know they did 2 runs. Think I have a mixture of both And with only 25 built for the Frisco, a guy could model the entire class Thanks Ken and all! |-|Tom Holley|-|
