Does anyone know if all the roofs of the yellow box cars were left as bare aluminum or were some painted yellow? I can't tell by looking at pictures one way or the other on some of the different classes of cars. Thanks for any information. Terry
Greg, thanks for your input. I have about decided to paint them "aluminum" unless I see a picture of a class of cars painted yellow. By the way, I have seen some cars that were painted yellow originally then the paint began to peel leaving a patch work yellow/aluminum roof which would be cool to model. Karl, I see the car you are referencing, but I can't make out the color definitively. It looks yellow, but I can't tell what number series it is. I will say that on another note, I did use the lower picture on that same page to confirm that my two Accurail 40' double door box cars were authentic. I was about to give them away to my grandson when I saw the three freshly painted dd boxes sitting in plain view. The books we have, Condren's site, the Frisco archive, and other picture sources do help tremendously in more accurately modeling specific cars, but there aren't many overhead shots clearly showing the car number and roof color. I have a car masked and ready to paint the roof aluminum and will post the results when I am finished along with explaining everything I did to the car to improve it. Terry
Terry, Just another thought; please note all of the freshly painted red boxes in the two images. These have painted roofs, so if these cars had painted roofs it doesn't stretch credulity to assume that the yellow cars of this time frame would have had painted roofs as well. Lacking a good over head shot, I think that one could go either way.
In Molo's "Frisco/Katy Color Guide," page 67 (middle), car 8383 (8325-8424 series) has a definitely yellow painted roof. Also car 6503 pictured at the bottom of page 80. Tom G.
As I study the box cars that Tom mentions and others in Molo's book, the one thing I do consistently find is that many had painted roofs at one time, and for what ever reason, the paint peeled leaving the patch work yellow/aluminum or red/aluminum look. However, there are some that appear to have the roofs unpainted. I guess I can't go wrong if I decide to paint one depicting the paint peeling leaving a patch work looking roof. I agree with Karl that a good overhead shot answers all question. On page 71 of Molo's book the 42149 clearly has an unpainted roof with some possible over spray from painting the sides. I did paint the roofs of my two models of this car aluminum. Thanks for the input, guys, it has given me some ideas on how to proceed. Terry
For some reason I am thinking that the "unpainted" roofs are actually galvanized as rust prevention. GS
There was/is a very common roof coating that was Silver in color that was applied by brush/roller/spray to metal roof's of trailers, buildings and the like. It was applied to seal leaky roof's and to prevent leaks and was expected to remain flexible to a certain extent. If you have seen certain forklift operators run the lift mechanism into boxcar roof's, may be why such an coating would be there, it could also have been painted over as well. It is amazing the kind of abuse these things go thru.
As per my last post on this subject, I painted the roof of my model of the Evans 50' pd 6607 pictured on page 81 of Molo's book a patch work of aluminum/yellow. I was getting ready to try my hand at weathering this car when I noticed a couple more details I want to add. When I do finish the car I will post pictures of it. My question today is: What yellow paint should I use on my unpainted models of the Frisco insulated box cars? I bought Railbox yellow, but I don't think it is the correct yellow. I know that most of the Frisco cars were very grungy as depicted in Molo's book, and the shades of yellow vary widely. The shades of the few newly painted cars also vary, but this could be because of lighting differences when the photos were taken. I have several cars that I am working on that will require painting, so I may wait until I am ready to paint all of them before I paint any of them, but I would like to get the correct color paint on hand. One more question concerning thinning: What thinner should I use when thinning Polly Scale acrylic paint? I thinned the stainless steel paint I had with acetone, and the paint coagulated almost instantly in the bottled resulting in a clogged air brush. What a disaster! I had to completely dismantle the air brush to clean it. I had used that paint before and thought I had thinned it with acetone, but it may have been the Tamiya acrylic thinner I also have. Anyway, after cleaning the air brush, I went ahead and painted the previously thinned paint, even though it did need more thinner to be properly thinned. I got the job done ok, but I want to avoid that experience in the future. At the Bixby train show last week, I asked a gentleman who paints brass locomotives what he uses to thin Polly Scale acrylic paints, and he told me distilled water. Any information on experiences from this group would be appreciated. Terry
Terry, I would recommend using FLoquil Signal Yellow, it's not as dark as Railbox yellow, and not so light as Reefer yellow. CNW yellow is OK, but too brilliant. A note on roof colours, it's not that easy to be so definitive with them. Until 1959-60 nearly every roof was painted over galvanized sheets. It was the advent of overhanging roofs or roofs that were bolted to roofs at the last stages of construction like for Insulated cars which had their insulation blown into the side walls before roof application which mainly were unpainted, besides some overspray from the sides. Most repainted boxcars varied if the roof was painted or not depending on the location or how closely the specification was adhered to at the shops. You will note that I have included both delivery painted car images as well as repainted car images to give you an idea of how they were done. Nick
Nick, Thanks for any additional info on this question. However, I didn't see any images to compare. I am still watching your site for the restocking of parts and cars. Terry
