SLSF 191082 Tank Car 10,000 Gal. tank car series 191000-191129 American Car & Fdy. Co. from Frisco file photo. Tank car #191082 - Western Historical Manuscript Collection.
SLSF 191000-191129 10 10,000 gal tank cars series 191000-191129 at loading station at an unknown location. - Western Historical Manuscript Collection.
I just saw your photos of the Frisco tank cars series 191000-191129. I have been trying to model these cars for years. Could you please give me the color of the dome and the body which appears to be black. Also do you know if these cars ventured offline very often or if ever? Also, is the Champ set accurate for these cars and is there another more accurate set? What was the main cargo of these cars and the time period that they were in use on the Frisco? THANKS very much for your help. Jim Kanclier
Jim - I'll venture an answer to your questions about these Frisco tank cars ... - car body was black, dome was yellow when new, got dirty easily - the cars were used to haul diesel fuel oil - they were mainly seen on-line as they were company service cars. You could pretend they went off line to pick up fuel at a fuel depot I guess. - I've not used the Champ decal set, but have used the Herald King, which is good but out of production, and have a set the new decals from Oddballs, which look to be very good. Check Tom Stolte's Oddballs web site. - I'm not sure on the exact period this car appeared in this paint scheme - I'd guess first generation diesel time (late 1940's) thru the early 1970's. Perhaps others have a more specific recollection. - All the ones I saw (not many, late 1960's as i recall) were very dirty. I have one running and it is well weathered. - Red Caboose made a decent model of this car, but I'm told some of RC's frame details were not accurate. Ken
I just saw a slide posted for sale on eBay of Frisco tank car SLSF 191060. The pic in the listing is not real good, but it looks like this car has a dark green (or dark blue) dome. The side of the car is labeled "Waste Fuel Oil". Interesting. The green (or blue?) dome must have been the code for waste oil, just as a yellow dome was the code for "Diesel Fuel Oil". Ken
Follow-up to my posting above ..... I found a couple more Frisco tank cars in my pic collection that had dark domes - two were black, with no markings as to the specified contents of the tank, and one other had a dark green (blue?) dome and was marked "waste fuel oil", like the one on eBay. I seem to recall reading somewhere in the distant past of the color code used by the SLSF for the domes of their company service tank cars. I checked in a few SLSF ETT's, but no luck. Does anybody have a clue as to where that t/c dome color code listing is printed? Me thinks I gotta get me another Type 103W 10k gallon tank car and some dark green (or dark blue, whichever it is) paint! Ken
Ken--What color of model paint did you used on the dome of the diesel tank car? Is that the same as you would use on the F's, FA's, FP-7's etc? Tom
I might add an interesting twist to the tank car story. The first Red Caboose offering was actually in kit form and was displayed by them at the NMRA National Convention in Kansas City which I believe was in 1995. The car they displayed was a tuscan color with a yellow dome. Several of us told the owner of Red Caboose that this was wrong. He said he had taken the color info off of a car that was in the C&S yard in Denver. He also said that there would one run (240 kits with 4 road #'s) and that would be it. He claimed masking the bottom of the dome was one of the hardest things they had ever done. When the cars were released about 6 months later they were painted black. Upon turning them over and looking on the inside of the shell one could see traces of the tuscan color under the black so they evidently repainted them. Several years later follow Frisco modeler Tony LaLumia and I photographed one of the cars on the rip track in the Missouri Pacific yard here in Wichita. It was white-lined, very dirty, and looked to be a dark reddish color vs. black. We concluded that this may have been the same car since it was on UP family RR trackage. Also, years of deiesel fuel accumulating on the sides turned it a rusted dark reddish color. Red Caboose later produced a RTR version of the car in 12 road #'s. The prototype cars made regular appearances here in Wichita as the Frisco purchased diesel fuel from the Derby Refining Company. As many as 10 or more were spotted at the fuel rack at a time. They then headed east to Springfield on the Wichita Sub. Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
Bob - Neat story! My car was built from that Red Caboose kit. I did notice the inside of the shell was painted with a dark reddish overspray, and wondered what all that was about! RC did do a nice job masking off the yellow dome. No way I could have done it as well! I only bought one of those. Wish I would have grabbed one or two more with different numbers. The underside is not totally accurate for a Type 103W tank car. I recall a discussion with Richard Hendrickson, who is a tank car guru, and a noted freight car expert and author in general, and gets things correct down to the last detail on his models. He noted some minor problems with the brake rigging, the saddles, etc. But, the RC 103W is a real nice kit none-the-less. Tom - My Frisco kit came decorated, so it was already black and had all the markings on it, very well done, except for the missing dome lettering. I added that lettering (black) from the OddBalls decal set. I haven't done it yet, but I also plan to add some minor lettering to the car frame, as you can see some on a few of the Frisco cars when they were clean. (Rare!) If I were to paint the car myself, I would indeed use Scalecoat II black. I use the loco black, not the straight black. The loco black has a bit of gray in it and looks better on a model. For the yellow dome, I'd just use S-II or Floquil Reefer Yellow. The yellow dome did not stay clean and bright for very long as indicated in the pics of them. I guess I'll have to order S-II through the mails now, as nobody here in StL, that I can find, stocks it since TinkerTown closed. It's real good stuff in my book, for both brushing and spraying (with their thinner). Their Oxide Red is a great color as well. Ken
Let me modify what I posted above - my comments were not totally accurate in remembering my discussion with Richard Hendrickson (from year 2000!) regarding tank car models. I went back and checked my notes ..... Richard's only problem with the RC 103W tank car was that RC had done the kit up in some road names (mainly oil companies) that were bogus. The Frisco car, however, is dead on as regards to decor and numbering, and the underframe and brake rigging is OK on the model. His problen with the underside and rigging of a tank car model I asked him about was with the Walthers update of the old Varney 10k gal tank car. Nice looking car on the surface, but the dimensions, underside and other details are not accurate. Not surprising, given its origins as a Varney t/c kit from way, way back - one of the first plastic model kits in HO. Sorry about that! Ken
For those of you like Ken who really get into making a model as superdetailed as possible, Plano Models makes a superdetailing kit specifically for this tank car. It replaces the plastic walkway and end platforms with photoetched parts. http://www.planomodelproducts.com/frames.html It would make a great car even better! Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
Re: 10,000 Tank Cars--(Q For Meteor 910) Ken--Back to the SLSF diesel fuel tank car discussion. You recommended Floquil Reefer Yellow for the dome color (If you were painting from scratch). Would you say that color is the same yellow that's on the Frisco F's and FA's? Thanks, Tom
Tom - Floquil Reefer Yellow is what I used on the F7A/F7B and the FA/FB units I painted by hand years ago. They still look very good as far as a color match to my eye and my memory, and are a perfect match for the MicroScale yellow name and number decals - which I think are dead-on. Bear in mind, I have not painted a Frisco b/y "F" or "FA" for a long time. Color-wise - and we are talking HO here, Floquil Reefer Yellow is "yellower" than yellow P2K used on their FA/FB and the yellow IRC used on their FP7-F7B. It is "less-gold" than the yellow Athearn used on their Genesis F3A & F3B. I maintain Floquil Reefer Yellow is more true to the Frisco color than what any of these companies used. I have also used Floquil Reefer Yellow for handrails, etc on Stewart Frisco Baldwins, EMD SW's, GP7's, and a few other other Frisco b/y units, and it looks fine. This has been a long-winded answer to your question! Typical for me. Short answer ..... yes! I would use the Floquil color on a Frisco diesel fuel tank car as well, in fact I'm sure I did on the earlier one I painted myself. Ken
Thanks Ken--When warmer weather comes (for outside ventilation), I plan to do some painting of several modeling projects. Diesel tank cars and an FP-7 to name a couple. I imagine if there's some reefer yellow left, some caboose handrails and ladders, and some putt-putt speeders will be on the list also. Tom
Yes, Athearn has a RTR tank car in the Frisco diesel t/c scheme ..... but, the car length is too long and the dome is too squat. But, the one I saw at least looked pretty good as long as you don't mind the details. Ken
Are all the Red Caboose Frisco company service tank cars gone? They are the right car and the paint/lettering is about 90% correct. Off to assemble yet another P2K tank car. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Rick - They are gone from Red Caboose. Even the undec kit is no longer available there. I guess the only hope is old stock on some shop's shelf, or resales via eBay, etc. Ken
I just checked my private stock and found three of the original Red Caboose SLSF 191xxx tank kits. I will post these under the swap meet section. I have two car number 191107 and one number 191096. The only big difference between the kits and the RTR that Red Caboose did a couple of years ago are the car numbers and the "Diesel Fuel Loading Only" on the yellow dome. As I understand it, these cars are an exact match for the Frisco car. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Rick - If still available, I'll take one. Either number is OK, the one I have is SLSF 191083. Do these have, or not have, the diesel fuel lettering on the dome? I'm just curious if RC ever corrected that in the kits. Ken
