Terry - I only have one of the "improved" Microscale 87-455 sets, which I bought about a year ago. The Frisco Lines w/bar heralds that are dark blue are the second and third ones on the left side of the sheet. The top one, plus the three on the right side, are black. The star and the two small "The Texas Special" decals for the nose are silver. But, the two large "The Texas Special" decals for the sides are white. Ken
I'm currently working on my rendition of the Sunshine Cereal Processing plant in Kansas City. I made drawings that were scaled from photographs and am quite pleased with how it's turning-out. The main mill is formed from Gatorfoam with Evergreen styrene shapes attached with CA. Takes up a little bit more real estate than I wanted so the unique Sunshine silos may be selectively compressed. Jim
Jim: Mind elaborating on the Sunshine plant you're working on? Pictures of the prototype and/or your model? Is your model based on when the Sunshine plant was in the West Bottoms or over in Fairfax? Andre
Partial assembly of a couple of Bev-Bel W/V Frisco cabooses I picked up on eBay. I haven't picked up any details, extraneous to the kits. (Boxcar red/black roof. Kit #1285) I didn't install the trucks after reading Ken W's post about the trucks. I would like to find the more correct ones and I want to add the metal wheel sets after reading about their benefits from another/same(?) thread, here.
Finished it today - using OddBalls #187-172 decal set. BTW, I am a huge OddBalls fan - prefer Tom's decals and Microscale's as well to anything else. But, this set was a huge PIA, worst experience I have had with OddBalls decals. Broke apart and scrunched up a few times, and reacted very poorly to Microsol. But, we made it! Most unusual - wonder what the problem was. This is Walthers kit 932-3750, a 54ft GSC cast frame flat. The Frisco had a bunch of these, mainly built as bulkhead and wood rack flats. This car is SLSF 5250, the first car in its series, SLSF 5250-5299. And, there is a story here. When I bought this kit, some 7-8 years ago, I was talking with someone at Tinkertown, where I bought it and one other, who said the early cars in this series were built as 54ft flats, and then later converted into bulkhead flats. So - about a year ago, I built the first kit (this car) as a flat, without the bulkhead ends, and sprayed it yellow. Since, I have been researching my diagrams, etc, and can find no evidence this car, or any in its series, were ever anything else but bulkhead flats. Does anyone know the answer? Anyway, I built it as a flat, and a flat it is. I'll build the second as a wood rack. This car has Kadee couplers, Kato ASF A3 trucks, Cal-Scale brake hoses, and the AMB LaserKit wooden deck inserts. I also replaced the Walthers 3" square stirrup steps (!) with Details Associates #6416 steps. I left the Walthers cast on handrails alone as to me they look OK. The GSC (General Steel Castings) flat/bulkhead flat was a great car as it was so strong. The entire car frame was one casting. Note I also added a Frisco coonskin logo to the car side. I doubt these cars carried a coonskin, but it was in the OddBalls decal set so I added it as I thought it looked cool and the car is probably bogus anyway. I'll probably remove it eventually. Ken
Hi Andre. The industry I'm working on is currently called Cereal Foods Processors, Inc. in the Rosedale section of Kansas City. I'm modeling that area plus the Central Industrial District (aka West Bottoms) as of October 25, 1980. I've been told that in 1980 Cereal Foods Processors was known as the Sunshine Cereal Processing plant. The place is still in active use today. It appears that raw materials are received in covered hoppers on the north side of the plant and finished products are shipped by rail and truck from the south side. For great views of the prototype, go to Bing. com and do a map search for 56 Silver Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. I love Bing's aerial-birds-eye view that lets you navigate around all four sides of the building. Interestingly, I was there in February of this year making research photo's and watched BNSF SW1500 #3401 switching the plant. When I got home I saw that BNSF 3401 was originally SLSF 316. Looks like I'll be renumbering a diesel one of these days. I'll post a photo of the industry model under construction over the weekend. Jim in Claremore, OK
Thanks for the reply, Jim. I have an ulterior motive for being interested in the Sunshine Biscuit Company: My aging mom worked there in the mid-50's (I think). They had made their move to Fairfax. Also, a deceased uncle on my mom's side retired from Sunshine Biscuit. Anyhoo... ONE OF THESE DAYS... as my little scale S West Bottoms layout gets further along, as homage to mom, I hope to include a Sunshine Biscuit Co, even if not totally accurate for the West Bottoms in the mid-60's. Andre
Terry - Golly, I hope I inspire you in the right direction! Actually, this car (the GSC flat) does look pretty good, better than it does in the pics. To me, the pics seem to highlight flaws when you take them as close in as I usually do. If I had a decent layout, and was a better photographer, I'd take nice scenes of my stuff like the rest of you do. Besides this likely being a bogus car (a flat vs wood rack flat), one thing did bother me about this kit ..... the four LaserKit inserts at the ends sat right down into the body of the car very nicely, but the main deck is elevated a bit too much. I'm going to have to see what can be done about that when I do the next one - as a bulkhead wood rack this time. Ken
Having finished the 30 year old caboose, I'm now working on the original Newburg depot, standard No. 2.
Terry - Thanks for your compliment. Be it bogus or not, my stuff always looks like it is Frisco. That is my Number One criteria, always. The Frisco GSC flat HO model, SLSF 5250, was sprayed yellow with Model Master FS 33538 Insignia Yellow. One coat coverage. I have always have great success with this paint system - be it with my airbrush or with an old fashioned brush. Good stuff! Use the Model Master thinner as well. I thinned the paint about 50-50. The airbrush was a Paasche Type H - my very first airbrush, over 25 years old! Decals were OddBalls #187-172, though they proved a bit difficult (but they were printed 11/94 - yikes!, probably the cause of the problems). Ken
Great Looking flat car Ken, What did you use to glue the wood to the car? I have used Model Masters paint with success too, although I should use their thinner. Have you found the Insignia Yellow in Gloss? I like the coonskin on the flat. If the Frisco didn't have one there, they should have Sometimes I think some (including myself), spend maybe a little too much time and effort rivet counting and not just plain enjoying the building and modeling itself. You are clearly enjoying both here, and it shows. Like you, I enjoy building Frisco related models, mine have a few non prototypical QA&P logos, but all the same, Frisco enspired and related. Please "carry on" Tom
I am currently working on installing the Frisco lighting package to some of my locomotives. I'll will have photo's for you when it is done.
Thanks Tom. The MM Insignia Yellow is pretty close to flat. It only has a slight sheen. It sprays really well at 50-50 in my Paasche H at, I think, 20psi or so. The LASERkit wood decking sections were attached using toothpick applied dots of thick ACC. The decking is their kit #233. Their kit for the wood backing for the bulkheads is kit #260. The trucks are Kato ASF A-3's, but I think I'll take them off and see how the new Kadee ASF truck looks. I received a few packs of them two weeks ago from Walthers, but have not used any yet. Ken
I have been working on two AMB Frisco wood cabooses for some time, developing some new skills as I go along. The latest skill I taught myself was fabricating new end railings with brass rod and solder. The results are shown in the two photos below. Some time in the 1950s or 1960s (Ken, Karl, Don, etc maybe you can shed some light on this), the SLSF stopped the practice of painting the railings and grabs black and changed to yellow. My guess is for higher visibility, especially at night. My additional guess is that about that same time additional end railings were added for more safety. Therein came the challenge. My railings were made from the brass rod supplied in the kit and some good old silver solder (very thin) from Radio Shack. It took a few tries before I could get the rods to stick together because they liked my soldering iron better than the other piece of brass rod. Patience is a critical factor in doing this work as I had to make minor adjustments and resolder several joints before I was happy with them. Despite my best effort there was still more solder on the joints than I wanted so I carefully filed and sanded (400 wet or dry) the joints until they looked more to scale. I am happy with these results and can't wait to finish these late 50's, early 60's cabooses.
You do yourself proud, my man! Silver soldering is an art, especially when in 1/87! I have done it for many years, but on a full scale machinery basis, where appearance was not a factor, only strength. My hats off to you. Now if I could only TIG that small! Dan
Since this thread is title, "What was the last model project you worked on?" as opposed to "What was the last model project you finished?" I guess I can include this. It is a 12" gauge 1946 Ottaway 4-4-0 that I am rebuilding. It will be N&F RR #205... I have numbered my steam engines in the same class as Frisco steamers, even though they aren't exact models of the locomotives. I haven't found a picture of the prototype Frisco #205, but I am including a link to a picture of #209 which should be very close. Differences between my #205 and the prototype include headlight placement, bell placement, straight boiler vs wagon top boiler, lack of a turbogenerator on my engine, and I won't have those distinctive "Mickey Mouse" drivewheel counterweights that Dickson favored. The goal is just to have a good running steamer numbered in an appropriate class, not an exact model, same as my other steamer #103. Photo below shows the engine with lagging being fitted, I am currently working on the boiler jacket. Hope to run it sometime this year, although it probably won't be finished until next year. Finally, the last picture shows how the loco looked when I started the project. Bought it in '04, started the rebuild in '06, hopefully will finish in '11! - James
