|
|
 Posted - May 14 2014 : 6:26:36 PM
|
I was recently at the local quarterly swap meet and walked away with a bunch of stuff I could rework and repaint, among which was my Great Northern aluminum box car which I completed last month.
This time, I took an old Athearn BB Phillips 66 tank car and started the process again:
As it was:
I stripped it and gave it a new identity as a chemical tank car, which fits well into my midwestern agricultural/ small town layout scheme.
I made the decals after researching the placement and size of all the info that a tank car usually shows- but I had to really scale down the font sizes to get things done right.
The side view: 
The end view:
Intermountain steel wheels are all I added, except for a bit more internal weight, as it alreasy had Kadee 5's installed.
Next up- Target Store's ancestral department-store-parent's box car.
Ron
|
Country:  USA ~
Posts: 510 ~
Member Since: September 21 2011 ~
Last Visit: December 21 2014
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 14 2014 : 7:01:44 PM
|
Looking good!
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3533 ~
Member Since: February 17 2014 ~
Last Visit: January 11 2023
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 14 2014 : 8:00:51 PM
|
Ron that is excellent work! Both decals and paint. Is Farm States an actual company, or did you conceive it yourself?
I picked up a box of train stuff at a huge yard sale last weekend, thrown in the mix with the good stuff was a number of pieces of old rolling stock in great shape, EXCEPT that somebody had attempted to weather these cars with brown and black enamel paint, right from a brush. It made me sick to see such cars ruined - but the bright side is that I have some cars now I won't feel a bit bad about stripping the paint from!
http://tycodepot.com/
|
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 14 2014 : 8:45:06 PM
|
Jerry:
Farm States is a fictional company. I chose the name so it would be more "generic" than something named as a Minnesota-specific industry, as my layout is centered west and north of Minneapolis (my hometown), as a subsidiary of the old Great Northern, which was based in St. Paul.
The imaginary backstory is that a couple of enterprising young vets, both of whom had served as supply officers in the Army in WW2, returned to the Twin Cities and completed their degrees in Agricultural Chemistry (yes, it is a real major) on the GI Bill.
The increased sophistication in agricultural practices and the beginnings of "corporate" farming in the midwest in the early 1950s gave these two guys an idea to develop pesticides, herbicides, soil-enriching nutrient blends and other agriculturally-relevant chemical solutions and market them to these new larger customers (as well as the smaller family farmers).
It became a highly profitable enterprise and their company grew exponentially over the next 20 years, eventually being bought by Cargill and operated as a separate subdivision.
Cedarwoodron
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 510 ~
Member Since: September 21 2011 ~
Last Visit: December 21 2014
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 14 2014 : 8:59:52 PM
|
coool I wants one in either Safety-Klean or Co-op
& I has ALL 3 Target boxcars
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 14908 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: June 28 2025
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 14 2014 : 10:01:17 PM
|
Wow Ron...the back story is as impressive as the car itself. Really adds to the model.
http://tycodepot.com/
|
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 15 2014 : 12:25:33 AM
|
| That is some sweet work Ron.
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 2087 ~
Member Since: March 16 2013 ~
Last Visit: July 05 2018
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 15 2014 : 06:51:05 AM
|
Ben (Microbuss) and others:
Sorry to disappoint you, but Target Stores was the successor corporation to the Dayton Company, which operated department stores of the old-style type. The Dayton Company built the first Target store in my Minneapolis suburb in 1962, as a competitor to the emerging resurrection of the Kresge discount five-and-dime stores, which were moving out of the downtown areas around the country and into "large-box" stores called "K-Mart". Target aimed their offerings at more upscale suburban buyers- still discount priced, yet better quality.
Admittedly, their primary competition is Wal-Mart today, after the collapse of the K-Mart brand in the 1990s, but a stroll down the aisles of each store will quickly reveal that Target has higher quality items, if a bit less selection.
In my recall, I never saw a Target Corp. box car anywhere in Mpls-St. Paul growing up there between the early 1960s- 1984, but the model railroad world did. Then again, department stores usually didn't have their own private box cars, either- but in MY railroad world, that is a different story.
The "backstories" of my "creations" are each a chapter in my model railroad world, which adds to my enjoyment of the hobby!
Ron
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 510 ~
Member Since: September 21 2011 ~
Last Visit: December 21 2014
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 15 2014 : 12:47:25 PM
|
the 3 Target cars came in Bachmann sets sold at Target stores Usually I bet at Xmas 
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 14908 ~
Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: June 28 2025
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 15 2014 : 10:00:10 PM
|
Ron,
Beautiful work!
The paint scheme, font style, font sizes and placement look very realistic. Excellent example of Prototype Style Freelancing or "Protolancing".
Be creative, share and enjoy the hobby :-)
Edited by - AntonioFP45 on May 15 2014 10:01:17 PM
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 32 ~
Member Since: July 23 2012 ~
Last Visit: December 20 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 17 2014 : 09:29:32 AM
|
Ron,
I've stated this before but much of the work that you do is "Magazine Article Quality". MRR wants new materials and your "Protolanced" cars are excellent examples as more of us are getting into "believable" freelancing.
Be creative, share and enjoy the hobby :-)
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 32 ~
Member Since: July 23 2012 ~
Last Visit: December 20 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
|
|
Posted - May 18 2014 : 6:17:55 PM
|
Clean professional work as usual, Ron.  Bev-Bel better watch out.
The Tyco Depot
|
|
Country: USA ~
Posts: 3927 ~
Member Since: June 20 2007 ~
Last Visit: November 19 2015
|
Alert Moderator
|
|
Home
Forums
Events Calendar
Forum Admins & Mods
Register
1 guest.)
