Modeling an acid tank car

A couple months ago, I reviewed John Riddell’s fine new book, Canadian Car & Foundry, and included in the review several builder photos. They weren’t entirely chosen at random; each had some modeling interest or specific freight car history content as well. (You can read that review at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2026/08/an-excellent-new-freight-car-book.html .)

One of the images was a 1931 photo of a brand-new acid tank car. It was built for Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. of Canada, headquartered at Trail, British Columbia, site of what was at one time the largest lead/zinc smelter in the world. That photo is repeated below. 

So why would a smelter company own acid tank cars? The sulfur dioxide by-product of smelting is not only environmentally damaging if released, but if recovered, can readily be converted to sulfuric acid and sold as an additional revenue stream. Cominco (as the company was often known) owned 14 of these acid cars, numbered CMSX 1–14.

I should mention that the car shown above is readily recognized as an acid tank car because of its dome. Acid cargoes were normally unloaded by suction up through the dome, rather than draining through a bottom outlet, so this is not an expansion dome. The AAR code for cars without bottom outlets, a suffix letter “A” for acid, means that this was an AAR Type TA car.

These cars are listed in the Official Railway Equipment Register as 5900-gallon capacity; those are Imperial gallons, which convert to 7085 U.S. gallons. Tangent Scale Models offered a very nice 7000-gallon  acid tank car some years back. I acquired several of them; I reviewed one at the time (see my post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-terrific-new-tank-car-model.html ). They follow an AC&F prototype, but look quite similar to the CC&F car shown above.

I knew that Black Cat Publishing (Winnipeg, Manitoba) had a decal set for this lettering scheme (set CMSX1); you can see their line of decals at this site: https://www.blackcatdecals.com/product-category/ho-decals/private-tank-cars/ . One of the Tangent models I purchased was undecorated black, for future decal application. Yes, one handrail on the dome platform needs to be replaced; I used brass wire.

This model does have a dome platform, which the CMSX cars originally did not, but some car owners did apply these in later years. I don’t know whether or how many of the CMSX cars were so modified, but here is the model photo included on the Black Cat Decals web page, with credit to Lyall Falk included. On this basis, I chose to leave the dome platform in place, though this looks more like a high-pressure valve bonnet than an acid dome.

Decal application was straightforward. Every Black Cat set I have ever used was high quality and easy to work with. Incidentally, the white diamond provided in the decal set for the side of the dome is incorrect. That diamond denotes an “approved manway,” which acid cars did not have. Here is the model, still awaiting placards and weathering (separate topics, in some ways). 

To operate this car on my layout, of course, it needs a waybill, and here is an example of what an inbound bill might look like. 

This is an interesting tank car, being as it is from western North America, and I expect it to show up from time to time in my operating sessions.

Tony Thompson 

Weathering big tank cars, Part 2

In the preceding post on this topic, I showed two 33,000-gallon LPG tank cars, in the form of HO scale cars by Tangent Models. These are to be weathered for a 1975 layout, making these cars about 10 years old. (The first post about these cars is at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2026/09/weathering-really-big-tank-cars.html .)

Just for a comparison, the 50-foot box cars I weathered earlier for the same layout are models of cars built only a few years before the layout era. Accordingly, they were only give a light overall haze of grime, as in this example.

I weathered the tank cars following my usual procedure (see “Reference pages” linked at top right) using washes of acrylic tube paints. I will begin by showing NATX 32141 (North American Car Corp.), leased to the Murphy Corporation, with a Spur logo. Murphy was a company operating a chain of retail gasoline stations, selling Spur gasoline, and also in the LPG market. 

I decided to weather the two sides a little differently. I wanted to show some streaking, and also some dirt discharge from below the valve bonnet. The first of these is the right side (following the usual rule, to stand at the B end looking at the car, and the right side is on your right). 

On the other side is more dirty streaking below the valve bonnet. Both sides have an overall dirtiness consistent with years in service.

The other car, NCTX 33019, is lettered as leased to the Canadian company Pacific 66, and lettered with the very large “LP GAS” lettering. The reporting mark belongs to North American Car (Canada) Limited. It is white and this color is always challenging to weather well. I decided to allow some “pooling” of dirt at low points. Here is the right side. 

I tried to get a little difference in the streaking and so on for the left side, along with dirt pooling along the lower curves of the tank. I also added some Pan Pastels to get the tone I wanted. 

These large cars are a different challenge from the freight cars I’m used to, and were interesting to deal with.

Tony Thompson 

 

Reworking a Broadway Limited chlorine car

Back in 2017 when the Broadway Limited HO scale high-pressure cars were released, I purchased more than I needed, including one of their “variety” four-packs to get a paint scheme I wanted. (If you’re interested in my 2017 review, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-new-broadway-limited-tank-cars.html .)

One of the cars that I didn’t need for operation was an Ethyl Corp. car, from which I stole the platform and ladder for another project. Recently I disassembled the EBAX model, and this is how it looked at that point. The valve bonnet part has become separated, and trucks are off. This is how the model languished for many months.

Much more recently,  I came across the K4 decals for Diamond Alkali chlorine cars. This inspired me to repair the EBAX car, with new side ladders and walkways, so I could repaint and re-letter it. 

I made walkways from scale 1 x 10-inch Evergreen styrene strip, attached with canopy glue, then added drop grab irons from A-Line underneath each walk. Ladders will come later.

At this point I could repaint the tank, which as you see above, was now separated from the underframe. The K4 decals I have are for Diamond Alkali, in the older scheme, which had either aluminum or gray tanks. I chose gray, and used Tamiya “Corsa Gray” (PS-32). 

The underframe and trucks were black, which the BLI model already has, so I reassembled the tank to the frame. I decided to have the handrail and ladder as body color, as was increasingly common in the 1950s. When freshly lettered with the K4 decals, set K4-DAX-87 A, it looked like this. 

I now added a ladder on each side at the car center. First, I painted a ladder from my parts stash, then created ladder sections by cutting to fit, and attached them with canopy glue. I also painted the bare metal wheel faces with a dark gray-brown mix. 

Next came weathering, following my usual procedures using washes of acrylic tube paints (see the “Reference pages” linked at the top right of this post). Finally, I added a few touches of Pan Pastels.

This completes my modification of the original Broadway Limited paint scheme on this model, to that of a different chemical company, still with the car matching its design character as a chlorine car.

But to enter service on my layout, the car needs one or more waybills. I checked Tank Car Tariff 300-H and found that Diamond Alkali had both 3000-gallon and 6000-gallon chlorine cars. Unfortunately K4 Decals chose the decal number for the smaller size series. I decided to ignore this discrepancy, as the model is definitely a 6000-gallon car.

The Diamond Alkali company was located in Painesville, Ohio (as the car lettering notes) and was located on the Fairport, Painesville & Eastern Railroad (FP&E). The FP&E, about 8 miles long, had interchanges with both the NYC and Nickel Plate but seems to have favored NYC. The NYC Shipper Guide seems to indicate that Painesville was a reciprocal switching district, thus no interchange location with NYC need be indicated. This produces a waybill like that below.

I look forward to seeing this model in service for an operating session on my layout.

Tony Thompson  

Weathering really big tank cars

As part of the weathering project I mentioned in an earlier post about Rapido models of Pacific Car & Foundry 70-ton box cars, I also agreed to take a crack at weathering some 33,000-gallon tank cars. (You can read the previous post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2026/08/another-weathering-project.html .) Tank cars of this size were quite an advance when introduced in 1962, as “stub-sill” tank car designs were approved for use. This meant no center sill. 

A pioneer in building these cars was American Car & Foundry, with what was called a “whale belly” design. The stub sills carried the narrower part of the tank, and the center section was enlarged to the maximum clearance diagram. The AC&F demonstrator of the design is shown below (AC&F photo, courtesy Ed Kaminski), riding on 100-ton trucks.

Substantial numbers of these cars were built, usually with capacities of around 33,000 gallons. But before long both AC&F and North American Car decided that the more complex fabrication of this design wasn’t necessary, and after about 1965 or so, both builders had changed back to “straight barrel” designs. But the whale-bellies continued in service for many years.

These cars were built to carry Liquified Petroleum Gas, and thus are often called LPG tank cars. For a short time in the 1960s, even larger  cars, up to 60,000 gallons, were on the rails. But in 1970, the DOT instituted a maximum gallonage limit of 34,500 gallons. 

Tangent Scale Models produced ready-to-run models of the North American Car whale-belly cars in HO scale. Here is one of the cars, emblazoned with a huge logo, as were many of the cars. You may note it has neither ACI label nor a COTS or lube stencil. When the cars were built, neither of those was yet introduced. But for the layout where these cars will run, set in 1975, both need to be added. 

The other model is below. These two cars have 1964 and 1965 built dates. That makes them 10 years old in 1975, so they can receive significant weathering, once I have added ACI and COTS. 

I give Tangent high marks for including in the delivery boxes of the models, small photos showing where to put the ACI label for each car. Also visible is the location and type of lube stencil. I should note that the LP Gas photo is from 1980, thus more heavily weathered than appropriate for 1975. 

I resorted to an ancient Microscale decal set to obtain ACI labels and lube stencils. I proceeded with normal decal application. Shown below is the Pacific 66 tank with these applied. The lube stencil looks non-vertical because it is on a slanting part of the tank (compare the photo above). My first weathering pass is also visible here, though more needs to be done.

I now proceeded with weathering of these two models. They are so large that I found I needed more than one session on each tank, a minimum of once per side. But I will show those results in a future post.

Tony Thompson 

Mundane models

 In a recent conversation with an acqaintance, the topic of my blog came up, and during the discussion he asked, essentially, “Are all your model projects complicated ones, like the Hendrickson one?’ (He was remembering the Santa Fe automobile car of Richard’s that I had completed; the concluding post is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2018/11/hendrickson-auto-car-part-6.html ). 

Like most modelers, my answer was “no.” I do lots of projects that can only be called “mundane,” thus the title of this blog. But reflecting on this point, I thought I would show some examples of such projects, always remembering, of course, that I am definitely a “freight car guy.” (For background on that term, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/10/whats-freight-car-guy.html .) 

The topic of mundane models returns me to something I’ve often mentioned, usually just in passing. It’s my idea to separate mentally, what I call “mainline models,” by which I mean cars that will look all right in a passing train, but might not look so good up close during switching, from better models. I talked about the philosophy of all that in a previous post, too (it can be found here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/08/layout-models-and-all-that.html ).

But today’s post is to illustrate a few models, and perhaps clarify what a mundane model is. It need not be a “mainline model,” but may be quite a nice freight car, just not anywhere approaching contest quality or even worthy of a detailed description of its construction in this blog. I have felt from the beginning that following kit directions needn’t be posted here, but some models so built can turn out quite well.

I’ll begin with a automobile car finished recently. This was kind of a silk purse affair, in that I started with a C&BT Shops kit, kits known for their poor detail sprues. But replacing most of them, and in particular adding wire corner grab irons on the roof, and an etched metal running board, can make a pretty decent final result. There was a distant view of this car in a post last year (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/09/forty-foot-automobile-cars.html ).

 A second box car in work is more mundane than the car above; it is simply a Branchline kit for a postwar 40-foot box car. I happen to have won it as a door prize at a Prairie Rail operating weekend, and so far it has its internal steel nuts for weight added, underframe complete, and starting to add body details. Roof not yet attached; it will receive an etched metal running board. Shouldn’t be long till it’s done.

Awhile back, as part of purchasing several of the very nice Broadway Limited 6000-gallon high-pressure tank cars, I received one lettered for the Ethyl Corporation. The car came with a dome platform and railings, but a prototype photo I have shows an EBAX  car with only short dome walkways, no platform. I removed the platform and ladders (used them on another project), and am preparing to add the walkways and new ladders. A small project, to be sure.

This car will likely only operate in mainline trains, because I have no industries on my layout that would either ship or receive Ethyl Corp. cargoes, but such a restriction won’t be on account of model shortcomings.  

Finally, I’ve just completed an Accurail box car, chosen in honor of Paul Weiss’s Central Vermont layout (and could be used to receive cargoes from industries on his layout). This is of course an extremely simple kit, with minimal number of parts, though I added A-Line sill steps and a Cal-Scale brass brake wheel soldered to the brake staff. It hasn’t yet been weathered.

All these cars are mundane in construction, but all have roles to play, and in fact none of them would be relegated to the “mainline” category because of quality shortcomings. Cars like this can be the majority of any freight car fleet, as they are in mine. 

Tony Thompson 

An Athearn “Blue Box” tank car, conclusion

I began this project under the inspiration of a new decal set from National Scale Car, set D-245 for Shell Chemical Co. tank cars. The set can do two cars, one of them an anhydrous ammonia car. 

The size of that car was quite similar to the Athearn “Blue Box” tank car that Athearn terms a “chemical” car, though there is no such category; it is simply a model of a high-pressure insulated tank car of about 11,000 gallons. I showed the prototype photo in the first post (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/07/reworking-athearn-blue-box-tank-car.html ).

In the succeeding posts, I described my upgrades to the deficiencies of the Athearn model, most recently showing all the parts ready for assembly (covered in my post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/04/an-athearn-blue-box-tank-car-part-4.html ). 

Installing Kadee #158 couplers, adding trucks with InterMountain wheelsets, and temporarily putting together the rest of the car (except for the handrails, which will be added after decal application), the car looked like this:

The decals are well designed and taken directly from the prototype photo, and accordingly are quite easy to apply in the correct locations. Here is the car with the decals applied and protected with a coat of clear flat.

Next, I assembled the handrails, then added the dome platform with ladders, in the position shown in the upper photo above, attaching them with canopy glue.

A drawback to the use of the Broadway Limited tank car platform and ladder is that it is for a smaller (6000 gallons) tank car, so not only are the ladders too short, but the ladder rungs aren’t correctly located — note that there is not a rung at the level of the handrail, and there is one right below the handrail which should be removed in favor of a new one at the handrail level.

The ladder stiles are matched by styrene scale 1 x 3-inch strip, and the rungs by 0.015-inch styrene rod. I attached both with canopy glue, and when glue was set, painted them black.Then I lightly weathered the car, using washes of acrylic tube paints, as I’ve described and illustrated in the “Reference pages” linked at the top right corner of this post.

The car was now ready for service, and I’ve spotted it at its natural destination, the Pacific Chemical Repackaging Company in my layout town of Ballard, delivering a load of anhydrous ammonia. 

This has been an interesting project, yet another upgrading and conversion of one of the Athearn “Blue Box” tank cars, taking advantage of its accuracies and correcting its inaccuracies.

Tony Thompson

An Athearn “Blue Box” tank car, Part 4

In previous posts on this topic, I have been describing a project to model a Shell Chemical high-pressure tank car, starting with an Athearn “Blue Box” tank car. Athearn has usually labeled this as a “chemical” tank car, though that term conveys nothing specific. The background and prototype photos for the project is in the first post of the series (you can view it here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/07/reworking-athearn-blue-box-tank-car.html ). 

In the previous post, Part 3 of the series, I showed how I modeled the tank hold-downs, with their distinctive turnbuckles (that post is at this link: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/08/an-athearn-blue-box-tank-car-part-3.html ). Meanwhile, I was also adding wire grab irons at each corner of the tank, using brass wire. The tank has already received a coat of blue-gray primer.

Next I turned to the Athearn underframe. As I showed in the first post in this series (see link in top paragraph above), the extraneous extra outlet pipes have already been removed. Now I reworked the coupler pockets, which I modify so that the coupler box lids are separate from the underframe, and are fastened with screws (see, for example, this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/05/fixing-athearn-tank-car-coupler-pockets.html ). 

The Athearn power hand brake arrangement is wrong for nearly all transition-era tank cars. I fill the hole in the running board meant to accept the Athearn brake stand, and drill a hole to insert a brass wire with brass brake wheel soldered to it (as shown in previous posts, such as: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/05/small-project-replacing-brake-wheels.html ). Finally, I added wire to represent brake rodding, which you can just see below. 

Another part of the project requiring attention was the dome platform, which I confiscated from a Broadway Limited high-pressure tank car. This required several modifications, the first of which was to enlarge the opening in the platform to accommodate the diameter of the Precision Scale brass valve bonnet part. Here is a photo of the platform temporarily in place, prior to painting.

Next the two halves of the tank body, and the platform, could be painted. I used Tamiya “Haze Grey” (TS-32) for this. The paint has a semi-gloss finish, quite suitable for decal application. Below I show how they look at this point (the dome platform parts other than the deck will be hand-painted black later). The frame hasn’t had its black paint touched up.

With this work complete, all parts are ready for assembly and lettering. I will turn to those topics in a future post.

Tony Thompson

Small project: an old brass tank car

I have in my collected brass items, a Soho “1920 tank car,” so called, with two compartments. I first acquired this model way back in 1979, when it was not very old. I once painted it black and lettered it for a Union Tank Car prototype, UTLX 289, a prototype that was much the wrong size, being only 6000 gallons, distinctly less than the size of the Soho model. This has always kind of bugged me, and I decided to do better.

First, let’s find out how big this model tank car really is. The volume of a cylinder is of course easy to calculate, as we’ve all learned, but you then need to convert your cubic inches or cubic feet into water gallons. I explained and showed how to do this in a tank car post some time back (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/10/naperville-tank-car-handout-part-2.html ). 

For the model being considered, here are the dimensions. The diameter is 96 scale inches, the length 384 scale inches. This is a volume of 12,300 gallons. The usual allowance for the internal bulkheads of the two compartments is 10 to 15 percent, making the net volume about 11,500 gallons.

Here’s a view of this model, repainted a “muted black,” Tamiya “Rubber Black” (TS-82), to cover the old lettering. The elbow safety valves are kind of oversize, and the steel “diamond tread plate” running board a little unusual for a car of this age, but I going to live with all of that.

There happen to be Tichy decals for a two-compartment tank car of about this size, Tichy set 10360, for a SHPX car leased to J.M. Huber printing inks. The decals offer several car numbers, but only one of them, SHPX 91, is for a prototype two-compartment tank car. I decided to letter the Soho model for this car. It needs to have route card boards added underneath the running board, located at the lefthand body bolster on each side, made from scale 2 x 6-inch styrene.

I have discussed the Huber ink company previously on this blog, and have even shown a prototype photo of SHPX 91 (see that post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/10/small-modeling-project-huber-tank-car.html ). The real SHPX 91 was a smaller and more slender-proportioned tank car, but I will accept the Soho model as a stand-in.

Since I have a printing company on my layout, I have a destination for this car to be switched. I already have a model of another Huber car, SHPX 6031, as was described in the post linked in the preceding paragraph. For that car, I created artwork for custom decals, following the prototype photos shown in that post. But here is the Soho tank car with the Tichy lettering.

Note that the lessee’s information is centered on the tank, instead of toward the right end of the car side, as was commonly seen. But that right-end location is common on single-compartment tank cars, because it locates that information away from any spills from the dome. Here, the centered location accomplishes the same avoidance of any dome spillage.  

Having protected the new decals with a coat of clear flat, I weathered the tank with my usual acrylic washes, added route cards with canopy glue, and included a few chalk marks. The appearance is now definitely not merely a black tank car.

As I mentioned, I do have a layout industry to which this car cab suitably be switched, and below is an example of that in progress.

This has been an interesting upgrade and, I think, improvement of an old brass tank car model, despite its shortcomings as an accurate depiction of a prototype. I will enjoy seeing it being switched on the layout.

Tony Thompson

More on tank car placards

I have written a number of posts about the hazard placards used on tank cars, concentrating on my modeling era (1953). Placards were used to identify cargoes that were dangerous, and also to indicate dangerous empty cars. A summary of prototype practice was an early post of mine on this topic (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/03/tank-car-placards-prototype.html ). 

Recently Michael Litant gave me two prototype placards. Both have tack or staple holes in them, indicating that they had been used on tank cars. Most tank cars had wood-faced placard boards, so this method of attachment is natural, but Union Tank (UTLX) cars had a metal frame into which a workman could slide a placard without tacks or staples. That usage then spread to other tank car owners from the 1930s onward. I’ve blogged about that too (see this example: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/10/model-tank-car-placards-refinement.html ).

Here is one of Michael’s placards. This type of placard became standard in 1930, and was intended to be used to warn of any corrosive cargo, whether acidic or basic or otherwise capable of causing corrosion. As with most placards, this one was issued by a railroad (in this case, the Nickel Plate, as can be seen at the top of the placard; you can click on the image to enlarge it if you wish.) It was the railroad’s Form 841 and is dated 11-33, consistent with the introduction date mentioned above.

An earlier placard, with a date blank at right center indicating its introduction in the 1920s, is this one for flammable cargo (or as was then synonymous, “inflammable,” a possible source of confusion later eliminated by standardizing on the word “flammable”). This was Nickel Plate Form 761, and like the placard above, is 10.75 inches on a side.

It seems to me an obvious point that our model tank cars should carry these placards, depending on their cargo, or an “empty” placard if moving as an empty car. The most important category of “empty” cars is those containing small amounts of dangerous liquid or, sometimes even more dangerous, the vapor of the prior cargo. (Gasoline is an excellent example; a car full of vapor is much more explosive than a car of the liquid, having only a slight volume of vapor above the cargo.) Here is such a placard, helpfully showing its dimensions:

I have also posted several times about my methods for modeling and applying these various placards in HO scale (see for example, this one: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/03/tank-car-placards-modeling.html ). I have made HO scale images of all the various placard types, and printed them out at my local copy shop, which has a high-resolution color printer. (Incidentally, 10.75 prototype inches converts to just a hair under 1/8-inch on a side for HO scale placards.)

Then in practice, I apply a loaded-car placard on one side of the model, and the empty placard on the other. That way, I can simply reverse the physical orientation of the model between sessions, to change its status from loaded to empty. In the examples below, the car belongs to Shell Chemical Co. In this first view, it is inbound to one of my industries, Pacific Chemical Repackaging, in Ballard, with a flammable placard.

In a future session (not necessarily the next one following),the car will be outbound as an empty, heading back to its owner. It’s shown below during switching at Shumala, being made ready for pickup by the mainline local.

I do think that model operations benefit from presence of placards, and was delighted that Mr. Litant gave me the two examples I’ve shown here. Thanks again, Michael.

Tony Thompson

Painting and lettering a brass tank car

In a previous post, I discussed some 1920s waybills from the Coudersport & Port Allegany Railroad, all of them for shipments of the Gray Chemical Co. of Roulette, PA. This company and the railroad that served it survived past my modeling year of 1953, so I wanted to take advantage of the fine decals for a tank car of this company, offered by K4 Decals (see their tank car range at: ttps://k4decals.com/collections/tank-car-decals ). That previous post can be found at this link: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/08/waybills-part-116-early-prototype.html .

I dug around in my stash of tank cars, both kits and various brass cars I’ve collected, and came upon a nice Overland Models brass 8000-gallon AC&F car, catalog number 3130. It’s shown below. I don’t know for sure that the Gray Co. cars were built by AC&F, which this model represents, but decided to take a chance on that. The alternative, if the Gray cars were built by General American, would be an undecorated Tangent 8000-gallon car.

A more serious issue is that it is a typical riveted tank, but most if not all of the Gray Chemical tank cars were aluminum, and such tanks usually were all-welded aluminum, once aluminum welding was established. Before that time, though, aluminum-lined steel tanks were built. I decided the model could represent such an older car.

Obviously with a fully constructed brass model, no additional modeling was needed (with a minor exception I’ll come to). I will just show the steps I follow for painting and lettering a model like this.

My first step was to carefully wipe down the model to remove any oils, using paint thinner. I then sprayed the entire tank (above the bottom sheet) light gray. The strategy here was to paint the gray tank and not worry about overspray onto the frame, then carefully mask the upper tank that would remain gray, and spray the underframe, trucks and bottom sheet black. Here’s the first step.

Next came the masking. I have come to strongly prefer Tamiya tape for any modeling tape needs. It’s flexible and can be made to fit over projections and around corners; it sticks well and never allows paint to bleed underneath; and it comes off cleanly when you’re done without ever lifting any paint. I taped all of the tank above the bottom sheet, and left the ladders outside the tape.

The flat black was then applied, allowed to make a good start on drying, and the tape stripped off. Nearly everywhere, the separation line was sharp and correctly located. Of course, a few minutes work with a brush would correct any errors. In the photo below, you may notice that the brake wheel has been removed. It struck me as undersized, and that I should replace it. 

I wondered whether to paint the handrail black. Looking at Ed Kaminski’s fine book, Tank Cars, AC&F, 1865–1955 (Signature Press, 2003), and concentrating on tanks with light tank colors built during the 1930 to 1950s, handrails in body color, or in black, were about equally frequent.  I decided to stay with body color, but leave the ladders black. I can always hand-paint the handrails if a prototype photo surfaces showing that feature.

Next came decals. I used the nice K4 decals as provided, with many lettering groups already assembled on the decal sheet. Only issue I could mention is that the company emblem seems oversize; it barely fits on this 8000-gallon tank car, which was indeed the prototype size. An option would be to also buy an N scale sheet for a better-size emblem. Below you will also see the new, unpainted brass Cal-Scale brake wheel attached to the brake staff. (You can click on the image to enlarge.)

This completes the main tasks with this model. Kadee couplers were then applied, and the car was weathered. This was by my usual method of washes made from acrylic tube paint (see “Reference pages” at the top right corner of this post). I included some spillage on the done. Note also there is an “empty” placard on this side of the car.

Now to make some waybills for the Gray Chemical Company’s acetic acid, and this car can begin work on the layout.

Tony Thompson

An Athearn “Blue Box” tank car, Part 3

 This series of blog posts is about using many of the parts of an Athearn “Blue Box” tank car, with the insulated tank body, as the starting point to represent a particular prototype tank car, a Shell Chemical Company high-pressure car I showed in the previous post in the series (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/07/an-athearn-blue-box-tank-car-part-2.html ).

At the end of the previous post (just cited), I had prepared the Athearn bottom sheet part for addition of the turnbuckle hold-down of the tank bands on the car. Below is a repeat of the close-up prototype photo from the previous post (link shown above). You can see that part shielding the emergence of the tank band from under the jacket is right at the longitudinal joint in the jacket.

My intention was to make the cover shield parts, then add turnbuckles. For the cover shields, I began with an Evergreen styrene scale 8 x 8-inch strip, and drilled a #75 hole through it near the end. I then carefully cut off the approximate cube containing the hole, from the end of the strip, and in turn carefully cut the cube at a 45-degree angle. A couple of these parts are shown below. Any parts that don’t come out properly are readily replaced with better ones.

Next these parts were glued to the bottom sheet, right at its top edge (see prototype photo for location), and aligned with the bolster position, as molded into the bottom sheet. 

These are now ready for turnbuckles. The Tichy parts, no. 8021, are cored for 0.0126 wire, meaning that 0.012-inch wire will fit nicely. These need only be short lengths. I cut the wire pieces over-length, glued them into one end of the turnbuckle with canopy glue, then cut the wires to the correct length and glued the wire into the shield pieces,again with canopy glue. I did this with the bottom sheet inverted, as you see below, so that the wire ends were inserted vertically.

The bottom sheet modeling work is now completed, and as soon as work on the upper tank is finished, the two parts can be painted together. I’ll describe all that in a future post.

Tony Thompson