It's been awhile since I've posted any work. I was waiting until I progressed further with the layout itself so I could display the new cars I've done with a decent background. That was taking far too long, so here is one of the new cars I've repainted.
The original REA express cars from Weaver are all before my era as far as paint is concerned. I needed an even lighter colored car and the new diamond REA emblem.
I did what research I could and Bob Heil was able to get me a photo from a book that showed what these cars looked like in the late 60's. I used that photo and several others to reconstruct the lettering on the car (albeit slight liberties with a few portions of the text) and made my own decals. I repainted a weaver car using testor's green zinc chromate enamel paint.
I went through an ordeal of spraying this non-acrlyic paint and have come to the decision that even if the color exists in another type of paint I will mix and match any acrylic paint I need to until I get the right shade I want. I don't want to be stuck buying expensive thinners that only work with one brand of paint. This car took months to finally degas in my car due to using a lacquer thinner instead of testors thinner, but the lesson was learned and the car still came out nicely.
The trucks also received the same green per prototype and these cars were taken over by Chicago Leasing Company, thus the CDRX reporting marks instead of REAX. The middle ladders were constructed out of soldered brass using the photo as well. I went ahead and bought a set of Rod Miller's castings for close-coupling capabilities of these cars. They take a little work but make them look much nicer.
Prototype Photo
The difference of greens...the original up top and the chromate to the right.
Right side of car.
End of the car with the Rod Miller close-coupling specialty piece.
Second end photo.
Top left of car side. Typically listed paint used and date.
Info lifted off the prototype photo for the bottom right of the car.
Side view.
The car completely apart and paint stripped.
How I mask off trucks for repainting without taking out the wheels.
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