I spent 3 hours taking a out of the box RTR car for a road name that really doesn't fit on my Western Maryland layout.  I don't have a plausible reason for why a SP 100 Ton coal hopper made it to the east coast.   I got the car for a couple of bucks at a train show.   I did this project while watching the Steelers/Cincinnati game last night.   The premise for this car is that it is a block of hoppers that Conrail picked up from Espee in the early 80's to accelerate the retirement of the 70 ton fleet.   Sounds reasonable, no?

Before

The technique:

First find a suitable prototype photo,  railcarphotos.com is your friend for this step if you not have a readily available image to work from.

Solvaset soaking of the SOUTHERN PACIFIC billboard letter followed my a liberal rub out of most of the lettering with a pencil erase.

A very moderate wash of 91% Isopropryl alcohol and black drafting ink,  20:1 ratio.

A quick patch out of the SP reporting marks with some PollyScale Boxcar Red.  

I found an old Herald King decal set for a Conrail Gondola in the decal box.   A quick check of the 1976 Equipment Register found a suitable block of hopper cars that were 100 Ton capacity, the exact same cu ft capacity and length.   Also added an ACI label since I model the early 80s.  

Painted the wheel sets with PollyScale railroad tie brown.

Finished up with a overall dusting with some dark and medium grey powders.   I applied the powders when the ink wash was still a tad tacky thus I could skip the flat finish final coat.

I really enjoy these quickie projects that can be done while watching a movie or my favorite football team.  Go Steelers!

Bob M.