Building a MP 1962 Cushion Car boxcar

[peggyrothschild]

Just picked up the MicroScale set 87-1416 to do this type of boxcar as a Missouri Illinois. What decent models are around I can paint and decal it?[attachment=1:1050mpjg]image.jpg[/attachment:1050mpjg][attachment=0:1050mpjg]image.jpg[/attachment:1050mpjg]

[madonnasuffolk30]

Charlie,

The cars were built by Pullman-Standard and a 50′ Kadee car probably would be a good starting point. My suggestion would be to contact Sam at Kadee as he can provide the parts needed to build the model. He did this for me for a couple of T&P box cars projects. He’s great to work with.

Nate

[peggyrothschild]

Thinking the one we offer in the company store might be a good candidate for kit bashing the 1961 car. Plus no shipping charges. in looking at the single door PS-1 the car body has several individual tabs whereas the double-door PS-1 has the correct sill as used on the MP/M-I cars in the photos. So it’s not a slam dunk in doing this car OOB. Plus there’s some large reinforcement plates on either side of the door on the bottom. I doubt Kadee would entertain doing this scheme due to all the variables (ie the car is close but not exact).

And that’s why we model the Mop….if we modeled the ATSF you can just buy it off the shelf and run it

[madonnasuffolk30]

Charlie,

Do you mean offer the car as a MPHS exclusive decorated Kadee car or offer the undercoated kit with the decal? This is a sharp looking paint scheme that lasted in to the 80s. These cars retained their as-built paint scheme and only received renumbering for the most part. I have several photos from 1979 period that show them still with the roof walkways.

Several of the photos shows that some were assigned to paper service out of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Nate

[peggyrothschild]

I could check with Kadee but I was thinking of the ‘Route of the Eagles’ boxcar we have in stock as a starting point using the Microscale decals.

[madonnasuffolk30]

I can send a note to Sam to see if Kadee is interested in producing the model if you want?

Nate

[peggyrothschild]

See my post at 4:42pm…I added some additional comments on the Kadee model.

[peggyrothschild]

Nate
Found an Intermountain 50′ PS-1 SD with the correct side sill so will use it for my MI car. Will keep you posted on the progress

[clemmie_doris12]

Charlie,

I am very interested in this car, as well. If the IMRC car is correct in all the mechanical aspects, we might have to talk to them about a special run.

[madonnasuffolk30]

Kevin,

I talked to Sam at Kadee and he said they were interested in doing the model, but it will be down the road. They do have the correct body style with cushion underframe and door. He did ask about photos for the cars. I sent a note to Jim Kinkaid to see if he has builder’s photos for the cars.

Nate

[clemmie_doris12]

Nate,

Thanks for making contact with Kadee concerning this car. I would really like to see this car make it into production.

[madonnasuffolk30]

Kevin,
Jim said he does have builder’s photos of both the MP and MI cars, but not 100% sure of quality. He is going to send copies to Sam and to me.

Nate

[peggyrothschild]

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In the Winter 2003 issue of ‘The Eagle’ Joe Altnether authored an article on modeling three HO scale 1960 era boxcars. The first part of his article covered modeling a 50′ MP car numbered 98065 with a plug door and the large lettering for Missouri Pacific and Cushion Car. Details West made this car as their kit BC-600 and offered it in several road names in the 600 series. Athearn bought the Details West line of kits and still offers them today RTR as kit 91268. While the kit is close to the MP prototype, to be entirely accurate one has to remove the rivets on the sides and re-scribe the panels as the MP cars were welded. I initially thought this was a recipe for disaster but in reality the plastic is soft and I found this to be very easy to do with an Exacto chisel blade. After the rivets are off the sides and plug door I wet sanded the sides to remove any that I may have not entirely been removed with the chisel blade.

To re-scribe the side panels I took a small needle and put it in my pin vice. I first re-scribed the top horizontal line on the sides and the bottom one as well so there was a logical point for the panels to stop. I then used drafting tape to mark each of the vertical lines on the tape. Joe points out “…beginning at the door, scribe the first weld line 3′ 6″ from the door with all subsequent weld lines being 3′ apart”. I cut back the bottom of the car body 3′ to match the prototype and glued a piece if Evergreen 4″ x 4″ HO stock to the four corner and attached A-Line metal stirrups. Intermountain ladders and end brake details were added next. Joe used a Plano Apex walkway set but I decided to model the car with the roof walk removed. I painted the car with Tru-Color MKT freight car brown with a couple drops of Eagle gray and DRGW gold to lighten up the color. I then used Tamiya Clear with Tamiya thinner to prepare the sides for decals.

Microscale decal set 87-1416 was used to decal the car. I’m going to weather the car for service in 1979-80 so will use different methods to so a car after it had been in service some 18 years and then put down a fresh panel of paint where I will decal it being renumbered into the MP 779800-779999 series.

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Stay tuned for updates……
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[clemmie_doris12]

Charlie,
Excellent work and you’re fast, as well. Thanks for posting.

[Christian Johanningmeier]

Hi Charlie,

Agree with Kevin, very nice work.

Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Bill Waterhouse

[Author]

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