US $5.95 • Can $7.95 - O scale trains

ody. First, remove the hinges. I sandedthem off. Be careful not to remove anyof the latch detail. Next, you’ll have toscribe the areas where the hinges were(See Photo 5). I used Precision Scale(PSH 40729) reefer door hinges. Remember,they come 12 to a pack and you’llneed 16 hinges per car. The WW I carshad five foot doors, so the hinges aremounted 1 ⁄8” outward from the original57For the reefer, I built the roof withbare hatches, no planking around them.You’ll need a frame for the hatch to sitin on the roof of the car. I removed theplanking from the part supplied with thekit. The resulting frame was too high.I cut this frame down with a razor saw,then glued it to the hatch opening. Alternatively,you could build up a frame withstyrene strips, and salvage the hingesfrom the original hatch frame part. Addhatch covers, latches, etc. Photo 7 showsthis detail.The milk car has no hatches. You caneither plug the holes, sand, etc., or coverthe holes with 10mil styrene, as I did. Icut the thin styrene to fit between the roofribs, and feathered the ends into the carside and the center of the roof. This patchis practically invisible after painting, andis much easier than trying to smooth outa plug. I used roof walk end platformsfrom an Intermountain boxcar roof walk.Brass wire and eye pins were used for theroof walk grab-irons (See Photo 8).I painted the cars with Scalecoat IIplastic compatible paint. The Rutlandreefer is painted boxcar red and letteredwith CDS dry transfer set # 430.The Rutland milk car is painted Pullmangreen and lettered with Champdecal sets #P-86 (Rutland Passenger)8locations. Space the four hinges per dooras shown in Photo 6. Add the latch andgrab-irons. I also extended the drip stripout to five feet wide. Cement a scale fivefootstrip of Evergreen 1x6 (HO) to thetop of the existing drip strip. Now, here’sthe hard part. Cement 1 ⁄8” strips under the6new strip at the ends to “extend” the oldstrip. File smooth. (If you’re a masochist,remove the old drip strip very carefullyand add a new one.)The K-brakes are modeled in exactlythe same way as for the 1920’s car. Boththe end and underbody details are thesame. Note however, that there are twobraces per corner for the WW I car. Evenlyspace them between the top and bottomof the sides.9and #OD-19D (Express Reefer Data). Ifyou wish to letter the reefer for MDT orMichigan Central, use the dry transfer ordecal sets mentioned in the section onthe 1920’s era cars from Greg Komar orChamp. The MDT/MC cars had boxcarred roofs and white sides and ends. Photosof these cars are in Hinman’s article.Lettering is very similar to the 1920’scars. Photo 9 shows the finished Rutlandcars. All the cars covered in this articlewere at home during the steam-Dieseltransition era.◆Sept/Oct ’04 - O Scale Trains • 21