I just started my first resin stock car, a Sunshine ATSF Sk-U. After
spending the better part of my Saturday evening cleaning flash out of the
slats, I need somebody to remind that this hobby is fun....... I have a
couple of questions for the collective wisdom here. First, it appears the
Accurail "Bettendorf" truck would be correct for this car. Can anyone
confirm or correct this. Second is regarding the color of the roof. The PDS
with the kit says " a black (roof) color became predominate in the fifties.
It is not clear that the anti-skid surface was always applied" Richard
Hendrickson's article in RMJ states "this was not standard practice on stock
cars, most of which had mineral brown roofs." I can't seem to find a clear
shot of the roof from my era (1956). Can anyone provide some more specific
info. Thanks for the assistance.

Darren Plants

In a message dated 10/24/2004 7:50:36 PM Central Daylight Time,
dplants@... writes:
I just started my first resin stock car, a Sunshine ATSF Sk-U. After
spending the better part of my Saturday evening cleaning flash out of the
slats, I need somebody to remind that this hobby is fun.......
Darren,

Cleaning the slats out of the stock car sides IS a pain if you chose to do
each one-by-one, however, there's a much easier way to accomplish this task!

Take a sheet of wet/dry sand paper (about 160 or 180 grit) lay it on a good
flat surface. Place the back (inside) of the stock car side down on the sand
paper and work it back and forth over the sand paper. Use light even strokes,
vary the location of your finger tips around the sides as you sand the sides.
After a short while, the remaining flash is so thin that you can literally
blow/brush it away, yet, the slats are still the proper thickness. Instead of
the time it takes to clean each slat space individually, this method takes
around 15 to 20 minutes per side, and leaves a "crisper" looking result.

Tom Casey

Darren Plants wrote:
"I just started my first resin stock car, a Sunshine ATSF Sk-U. After
spending the better part of my Saturday evening cleaning flash out of the
slats, I need somebody to remind that this hobby is fun."

The flash cleanup is always the toughest part of a resin stock car kit, and
given the lack of variety available in injection molded plastic kit (even
with the new Intermountain Santa Fe models), a necessary evil.


"I have a couple of questions for the collective wisdom here. First, it
appears the Accurail "Bettendorf" truck would be correct for this car. Can
anyone confirm or correct this?"

Yes, as confirmed by the builder's photo of ATSF 60543 on page 25 of Frank
Ellington's "Stock Cars of the Santa Fe Railway".


"Second is regarding the color of the roof. The PDS with the kit says " a
black (roof) color became predominate in the fifties. It is not clear that
the anti-skid surface was always applied" Richard Hendrickson's article in
RMJ states "this was not standard practice on stock cars, most of which had
mineral brown roofs." I can't seem to find a clear shot of the roof from my
era (1956). Can anyone provide some more specific info?"

According to Richard Hendrickson's "Santa Fe Railway Painting and Lettering
Guide for Model Railroaders," "Mineral brown paint with coarse red-brown
granules sprinkled onto it while wet began to replace anti-slip black in
1951." I didn't turn up any color overhead views c. 1956; color photos in
the Morning Sun ATSF Color guide taken in the late 1960s and early 1970s
show either mineral red roofs or unpainted galvanized roof panels with
mineral red carlines.


Ben Hom

Of the color still photos I have seen, I have yet to see an ATSF stock car with a black roof. Of course, most of the color photos come from the late 50s and 60s when the black roof would have been uncommon anyway.

I have reviewed a color film tonight made from 1947. One scene taken from a cupola shows two stock cars which are clearly "weathered black" to my eyes. Most shots are from the ground which makes determining roof color difficult, but they do appear black in many cases.

The Santa Fe Painting and Lettering Guide states, "Mineral brown paint with coarse red-brown granules sprinkled onto it while wet began to replace anti-slip black in 1951, but black car cement with either black or red-brown granules continued to be applied to some car rooms for several years in the early to mid-fifties."

For 1956, I would suggest that either would be appropriate. If you are doing a heavily weathered car, have a black roof. If you are doing a newly repainted car, do it solid mineral brown. In either case, the roof walk would be mineral brown.

--------------------
J. Stephen (Steve) Sandifer
mailto:steve.sandifer@...
Home: 12027 Mulholland Dr., Meadows Place, TX 77477, 281-568-9918
Office: Southwest Central Church of Christ, 4011 W. Bellfort, Houston, TX 77025, 713-667-9417
Personal: http://users2.ev1.net/~jssand/index.htm
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Webmaster: http://www.ATSFRR.net

Ben and Steve, thanks very much for your help. As I'm a fairly recent
convert to prototype modeling my library is far from complete. Always
another ten books to buy. Thanks again.

Darren Plants

Again the paint would be an era thing. I would suspect in my era it
would be black. Later on it could be Mineral brown.

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS

I had actually heard that from someone else as well. I tried it and got the
flash fairly thin, but being my first try I got a little nervous about going
too far and ruining the kit. Still I think it made the job easier. Maybe
next time I'll get a bit more daring. Thanks for the tip.

Darren Plants

Cleaning the slats out of the stock car sides IS a pain if you chose to do
each one-by-one, however, there's a much easier way to accomplish this

task!

Take a sheet of wet/dry sand paper (about 160 or 180 grit) lay it on a

good

flat surface. Place the back (inside) of the stock car side down on the

sand

paper and work it back and forth over the sand paper. Use light even

strokes,

vary the location of your finger tips around the sides as you sand the

sides.

After a short while, the remaining flash is so thin that you can literally
blow/brush it away, yet, the slats are still the proper thickness.

Instead of

the time it takes to clean each slat space individually, this method takes
around 15 to 20 minutes per side, and leaves a "crisper" looking result.

Tom Casey

On Oct 24, 2004, at 6:52 PM, Steve Sandifer wrote:

Of the color still photos I have seen, I have yet to see an ATSF stock car with a black roof. Of course, most of the color photos come from the late 50s and 60s when the black roof would have been uncommon anyway.

I have reviewed a color film tonight made from 1947. One scene taken from a cupola shows two stock cars which are clearly "weathered black" to my eyes. Most shots are from the ground which makes determining roof color difficult, but they do appear black in many cases.

The Santa Fe Painting and Lettering Guide states, "Mineral brown paint with coarse red-brown granules sprinkled onto it while wet began to replace anti-slip black in 1951, but black car cement with either black or red-brown granules continued to be applied to some car rooms for several years in the early to mid-fifties."

For 1956, I would suggest that either would be appropriate. If you are doing a heavily weathered car, have a black roof. If you are doing a newly repainted car, do it solid mineral brown. In either case, the roof walk would be mineral brown.

This thread is interesting as I recently completed a Westerfield Sk-2 along with some other stock cars for the next installment for RMC. I used Richard Hendrickson's article in the August 2004 RMJ for guidance. He wrote the following: "During the period from 1930 to the mid-1970s, other Santa Fe house cars with metal roofs had their roofs coated with black car cement and anti-slip granules , and some stock cars may have also received this treatment. However, available evidence indicates that this was not standard practice on stock cars, most of which had mineral brown roofs." After having already masked my Sk-2 to paint the roof black, I read this and gleefully removed the masking tape.

Regards,
Ted Culotta

--- In STMFC@..., "Darren Plants" <dplants@n...> wrote:

Ben and Steve, thanks very much for your help. As I'm a fairly recent
convert to prototype modeling my library is far from complete. Always
another ten books to buy. Thanks again.

Darren Plants

Isn't that the truth! It seems that authors are turning out books
faster than I can read them (or afford them). Plus, there's always
another dozen or so resin kits from Al and Martin I'd like to have,
plus some more from Branchline and Red Caboose, plus, plus, ad
infinitum....

Walter M. Clark
Time stopped in November 1941
Riverside, California

While we are on the ATSF stock cars is there any idea of when the undec
kits will be out. Plastic bags are fine with me. I have an order in with
my supplier.
Ted, what about the decals for these? I'm ready to buy now<VBG>.

Jon Miller
AT&SF
For me time has stopped in 1941
Digitrax, Chief/Zephyr systems, JMRI user
NMRA Life member #2623
Member SFRH&MS