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Suppler milk reefer model

Bruce Smith
 

Folks,

Here is a model of SWJX 7, a Supplee Milk tank car. The model is based on the 40' Roundhouse (Now Athearn) milk car. The hand brake was replaced with the proper hand brake and additional details were added. I messed around for several years working on making etched brass lettering for SUPPLEE MILK to go with John Frantz' excellent decals (Mount Vernon Shops) and then Mathew Hurst made the letters in 0.020" styrene using a CriCut cutting machine and I picked up a set from him at the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting this year where Matt also gave an excellent presentation on SUPPLEE traffic. The letters require that you complete the cuts with a sharp knife. Matt suggests putting the letters on the car and then adding the red decals, but I used double sided tape to tape them to cardboard, sprayed them with Future and added the decals. I then used Same Stuff plastic cement to glue them to the painted car side. Weathering was with oils, enamel pin washes, and acrylics. 

Among other routes, these cars traveled daily between Huntington, PA and Philadelphia. 

Note that these cars appeared not to be reweighed as this car was photographed in 1947 with the NEW stencil, probably because, like most tank cars, the cargo was measured in volume, not weight.

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn AL
O Fenton Wells
 

Great looking model Bruce.  Well done
Fenton

On Wed, Jun 15, 2022 at 11:34 PM Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:
Folks,

Here is a model of SWJX 7, a Supplee Milk tank car. The model is based on the 40' Roundhouse (Now Athearn) milk car. The hand brake was replaced with the proper hand brake and additional details were added. I messed around for several years working on making etched brass lettering for SUPPLEE MILK to go with John Frantz' excellent decals (Mount Vernon Shops) and then Mathew Hurst made the letters in 0.020" styrene using a CriCut cutting machine and I picked up a set from him at the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting this year where Matt also gave an excellent presentation on SUPPLEE traffic. The letters require that you complete the cuts with a sharp knife. Matt suggests putting the letters on the car and then adding the red decals, but I used double sided tape to tape them to cardboard, sprayed them with Future and added the decals. I then used Same Stuff plastic cement to glue them to the painted car side. Weathering was with oils, enamel pin washes, and acrylics. 

Among other routes, these cars traveled daily between Huntington, PA and Philadelphia. 

Note that these cars appeared not to be reweighed as this car was photographed in 1947 with the NEW stencil, probably because, like most tank cars, the cargo was measured in volume, not weight.

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn AL



--
Fenton Wells
250 Frye Rd
Pinehurst NC 28374
910-420-8106
srrfan1401@...
Eric Hansmann
 

Wow! That looks super, Bruce! I really like your weathering work on this car. How many more will be added to your fleet?


Eric Hansmann
Murfreesboro, TN

On Jun 15, 2022, at 11:34 PM, Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

Folks,

Here is a model of SWJX 7, a Supplee Milk tank car. The model is based on the 40' Roundhouse (Now Athearn) milk car. The hand brake was replaced with the proper hand brake and additional details were added. I messed around for several years working on making etched brass lettering for SUPPLEE MILK to go with John Frantz' excellent decals (Mount Vernon Shops) and then Mathew Hurst made the letters in 0.020" styrene using a CriCut cutting machine and I picked up a set from him at the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting this year where Matt also gave an excellent presentation on SUPPLEE traffic. The letters require that you complete the cuts with a sharp knife. Matt suggests putting the letters on the car and then adding the red decals, but I used double sided tape to tape them to cardboard, sprayed them with Future and added the decals. I then used Same Stuff plastic cement to glue them to the painted car side. Weathering was with oils, enamel pin washes, and acrylics. 

Among other routes, these cars traveled daily between Huntington, PA and Philadelphia. 

Note that these cars appeared not to be reweighed as this car was photographed in 1947 with the NEW stencil, probably because, like most tank cars, the cargo was measured in volume, not weight.

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn AL
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<IMG_1282.JPG>
<IMG_1281.JPG>
O Fenton Wells
 

Bruce, the car is excellent great model
Fenton

On Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 7:15 AM Eric Hansmann <eric@...> wrote:
Wow! That looks super, Bruce! I really like your weathering work on this car. How many more will be added to your fleet?


Eric Hansmann
Murfreesboro, TN

On Jun 15, 2022, at 11:34 PM, Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

Folks,

Here is a model of SWJX 7, a Supplee Milk tank car. The model is based on the 40' Roundhouse (Now Athearn) milk car. The hand brake was replaced with the proper hand brake and additional details were added. I messed around for several years working on making etched brass lettering for SUPPLEE MILK to go with John Frantz' excellent decals (Mount Vernon Shops) and then Mathew Hurst made the letters in 0.020" styrene using a CriCut cutting machine and I picked up a set from him at the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting this year where Matt also gave an excellent presentation on SUPPLEE traffic. The letters require that you complete the cuts with a sharp knife. Matt suggests putting the letters on the car and then adding the red decals, but I used double sided tape to tape them to cardboard, sprayed them with Future and added the decals. I then used Same Stuff plastic cement to glue them to the painted car side. Weathering was with oils, enamel pin washes, and acrylics. 

Among other routes, these cars traveled daily between Huntington, PA and Philadelphia. 

Note that these cars appeared not to be reweighed as this car was photographed in 1947 with the NEW stencil, probably because, like most tank cars, the cargo was measured in volume, not weight.

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn AL
<IMG_1286.JPG>
<IMG_1282.JPG>
<IMG_1281.JPG>



--
Fenton Wells
250 Frye Rd
Pinehurst NC 28374
910-420-8106
srrfan1401@...
Tim O'Connor
 


Beautiful model - I'd have never guessed it began as a Roundhouse kit!

On 6/15/2022 11:34 PM, Bruce Smith wrote:
Folks,

Here is a model of SWJX 7, a Supplee Milk tank car. The model is based on the 40' Roundhouse (Now Athearn) milk car. The hand brake was replaced with the proper hand brake and additional details were added. I messed around for several years working on making etched brass lettering for SUPPLEE MILK to go with John Frantz' excellent decals (Mount Vernon Shops) and then Mathew Hurst made the letters in 0.020" styrene using a CriCut cutting machine and I picked up a set from him at the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting this year where Matt also gave an excellent presentation on SUPPLEE traffic. The letters require that you complete the cuts with a sharp knife. Matt suggests putting the letters on the car and then adding the red decals, but I used double sided tape to tape them to cardboard, sprayed them with Future and added the decals. I then used Same Stuff plastic cement to glue them to the painted car side. Weathering was with oils, enamel pin washes, and acrylics. 

Among other routes, these cars traveled daily between Huntington, PA and Philadelphia. 

Note that these cars appeared not to be reweighed as this car was photographed in 1947 with the NEW stencil, probably because, like most tank cars, the cargo was measured in volume, not weight.

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn AL

Attachments:



--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts
BRIAN PAUL EHNI
 

I like how the lettering was made.

 

 

Thanks!
--

Brian Ehni

 

 

From: <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of Eric Hansmann <eric@...>
Reply-To: <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2022 at 6:15 AM
To: <main@realstmfc.groups.io>
Cc: realSTMFC <RealSTMFC@groups.io>, "PRR@PRR.groups.io" <PRR@prr.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Suppler milk reefer model

 

Wow! That looks super, Bruce! I really like your weathering work on this car. How many more will be added to your fleet?

 

Eric Hansmann

Murfreesboro, TN


On Jun 15, 2022, at 11:34 PM, Bruce Smith <smithbf@...> wrote:

Folks,

 

Here is a model of SWJX 7, a Supplee Milk tank car. The model is based on the 40' Roundhouse (Now Athearn) milk car. The hand brake was replaced with the proper hand brake and additional details were added. I messed around for several years working on making etched brass lettering for SUPPLEE MILK to go with John Frantz' excellent decals (Mount Vernon Shops) and then Mathew Hurst made the letters in 0.020" styrene using a CriCut cutting machine and I picked up a set from him at the PRRT&HS Annual Meeting this year where Matt also gave an excellent presentation on SUPPLEE traffic. The letters require that you complete the cuts with a sharp knife. Matt suggests putting the letters on the car and then adding the red decals, but I used double sided tape to tape them to cardboard, sprayed them with Future and added the decals. I then used Same Stuff plastic cement to glue them to the painted car side. Weathering was with oils, enamel pin washes, and acrylics. 

 

Among other routes, these cars traveled daily between Huntington, PA and Philadelphia. 

 

Note that these cars appeared not to be reweighed as this car was photographed in 1947 with the NEW stencil, probably because, like most tank cars, the cargo was measured in volume, not weight.

 

Regards,

Bruce

Bruce Smith

Auburn AL

<IMG_1286.JPG>

<IMG_1282.JPG>

<IMG_1281.JPG>
al_brown03
 

Nice car! 

Al Brown
Melbourne, Fla.
Jared Harper
 

Beautiful!  Cut off the uncoupling pin.

Jared Harper
Athens, GA
Bruce Smith
 

Jared,

Thanks!  I would cut off the pin, but since the plan is to have much of the layout under catenary, I need to keep the pin for magnetic uncoupling purposes...

Regards,
Bruce
Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of Jared Harper <harperandbrown@...>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 11:27 AM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Subject: [EXT] Re: [RealSTMFC] Suppler milk reefer model
 
CAUTION: Email Originated Outside of Auburn.
Beautiful!  Cut off the uncoupling pin.

Jared Harper
Athens, GA

steve_wintner
 

Bruce, can you offer a little more on the details added ? Like Tim I'm very impressed and you've done a great job turning that older Roundhouse kit into something really nice. I'm thinking about a Soo milk car, I'm sure you've given the CV and Rutland fans ideas too ...

Steve
Bruce Smith
 

Steve,

I was purposefully vague because I did the original car modifications something like 10 years ago and I wasn't sure exactly what I had done.🧐 I took your request as motivation to look back and see.

I started with the Roundhouse (Athearn) 40' wood milk car. I believe that this car was significantly u[graded when released by Athearn, as the model was sold RTR, not as a kit, and had separate grab irons, ladders, and door latches. 

I disassembled the model by carefully removing the roof, and stripped the body and underbody. In the process, I broke the door latches, so I substituted some from Intermountain. I removed the lever hand brake and used a scratchbuilt housing and Kadee Equipco brake wheel along with Detail Associates 40 link/in chain for the brake chain. I added the brake step using Tichy supports and a resin step from the parts box. I also added a simple top-action uncoupling device to each end and swapped the couplers for Kadee #78. 

On the underbody, I removed the brake parts and substituted the CalScale set. I also used CalScale steam lines at both ends of the car, and added the CalScale fitting for air and signal lines on the other side of the coupler. At the very end of the build I added HiTech Details rubber air hoses for both the air and signal line (the latter not being 100% prototypic).

Paint was Poly Scale Pullman Green for the sides and roof walk and Model Master black for the roof, underbody, and trucks. The SUPPLEE MILK lettering was done off of the car and when finished, glued on with Same Stuff glue, which is very thin and wicks behind the letters quickly. 

I did the weathering as follows (allowing the paint to dry between each layer):
1) Top-coat of Vallejo flat “varnish”

2) Tamiya dark brown panel liner (enamel) on trucks, hinges, door gap, door header/footer, side sill, ladder fastenings, and any other detail that was in a different plane from the siding.

3) Dot filter along the top edge of the car sides and ends with artists’ oils, black, burnt umber, and burnt sienna. These were “pulled down” with a brush wetted with turpenol until almost all of the paint was removed.

4) Airbrush Vallejo German Grey lightly on roof and top of side and ends

5) Airbrush PolyScale RR tie brown lightly on underbody, trucks, side sills and lower part of body.

6) A final top-coat of Vallejo flat “varnish”


Regards,
Bruce

From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of steve_wintner via groups.io <steve_wintner@...>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 1:05 PM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Subject: [EXT] Re: [RealSTMFC] Suppler milk reefer model
 
CAUTION: Email Originated Outside of Auburn.
Bruce, can you offer a little more on the details added ? Like Tim I'm very impressed and you've done a great job turning that older Roundhouse kit into something really nice. I'm thinking about a Soo milk car, I'm sure you've given the CV and Rutland fans ideas too ...

Steve
steve_wintner
 

Thanks Bruce! Much appreciated. 
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