Custom Painted Weathered Walthers MRL Side Dump w/Load

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Better Belated Than Never – Car of the Year Oops… here it is 2011… and I totally forgot to have a Car of the Year for 2010. For those of you wondering how I designate a Car of the Year… it largely has to do with what I feel stands out from the others I have done in that span. There is no voting process by anyone. Just a designation placed on a given project that, in most cases, was very involved and noteworthy. Whether or not it makes your dinghy buoyant is beside the point. . Nevertheless – I’m betting this distinctive car is sure to give any Montana Rail Link fan a near religious experience. No doubt one of them will recognize the inspiration for this one! And possibly he’ll be bleeping bricks. Hee hee. Whenever I do an MRL project, I seem to ascend to a higher level. Probably because it’s a favorite railroad of mine. But you non-MRL fans can still appreciate it’s appeal. Even if you don’t suffer from Difco Fever … I’m going to have to administer… Hits You Like a Ton of Bricks – Or More What’s up with that load? I have no clue. But that’s what was in the prototype shot I found online. All I know is that it presented more of a modeling challenge than your basic pile of boulders. Perhaps it’s the remnants of an old Milwaukee Road substation. Why it’s transported in a Difco side dump car instead of by truck is anybody’s guess. I also liked the color compliment to the faded MRL blue. Because the homemade load is unique, it’s another selling point. There isn’t anything like it on the market, because I made it all from scratch. It’s not a gravel load with some other stuff thrown on top. Nor was it a junk load. It began as a carved chunk of Styrofoam. I’d say the load took about half as long to do as the car itself. The whole project took roughly three weeks, working off and on, to complete. Now, because the load was done outside the car, there is a slight gap on the sides once it was glued into the car. For most viewing angles, it’s not very noticeable. Only if you peer straight down. One other thing to point out – the sides of the model kit were hinged so either one could be glued swung down when the body was oblique. As such, they do not mate flush with the ends for a perfect seal. You’ll see some daylight in places. One might suggest filling it in with putty or extra debris – but I left it as is. After all, the real thing would be slightly gapped too. You cannot fill the gap with putty, for that would imply the joint is solid, and it shouldn’t be. Whatever load the real cars carry would not really trickle out, unless it was pure sand or dirt. I blame Walthers for the way the kit assembles. Speaking of which, this kit lacked the wire end railings shown in the instructions. And it was sealed too. I got my second kit out of my stash to raid the wire railings (also sealed) and found only 3 of the 4 inside. So, your expedient modeler had to fabricate a set for one end. But enough on that. Here’s another close look at the finished model: The kit was originally a generic M.O.W. version in gray paint. I stripped most of that off, and repainted it in a couple shades of faded blue similar to what I observed in several prototype pictures. Liberal amounts of rust were then added – but care was taken to have it beneath surface level as much as possible. I know you hear me say that a lot – but it really does set my cars apart. Most Sellers take a factory painted car, and paint rust (or apply pasty powders) on top of that. Good for distant viewing maybe – but not close scrutiny. Which is why I show close-ups of my work whenever possible. To give you an idea of the layering and careful hand-painting involved. Anyway, moving on. As far as upgrades go – not a lot this time. I kept the Walthers trucks, but added Intermountain 36” wheelsets, which these cars ought to have. That bumped up the ride height, requiring a lowered coupler. A standard Kadee #5 but the dropshank version. Being that the underframe is a cast piece of metal (in effect serving as the model’s weight) - I could do littl... read more

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