First, I'm finally getting a 3D printer. I'll be using my tax refund to buy it.

I know I've read a few posts here on 3D Printing.

How many members have a 3D Printer?
Should we create a dedicated forum for 3D Printing?

A recent article in Trains magazine profiled a short line RR near Puyallup, WA. (December 2021,  story on Meeker Southern). I was intrigued to read a mention of hopper loads of cullet as outbound loads.  The company was not named, but some internet sleuthing revealed Pacific Glass Media  
(site link: The PGM Story)

Ultimately, clean cullet (clear only?) can be used as feed stock for fibreglass insulation manufacture.  The "about us" page tells a lot about the difficulties obtaining clean materials.  Even though glass is "recycled" here in Oregon, for our community at least, the recycled glass is just crushed and sent to a nearby landfill.  Reportedly, this is because  bottle glass plants no longer rely on recycled stock due to colored glass cross contamination.

This could be an interesting outbound loads industry on your model railroad.[url=https://www.pacificglassmedia.com/storypage.html][/url]

Here is my last project. A CPR USRA Clone Boxcar From Westerfield.  This is my first Westerfield kit.  I was fortunate to find it at 20$ (Canadian).

It's a nice resin kit quite easy to assemble.

   

   

After flagging the T-intersection at Packer Ave, the conductor on WPMA-40 takes a short ride down to the Tri-County Lumber siding.

Bruce

   

I got this kit cheap from China.
This is the box art:

It's actually a very uncomplicated kit, but it has a lot of potential!

The contents of the kit, it seems to be made of ABS.


The walls are shiplap siding, but a bit plain and will be woodgrained.


I added some wood grain on the planks.


I used an Xacto blade to scribe the plastic.

I scribe with the side of the blade, and when it makes nice corkscrews of plastic, you got the right technique.


I added some nail holes and plank ends while I was at it....

Measure out an imagined framing on the surface, I did it with 2' centers.
I embossed the nails with a tool I made using a wooden handle with a sharp compass needle mounted in it.


I had to fill some joints after gluing the main structure together.
I used thin plastic cement to get a really good joint.

I primed the structure with grey spray primer before painting the walls with an old wood color, a mix of Vallejo cement and sand. That makes the walls ready for paint.


The walls were painted with old wood color, so I started with a layer of hairspray to prepare the topcoat for the weathering.
I mixed a light greyish green color with paints from AK.
I airbrushed the walls with a thin, but covering layer.


Then I chipped the paint to make it look like peeling paint by revealing the old wood underneath.
That's achieved by moistening the dry paint with water and then removing the paint with a toothpick.

The text was painted with a hand cut mask that I very lightly airbrushed with a light green paint, just enough to see the text.
The letters were then filled in by hand, adding the serifs and shadows.
I named it "The San Miguel Herald", the newspaper that gives the term SMH (Shaking My Head) a meaning! 

The next step was to paint the foundation, shingle the roof and add a fire platform.



I also added a tar paper roof on the porch.

Just in case you missed it, we have a problem with our "Big Blue Light" mode. We have a total of 17 people using that mode, and when they post, they will get strings of HTML code ( <p><bs></p> ) throughout their posts and PM's. You can avoid this by selecting the"Big Blue Dark" mode, (lower right on any screen).

We are sorry for any inconvenience, but it's the best we can do until we find out why.

We'll let you know when we've fixed the issue.

So I model specifically from 1937-1942, and have found myself with a lot of difficulty knowing what models, roadnames, and liveries are appropriate for interchange in the time that I model. I was wondering if any of you might have suggestions for keywords, recommended reading, suggestions of anything specific, or just general advice to help guide decisions on whether or not a car at a swap meet, on ebay, or just for sale at a retailer is appropriate to my time period or not.

I had to share this here!
Just seen on Facebook:

The Captchas are getting out of hand!
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t...e=61F27307

WPMA-19 eases up the siding to the Lower Bank team track.

Bruce

   

Hi gang
Before I retired I took some close up shots of items that may interest you when weathering the wheels and bolsters of equipment. I will try to share some of my observations with you.

There are a lot of differences between roller bearing and Babbitt bearing trucks. Here are both types of trucks used on a caboose. This roller bearing truck shows there is a little rust on the wheel       
This one is a modified friction bearing truck. It can show some rust depending on how much the wheel was cleaned when the roller bearing was installed.       
and last is the babbitt (or friction) bearing truck that was the norm for most cars before the late 50's. There is no rust on the wheels because the wheels always had journal oil on them because the journals don't have a rear seal around the axle. You also want to remember when these cars were humped the journal covers were opened and a man would be adding oil using a tube as the cars were pushed over the hump. Many times his aim wasn't as good as it could have been     

I also took some close ups of the Blunt truck that were on the ALCo S-1  It too had friction bearings and the outside surface of the wheel always was oily with no rust. Keeping the truck side frames clean was always a job because there was enough journal oil to keep the dust sticking        

Attached are several more photos that will enlighten a little more. 
Charlie

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