Upgrading MDC/Roundhouse boxcars

[sailormatlac]

Lookin' good, Matt. I always enjoy seeing the way you bring these older cars to life.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne, the good thing about MDC cars is that they are quite versatile, well-conceived and easy to modify. Most of the time, the detail is quite decent for old tooling (except their weird dreadnaugh ends).

Here's a few shots of the completed reefer. It was my first try weathering a wood car (and a reefer too). I worked with vintage color pictures of a Chicago area yard posted by somebody here or somewhere else. According to some info I found while browsing the web, this paint scheme survived well until Swift reefers demise. It's for this reason I went for a heavy weathered car (about 25 years old). First, I discolored the yellow color with oil paint (titanium white), then, I brushed a darked wash and added some details (rotten planks, grease, rust) according to the pictures. The car should be 37' long, but Roundhouse car is 36', who cares?

Before weathering





Weathered car









And a teaser. This one is far to be completed, I only did the streaking. It needs some rust spots and road grime.



Matt