P5se Camelback’s EOY Challenge

[P5se Camelback]

Well, I suppose I have put off making the decision as to whether or not I would enter this Challenge for as long as is practical … the “End Date” is now in sight! So, O.K., I’m going to throw my hat into the ring.

Now, as to which ancient project to resurrect … that was a tough one! I just couldn’t make up my mind. Then, at the Annual Scale Rails of Southwest Florida Train Show in Ft. Myers, FL, I discovered a vendor with Prototype Photos in three-ring binders. There was one that said, “Reading.” As I paged through page after page of diesels, hoppers and boxcars, I turned the page and there it was! The subject for my entry into the E.O.Y. Challenge …

John C. LaRue, Jr. Collection, used with permission.

Back in the mid-sixties, I had bought a little tiny kit. It had been produced by a local Philadelphia limited-run kit manufacturer, George. D. Stock. (I believe he also custom built brass steam locomotives for a small client base in the city.) At any rate, I recalled that the diminutive kit box contained an incomplete, partially assembled, very poorly painted model. I think I paid fifty cents for what was in the box, but I remember thinking it was cool and I wanted it.

Having recently been through all of my model railroad stuff, input it all into an Excel spreadsheet and repacked everything, I looked it up, opened box #7 and there it was, sitting right on top!

… The Tiny Box …


… The Original ‘60’s List Price …


As I said, the previous owner had started to build the kit, but never finished it. None of the add-on detail parts were to be found. Unsure of how to proceed (as a novice teenage model builder,) I had packed it up and put it away in a box where it has resided for about 46 years or so. Now I figure that time is on my side as a procrastinator … and the time has finally come to resurrect and finish this kit! What follows is to illustrate what I have to start with …

I opened the box and found …












So there it is, then! I’ll do my best to make the deadline … the bugaboo will be decals … I haven’t a clue where to look … I’ll probably reach out the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society (I am a member) and see what kind of assistance I can get there.

In the meantime, I’ll get some brake parts and some brass wire together while I soak the existing parts in lacquer thinner and see what I have to work with. I’ve always thought that Scale Test Cars were kind of cool as you rarely saw them, virtually no one modeled them, and that’s exactly the type of thing that always piques my interest. (How many guys do you know that have built a very scary pocket-rocket based on a 1.3 Liter 1994 Ford Festiva? The local teenagers with the loud Hondas have learned they'll never catch me, especially on a mildly curvy road!!)

So ... O.K. … let the scrambling begin!

Edit: Redirected photos after a reoganization of the Photobucket Albums