Thanks to Tom Koole for turning me onto these cars. They are really well produced 3D printed kits. I encountered some new modeling challenges with the type of plastic these are produced in. First you have to remove this dusty, waxy residue that covers the surface. I soaked them in Bestine (a rubber cement thinner found in art supply stores) according to suggestions I found online. That worked out alright except I broke one of the railings in the process. I couldn't get super glue to work at all on this plastic, so I went with 5 minute epoxy. I had to clip off the coupler pockets to get my Micro Trains #1016 body mount couplers in there. Then, even with a .02 styrene shim (needed to get the coupler to the right height) I didn't have enough material to screw into, so I had to epoxy the couplers in place. For the roof walks I used a fine brass mesh that I found in an art store. I simply cut the mesh into rectangles, and punched holes for the hatches with Micro Mark's #83513 "micro punch set." I used etched metal  ladders from Gold Medal Models #160-25. For the decals I used Micro Scale #70051 "block Gothic, white" and #60-2 "black and white data." The Halliburton logo I produced myself from artwork I found online.

These cars seem to have a lot of individual character. Some have red painted trucks, others just the normal black. I see at least two different Halliburton logos, and some cars seem to have a blank spot where a logo wore off. Some cars look like they never had a logo on the tank at all. Interestingly, there are two different lettering schemes. Car # 83 is the only rail car I've ever noticed with the ID on the right end of the car. Is that even legal?

image image
image image

Back