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Author: jcjray

  • The Master Plan of the Carthage & Galisteo

    Models tell a story. For now, my models are built almost entirely to serve my proto/freelance hybrid HO scale railroad layout, the Carthage & Galisteo. My necessarily small layout is intended to serve almost as a diorama for perfecting modeling skills: I am going for quality over quantity. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.…

  • UP Harriman Box Car by Westerfield

    In 2022, I started a Union Pacific Harriman 40′ box car by Westerfield (1754 B-50-1/2/4 40′ DS BOX CAR, MODERN, 1924 & 1936 LETTERING, UP) when life, uh, found a way to impose a modeling freeze. In 2025, this project was resurrected. Stage 1: 2022 Assembly By my third resin kit, initial assembly was much…

  • D&RGW Fowler Clone Resin Kit by Westerfield Part 2

    Continuation of this post, which got a bit image-heavy. Roof Next, the roof needed slicing with a fresh razor blade and breaking in half. It ended up breaking all the way in half, but a few short pieces of Tamiya masking tape kept it in place for construction. The end walks required brass strips. In…

  • D&RGW Fowler Clone Resin Kit by Westerfield Part 1

    This time around is my second resin car kit build, a 40′ Fowler clone box car from Westerfield, kit number 6453 [6453 FOWLER SS BOX CAR CLONE, MODERN, D&RG, D&RGW]. Protocraft has some prototype photos, as does Eric Hansmann. Sanding Out The first thing to do in this kit was deal with how thick the…

  • ATSF Bx-12 Box Car

    The Bx-11 single sheathed box car, according to the history section of my Westerfield Bx-12 kit instructions, was based on the 1924 ARA designs and was the first single sheathed box car ordered by the Santa Fe. The Bx-12 is a later variant, as is the Bx-13. It is a popular model to build from…

  • Weathering Saga Part 1

    In which we begin a self-made crash course on learning how to paint and weather. After a few attempts on two junk cars did not yield acceptable results, I split up a sheet of Evergreen styrene car siding into chunks approximating 1/4 of a box car. These would be the focus of my weathering training.…

  • ICC Class 103 10,000 Gallon Tank Car

    Let us begin with a model of the ICC Class 103 10,000 gallon tank car in UTLX livery by Tichy Train Group. Scale: HO 60″ DOME 10,000 GALLON ICC CLASS 103 TANK CAR ERA 1918 TO 1955 INJECTION MOLDED STYRENE KIT. I failed to capture the build process in photos. It came together alright; some…