Paint Shop – 78 : Georgia & Florida Railroad Boxcar 488, part 1

: G&F 488

This is a model of a boxcar decorated with the decal produced by Gerald Glow: Georgia & Florida #488.

Jerry produced the decal as “GA & FLA 40’ Steel Boxcar Decal Blt. 1944”. Accordingly, I searched for a prototype meeting my body type, scheme, and era: 50’ boxcar red boxcar with ACI plates.


According to 1974 Official Railway Equipment Roster, GF #400 to 499 XMs are listed in a series. I found several photos of a boxcar in this series and got into difficulties: in the same series but in four different schemes.

The undated photo of G&F #401 in the book Classic freight Cars the Series Vol. 8: 50Ft Boxcars shows its SOU-style scheme: painted boxcar red with letterings in white SOU-style gothic font. A 1969 photo of #468 and a 1974 photo of #473 found on the web also show them in SOU-style scheme.

A B/W 1971 photo of #425 is found at HawkinsRails web site[1]. According to the colorized photo, it seemed painted boxcar red with a white "cigar band"ーa narrow band around the bodyーand letterings in roman font to me. Or, it might possibly heavily weathered but kept its "cigar band" clean. Also is #488 according to the colorized 1964 B/W photo found at City of Vancouver Archives web site[2]. The "cigar band" boxcar scheme first appeared on PRR "Merchandise Service" boxcars in 1947, designed by Raymond Loewy (1893 − 1986).

A 1965 photo of #457 found on the web shows it was painted boxcar red with letterings in the white roman font but without "cigar band".

A 1970 photo of #437 and a 1972 photo of #490 found on the web show they were painted green with white "cigar band" and letterings in roman font. HO models produced by Kadee are also decorated in this scheme.


Eventually, I decided to model #488 trusting today’s information technology[3].

: body, ready to paint

I used a surplus Athearn PS-1 single-door boxcar for the model. I only changed the door with 9’ Pullman doors made from Atlas 40’ PS-1 boxcar attachment parts.

: body, ready to apply decal

I first spray painted the body white, next applied the masking, and then spray painted the boxcar red with Tamiya TS-62. Before applying decals, I polished the surface of the painted body, where decals were going to be applied, with a compound.

Decal used is by Gerald Glow (Tichy#10214N) as I mentioned above. Lacking letterings came from stock Microscale decals: numbers from #60-1393, data from #60-1, and ACI plates from #60-4280. I spray-painted the semi-gloss clear coat after applying the decals.

[1] Boxcar Blog, Lagniappe Favorites Collection, HawkinsRails;
[2] Georgia & Florida Rly. [Boxcar #488], City of Vancouver Archives;
[3] Colorize Your heritage, MyHeritage Ltd.;
　　
　　
これも、Gerald Glow氏制作のデカールを用いた制作である。選んだプロトタイプは、Georgia & Florida Railwayというアメリカ合衆国南部を走っていた鉄道の貨車。ジョージア州三部作といったところ。我々には国鉄客車の等級帯や事業用車の白帯でお馴染みのスキームだが、北米の貨車では比較的珍しいと思う。レイモンド・ローウィが1947年にデザインしたPRRの「Merchandise Service」ボックスカーが元祖か。

例によってGlow氏制作のデカールが使えて、かつ、筆者の対象としている年代・車種・塗色に合致するプロトタイプを探した。ところが、同じ系列にあっても、schemeこそ同じだが塗色が緑色の車両と茶色の車両がある。試しにCity of Vancouver Archives で見つけた1964年撮影のモノクロ画像をcolorizeしてみると茶色だったので、これを信じこの車番を制作した。もっとも酷く汚れていた可能性もあり、実在の確証はさしあたりない。

模型には在庫のAthearn製 PS-1 Single Door Boxcarを用いた。工作は、扉をAtlas 40’ PS-1に附属のPullman Doorから型取り複製した自家製パーツに交換したのみである。

白帯のデカールがなかったので、白色のサフェーサーを吹いたあと、帯部分をマスキングしてTamiyaのTS-62で塗装し帯を表現した。デカールの浮きを防ぐため、デカールを施す箇所は予めコンパウンドで磨いておく。デカールは件のGerald Glow氏制作のもの。Tichyの#10214Nに該当する。といっても使えたのはロゴマークと「G&F」のみ。他は使い残しのMicroscale製デカールで適当に補った。最後に半光沢クリアコートを吹き仕上げた。