Comme-N-tary Column - 5
6
6: Internal bracing is applied to a PRR four-bay hopper
using plastic I-beam shapes.
top chord reinforcing angle between the bolsters. An Evergreen
.060" angle represents this perfectly. These modifications can
be painted to match the factory paint jobs; PollyScale Boxcar
Red is a pretty good match.
Weathering
Hopper cars take a beating. They are showered with coal dust and
suffer from the harsh minerals in the coal dust soup that rains on
the cars in bad weather. And there are a lot of cars to do.
Fortunately, an airbrush does a great job of representing coal
dust and can ‘ruin’ a bunch of cars in a hurry. I try to work on a
dozen cars at once. Before airbrushing on the coal dust, I add
a few dark rust splotches irregularly on the sides of the cars.
Some of the lettering can be faded using a rubber eraser.
PollyScale Grimy Black is a great color to use for coal dust. I
airbrush it on greatly thinned to add just a little color at a time,
MRH-Jun 2013
