Getting Real Column - 7
by Challenger Imports, and in resin by Sunshine. Parts for kitbash-
ing have been around too, to modify the Athearn reefer body.
For my two cars, I did one of the kitbashes, and for the second
car, I decided to correct the shortcomings of the brass model.
There were some minor detail errors, and the car color and let-
tering were seriously wrong.
I adjusted the details and repainted the car sides Daylight Or-
ange, then relettered with the old Microscale set 87-501, with
a few bits of lettering from other sets, notably Champ set SHS-
190. Today this would not be necessary, as Microscale 87-501
has been reissued in a much better version, thanks to some
meticulous research by Dick Harley, and everything on this
model could now be correctly lettered with that one set. My
completed model is shown, see (22).
Class R-40-19.
The two rebuilt classes of wartime were
R-30/40-18 and -19. Both had solid steel (panel) roofs and W-
corner-post Dreadnaught ends; neither class was rebuilt with
car fans. The primary visual distinction between them was the
change from wood running boards on the -18 cars, to steel-grid
running boards on the -19 cars.
The two classes combined had 3500 cars, a large group, and I
have three cars from these two classes (see Table 2). Terry We-
gmann cut dies for the ends and roofs so that these cars could
“The Class R-40-19 cars were among the last
to receive the 1942-1946 single-emblem paint
scheme, and in my modeling year of 1953,
some probably still retained it. ”
MRH-Oct 2013
