Car and Passenger equipment guide, there it was on page 29,
BN 318517. The BN had acquired these Gunderson cars (series
318400-318599) in 1970. The Spokane, Portland & Seattle also
acquired a series of these cars at that time. This was interest-
ing to me because I just finished modeling a SP&S Gunderson
car using the same ExactRail model. The Paul C. Winters photo
of BN 318517 was taken in the late seventies, just after my
1977 modeling era. This was important because I could use the
photo as a guide to paint and weather my car.
Planning the project
I knew that modeling these cars would involve basic repainting
and decaling, except for an SP&S car. For this project I would
need to cut out the stock Youngstown-style doors and kitbash
correct Superior doors.
Another minor detail I would have to address would be the
number of side panels. The ExactRail model has six panels on
each side of the doors. Both the SP&S and BN prototype photos
indicate only five panels. This would be an easy fix. I could eas-
ily create new weld seams using the technique I used to model
my DT&I cars in the November MRH issue
I use a no. 2 pencil and draw the weld seams onto
clear decal paper. I can then sand off the old seams, cut out my
seams, and apply them just like any other decal.
As I studied the photo of the BN car I decided that I would
need multiple Microscale sets in order to correctly letter my
model, set 251 BN 40 & 50 ft. Box Cars, and 1377 BN Box
Car Markings. My SP&S model would require Champion set
HB-399. Fortunately I had one set in my decal drawer. I also
found it easy to obtain an extra set on eBay.
One detail issue I needed to address would be the roofs. The
BN and SP&S series of these cars should have X-panel roofs.
The ExactRail models come with diagonal panel roofs, but
ExactRail roof easily pops out! I found replacement X panel
roofs in my scrap box. My new X-panel roofs were an exact fit!
I’m not sure, but I think they are from Branchline.
How to build them
Follow along as I describe how I modeled BN 318517 and SP&S
318134 using the ExactRail Gunderson models.
2
2. SP&S 318184 is the other car that I modified.
Gunderson boxcar - 2
Continue reading for the step-by-step ...
MRH-Jul 2014
