Coiled Steel Load
B&O Insulated Boxcars (Class B-074)...
Insulated boxcars are some of my favoite
cars. They usually come in yellow sided paint schemes with blue
markings. There were however quite a few Chessie insulated
boxcars that received the standard boxcars scheme of blue with yellow
markings. Class B-074 was such a class. They were delivered
in predecessor blue schemes as well.
I had accumulated five Walthers 50' FGE Insulated Box Cars
(932-4750). I did three of them in FGE paint schemes and didn't
need two more. I chose to look for a closely matching Chessie
prototype and found the B-074. It's not perfect, but it's really
close.
B-074 class boxcars came in B&O road numbers 482200-482399 and
C&O road numbers 482000-482199 and were built in 1967. That
is 400 boxcars, which is not a particularly large class. The door
on the B-074 was signficantly different than on the B-074A
sub-class. The Walthers kit most closely matches the B-074 seen
here.
Below is a photo of the actual boxcar. The
photo is from the Fallen Flags website.
How to:
1. Luckily Walthers FGE is a close
match. I started with two undecs. They come in yellow
plastic.
2. Paint the cars and roofs Polly Scale
C&O Enchantment Blue.
3. Paint the inside and the bottoms Polly
Scale Engine Black.
4. Glue the weights in the cars.
5. Spray the car with Testors Gloss Coat, to
get it ready for decals.
6. Decal the car. I chose B&O
482212 and 482382, but you can chose any one in the series. I
used Herald
King B-140 Dark Blue 40' or 50' Box Car (5-73) Set. I used
consolidated stencils from a Microscale set I
had on hand. Spray the car with Testors Dull Coat the car when
complete.
7. Assemble the car per the
directions. Weather the car lightly on the sides with black
pastels.
Weather the roof with shades of rust and black. Seal the
weathering with Testors Dull Coat.
8. You are done. You now have two
interesting, and more accurate insulated boxcars. They will
break up the string of yellow insulated boxcars and be very
prototypical.
Below are the two cars painted C&O
Enchantment Blue.
Below the two cars have been painted black
on the inside and the bottom. No need to paint the floor, the
weight will hide it and it won't appear translucent.
Below the cars are decaled and ready for
assembly and weathering.
Below are photos of the finished
cars. Note the small differences in the repaints. The
"Chessie System", Ches-C logo, road #s and letters, dimensional
setncils and consolidated stencils are all in different places, as seen
on the prototype photos.
