Reworking an Athearn WM Grey Hopper

Reworking an Athearn WM Grey Hopper Reworking a WM Grey Hopper...
No matter what you do, some projects just don't come out right. That was the case with my Athearn 4-bay WM Hopper. This grey hopper is not exactly prototypical and I wasn't happy with the paint job. I found a photo of a C&O 4-bay hopper in the C&O Color Guide. This photo made me decide to rework the WM hopper into a more prototypical C&O hopper.

I don't have a 4-bay photo to put on the web. You will have to look in the color guide for the photo I used.

How to:
1. Decide you aren't happy with the WM hopper.
2. Remove the wheels if you can. Mine wouldn't come off, so I kept them on.
3. Spray the car engine black.
4. When the black has dried for 24 hours, spray with gloss coat.
5. Decals for this paint job are available from 2 different sheets. I used H-560 "B&O Hopper" from Herald King for all the lettering except the C&O logo. I got that logo from Champ's HG-121 "C&O Gondola" set.
6. Seal the car with an over all spray of Testors Dull Coat. This will seal the decals and provide a nice rough surface to weather the car.
7. Weather the car with grime, black and rust colored chalks. Seal with Dull Coat when happy with the level of grime.
8. You are done. Enjoy your new (much more realistic) Chessie era hopper.

Below was the WM hopper when I finished with it. I received mine as a gift and tried to make a quick weathering job work. It didn't.

Below is the kit painted black and ready for decaling.

Below is the hopper decaled and ready for weathering. Note that the Champ "C&O" logo is much more translucent than the bright white Herald King lettering.

Below is the finished pic of the hopper.