The West Point Route: modeling the Alabama River sleeper
in its corrugated-side form had not yet been released. Consequently, I located a decorated car and disassembled it as indicated in the instructions. I first removed the windows from the interior and labeled them so they could be re-installed in their proper loca- tions. Next, I stripped the model of the factory-decorated paint scheme using 91 percent isopropyl alcohol. This alco- hol concentration worked well on the Walthers paint and lettering and did not affect the plastic shell. After it was stripped and washed, I primed the model with Floquil primer and allowed the body to dry for several days. In the meantime, I painted the inte- rior a buff color using Floquil Founda- tion and painted the underframe
The Walthers corrugated side, Pullman- Standard 10-6 sleeper is a good match for the car that the Atlanta & West Point con- tributed to the Crescent. The modeling work mainly involved stripping, repainting and decaling the car, then weathering it. Most of the weathering was done by layering dif- ferent colors of acrylic stenciling paint.
Weathered Black to simulate several years of accrued grime. At this time, I also disassembled the
trucks and repainted them with the same shade.
Next came the carbody. I painted the car sides, ends, roof and vestibule walls with a mixture of Floquil Old Silver and Bright Silver. Satisfied with the finish, I then applied Microscale decals from a now out-of-production Mini-Cal set (Railroads of Georgia, MC-4193). A search for similar lettering sets will yield a list of currently-available ones that will do the job.
I gloss-coated the carbody with sev- eral light coats of Floquil Crystal Cote and allowed it to dry completely. The “glass” was re-installed using Tamiya clear coat as the adhesive, the smallest possible drops of clear coat and natural wicking action doing the trick, The car was weathered per prototype photos I had on hand using stencil paint “creams,” which dry dead flat. I dry brushed the stencil paints onto the metallic surfaces a little at a time, al- lowing 12-14 hours between applica-
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tions. The stencil paints are acrylic and permanent, but can be wiped clean if the effect is unsatisfactory. A bonus is how easy it is to apply and control lay- ers of color and textures using them. When completed, I noted that I had
failed to install the badge plates that were located on the vestibule and blind ends. This oversight was corrected us- ing Evergreen Scale Models styrene. I painted the badges to match the car- body, applied decals and glued them into place per the prototype. I then in- stalled the grab irons following photos and completed the weathering process using a combination of dry brush and airbrushing. Overall, I enjoyed this project and am happy to have the Ala- bama River join my burgeoning Geor-
gia Railroad-West Point Route fleet. Sources
Chapman, Bob. “Modeling the L&N’s Crescent 10-6 sleeper,” Railroad Model Craftsman, September, 1999. Hanson, R H. The West Point Route,
the Atlanta & West Point Railroad and the Western Railway of Alabama. TLC Publishing, Forest, Virginia, 2005. Kinkaid, J. Southern Railway Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equip- ment. Morning Sun Books. Inc., Edi- son, New Jersey, 1996.
FEC Plan 4140 sleeper names were chosen for South American countries as opposed to typical river names.
Footnotes 1
OCTOBER 2012
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