RBOX 31856 Re-Decaled and Weathered

 Seems like I've had a bit of a run of Intermoutain model RBOX cars on the workbench over the past couple of weeks, so I thought we'd have a look at one them.  In reality I've only really worked on two of those cars, but I actually weathered the first one twice.  I didn't like the way it looked when I finished the first time, as I had gone too heavy with brown and the boxcar turned out way darker than I intended.  You'll have to take my word for it, as I'm not making any pictures available from that particular effort.

This is the 2nd boxcar, in it's original condition.

I remove the Intermountain factory lettering with Solvaset and a wet Q-tip or two.  That normally seems to take about 20 minutes or so, at least on Intermountain or Athearn models.  

Fading of the paint colour would be next, but the yellow of the actual RBOX cars often seems to darken as it picks up dust and dirt, so I spray them with multiple layers of thinned brown acrylic craft paint.

Decals from PDC's RBOX ghost decal set replace the original graphics.  They are very nicely printed on very thin decal paper.  Lots of cutting/trimming involved, but the work is well worth it as they do fit perfectly among the ribs on the sides of the boxcar.

The patch at the reporting marks is my own creation, as I sprayed a mix of yellow and flesh coloured craft paint onto plain trim film.  The reporting mark and numbers are from a MicroScale RBOX sheet.

For this side, I free-handed some graffiti.  The few black patches are flat black trim film, and the old loaders' stickers at the door are trim film that I had sprayed off-white as well.  The roof is Rust Texture from Vallejo, which I've then painted with grey craft paint to simulate added waterproofing.

After all that is done, I spray again with more of the light brown craft paint, just to flatten everything down and bring it all together.

I've had the PDC decals that I used ion this boxcar for some time, but a week ago I ordered another complete set of six from them.  Bill at PDC is really nice, and had them shipped this past Monday.  I received them yesterday (Friday).  Here's a shot of all 6 sets...

These decals are made for use on the Intermountain boxcars, but with a bit of care, they can be used on those from other manufacturers as well.  I figure that doing that sort of thing is what makes us modelers.