HO scale USRA Ann Arbor box car coupled to an HO scale Caswell AT&SF gondola.

HO scale USRA Ann Arbor box car coupled to an HO scale Caswell AT&SF gondola.

The odd couple. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild #USRABuild

Side view, HO scale Caswell gondola, showing the distinct board detail brought out by the weathering.

Top-down view from the brake end perspective of an HO scale Caswell gondola, emphasizing the panel-by-panel weathering effects.

Another top-down view of the HO scale Caswell gondola.

HO scale Caswell gondola turned on its side to display the complete brake detail.

Note the distinct boards, panel-specific weathering, and complete brake detail. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Side view, completed and weathered HO scale Caswell gondola.

Brake end view, completed and weathered HO scale Caswell gondola.

Opposite side view, completed and weathered HO scale Caswell gondola.

A end view, completed and weathered HO scale Caswell gondola.

A few more touches, dullcoat, and it's finished - at least until I load it with cargo. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Taking care of the trucks - Caswell gondolas usually had Andrews trucks installed in the late 1920s-early 1930s. The Vallejo oil stain is glossy, leaving a live equipment-looking shine. Chalk as decals and oils on the body. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola with the underside weathered.

Interior of an HO scale Caswell gondola, showing the drop panel detail. The top row of drop panels has been tinted with a transparent red earth filter. The bottom row of panels untreated for comparison.

The neglected underside has been dirtied. And the interior was giving a little too much purple so a layer of transparent red earth oil modulation - compare top and bottom panels if you can see around the shadows. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Heavily weathered HO scale Caswell gondola with the A.T. decal melted off.

Interior view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the walls showing a patch job and a dark gray wash overall.

Merde; I seem to have melted the A.T. in A.T.&S.F. on one side with an overly powerful enamel wash. While I decide how to deal with that, a dark gray acrylic wash for the interior (Vallejo 76.517). #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Increasingly weathered HO scale caswell gondola A end, now with subtle new rust stains.

After working in rust stains and just taking time to really get them subtle, I love the effect. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola seen from the A end. It wears a coat of oil weathering.

WIP. Note the rust stain at the metal panel. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola being panel lined with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color (Dark Brown). We will revisit panel lining after the oils are finished.

HO scale Caswell gondola with off-white spots of oil paint on the side.

HO scale Caswell gondola with the top two boards subtly highlighted different tones with van Dyke brown and burnt umber oil paints. This will be continued until all the boards have individual highlighting.

After a semigloss coat, panel lining / oil weathering. Prototypically, boards on the side are more distinguishable than usually seen on models. Let's differentiate them with van Dyke brown, burnt umber and raw umber highlights. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Now painstakingly decaled, lets lighten/woodify the finish with a filter: in small scales, "true" colors can be too dark. Thanks to Micro Sol setting, this can be done right on top of the decals with acrylics: Vallejo Sand/Ivory. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola with freshly applied Westerfield decals. The brake wheel has broken off and lays beside it.

I'll try both decal sets eventually. Westerfield decals for now. The smaller ones were a shattering nightmare. Microsurgery. Also, National Scale Car decals are much higher resolution. Definitely using NSC next time. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Gloss varnish (sparingly) again, & time to decide on decals. Westerfield decals included in the kit or National Scale Car nationalscalecar.com/product/sant...? #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola being painted with TCP-019 Santa Fe Brown.

Initial exterior chipping of an HO scale Caswell gondola.

Lightly chipped exterior of an HO scale Caswell gondola.

Chipping the exterior. First, a light layer of Tru-Color Santa Fe Brown. It is an enamel, so it takes a lot of brush scrubbing. Once you break through the enamel layer, it goes a lot faster. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Masking an HO scale Caswell gondola. Yellow Tamiya masking tape is applied to the ledge, leaving the interior to be painted.

Masked interior of an HO scale Caswell gondola having been painted with Polly Scale Rock Island Maroon. It is a bit too red for a Santa Fe gondola, but it will be heavily chipped so that difference will be minimized.

HO scale Caswell gondola with an interior where the paint layer of Rock Island Maroon is heavily worn away.

Chipping the interior. Masked the exterior, painted with Acrylic Rock Island Maroon, and chipped heavily. I may see about toning down the red to make it more like Santa Fe freight car brown. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Old 40 foot wood side sugar beet gondola at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. Photo by Mike Mucklin.

Going for something like this as the base, representing aged wood and rusty metal that will slightly show through the next layer. (Photo from www.wplives.org/gondolas.html) #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola in a paint booth with a fresh coat of AK Gloss Varnish to protect the chipped dark gray / light gray layer.

HO scale Caswell gondola with a fresh coat of hairspray after glosscoat.

HO scale Caswell gondola with the metal frame features painted in a rust color: a mix of Mr. Color, 2/3 Hull Red and 1/3 Flat White.

After cleaning up the interior with light gray, I protected the finish with a thin gloss coat, another layer of hairspray, then enamels to handpaint the metal portions with a lightened rust color (2/3 Hull Red, 1/3 Flat White). #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola showing the chipping effect on the interior. Some of the chips are too large and go past all the paint layers.

HO scale Caswell gondola showing the dark gray / light gray chipping effect on the exterior.

HO scale Caswell gondola showing the dark gray / light gray chipping effect on the exterior.

So far, so/so. Inside, I applied the top coat too heavily so it chipped only with effort and tended to go all the way past all the paint layers. On the exterior, the effect is much nicer. I'll redo the interior. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola painted light gray, in the spray booth.

HO scale Caswell gondola painted light gray, in the spray booth, after having hairspray applied. The specific hairspray is TRESemmé 4.

That worked well enough to try on the model itself. Here I lay down a layer of light gray (1:1 Dunkelgrau:Flat White) and, after ~1/2 hour drying, hairspray. I have upgraded hairsprays; decanting into the airbrush for application. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Mr. Color Dunkelgrau 513 and Flat White 62 were mixed 1:1 for a light gray undercoat before hairspray application. After hairspray, straight Dunkelgrau was applied.

Test chips for hairspray chipping. Each chip has an undercoat of light gray before hairspray application, then straight Dunkelgrau was applied. The top two test pieces were chipped with water while the bottom two were not. Note the texture that affects the grain of the chipping. The untextured piece on the right has chipped as well, but hard to see in this photo.

Second round testing hairspray chipping underway, this time with enamels. Not water soluble, enamels provide a strong barrier to chippin, giving small chip sizes, desirable for HO scale. 2 tone gray: representing old raw wood. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Two styrene paint chips on a paper towel. One is labeled 3 Hours and the other 6 Hours. These times refer to the drying time of the top layer before chipping was done.

The longer you leave the top layer to dry, the more resistant the it is to chipping. This can be used to vary the level of wear. I like the look after 6 hours drying, but it probably had more to do with how wet the brush was. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Testing hairspray chipping technique for the interior on a few pieces of scrap styrene. After priming, an undercoat is applied, then a light coat of hairspray, then a top layer of paint that will chip away with a damp brush. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola, inverted, with a layer of mahogany primer.

This gondola is topologically complex with the dump mechanism, brake gear, etc. After one layer of Mr. Mahogany Surfacer 1000, a few spots were missed. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Side view, unpainted resin HO scale model of a Caswell gondola.

Angle view, unpainted resin HO scale model of a Caswell gondola.

Assembly complete. The corner steps are etched metal things that require folding and break apart all too easily. But I persevered. Next, bathing and priming. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola model having seams between parts filled with Tamiya Putty, Basic Type.

B end view of an HO scale Caswell gondola showing the brake detail.

Almost finished on top. Just a few more details and it will be assembled. That brakewheel is a tiny and very thin wafer of resin - it took a lot of time to clean it up. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with the brake apparatus installed.

The underside detail is almost complete. Note the 3D-printed T pipejoiner in the trainline, a part from precisionresinworks.com and chain links from ppw-aline.com/products/292.... #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Top-down view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with end sill installed in the right location, bearing corner gussets, and equipped with the couplers.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with trainline and brake detail being installed.

Adding the corner gussets and end sill - this time, in the right place. After that, the trainline and brake gear. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola, inverted, with dump mechanism rod and bearings installed.

HO scale Prototype couplers being installed into graphite-painted resin coupler boxes.

Threading the bearings on both sides finished, I am preparing the coupler pockets with graphite. These are Prototype Couplers, a little more prototypical than Kadee (at the cost of being harder to operate). #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola next to a rod and several dump mechanism bearings that will be installed.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola with the dump mechanism rod threaded through the first two bearings.

Inverted HO scale Caswell gondola, partially threaded with dump mechanism bearings on one side.

The underside of this project will take the most time. Here, we install the dump mechanism very gradually. It requires sanding out 16 ring-shaped bearings per side and threading them through a rod. Tedious but not difficult. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

Top-down view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the lip on the B end mostly peeled off, hanging by a thread.

Top-down view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the B end lip being glued in place with cyanoacrylate (CA, or superglue).

B end-on view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with the lip at the top repaired.

As @jamesdmcdonald.bsky.social suggested, this mistake has proven to be fixable. After gradually reattaching with thin CA, laying it flat upside down on a piece of glass straightened it out. #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild

HO scale Caswell gondola with the ledge on the end warped and disconnected from the main casting.

The B end was being difficult, so I ended up dumping a slight excess of Un-Cure. This had the effect of eating away at the casting. Is this model, as the kids say, cooked? #HOScale #ModelRailroad #ModelRailroading #ModelRailway #CaswellBuild