CN Austin Western 30 yard side dump cars


CN 56611 at Hope, BC, summer 1999
Pre-weathering view of the cars.

Thanks to the generosity of a friend I was able to purchase a trio of OMI 30 yard Austin Western side dump cars that were originally part of the late Stafford Swain's collection.  The models were painted by John Morris but not decaled so needed some extra work.  

Canadian National had a variety of side dump car types, with the 30 yard design from Austin Western being one of them.  CN ordered roughly 200+/- cars between 1951 and 1957 from Eastern Car Company who built them under license from Austin Western.  

The cars are close to the CN 30 yard cars with some differences in the end platforms.  I decided to leave them as they were since I didn't want to mess with John's expert painting.  I didn't notice until I was looking at photos for decal placement so they will pass muster for most people.  Before I started decaling I applied thinned Vallejo gloss varnish to the areas to be lettered.  This gives a smooth surface for decal application.  

Black Cat Decals has the correct decals available for the CN 30 yard cars so I purchased three sets from Central Hobbies.  Black Cat developed the decals in cooperation with Stafford Swain so they have the correct data.  There is some additional trimming required to fit the decals into the recesses of the car side but they go on very well.  

The cars came with Kato and P2K standard bearing trucks that were replacements for the original OMI trucks.  The OMI trucks don't roll particularly well so swapping them out helps the car performance.  I painted the sideframes with Tamiya Red Oxide primer and painted and weathered the wheels to get rid of the shiny metal.  I used some of my rapidly depleting supply of Floquil Fantasy Colours Oily Black to represent the oily buildup on the wheel faces by oil and dirt from the standard journals on the trucks.  I weathered the trucks as part of my overall weathering of the cars which I discuss below.

In my overhead views of then CN side dump fleet there is some remnant paint on the upper portions of the cars, but much of the sides and bottom have been scraped clean of paint by the aggregate loads the cars carry.  With some trepidation about painting these nicely done cars I moved forward.  Vallejo 71.065 steel was my chosen colour with a couple of drops of black paint to darken the steel colour somewhat.

I used a business card trimmed to a rough semi circular shape to get the pattern seen on the interior ends of the cars.  This gives a good starting point for weathering the cars.  I sealed the cars with Tamiya TS-80 matt spray before starting additional weathering.  

Dabbed paint in varying colours on the interior to get the start of the streaking from the loads.
Initial streaking from the loads in the car. More layers still to come.

I used my favourite Vallejo Game Effects Dry Rust on the top of the sides and ends to get the look of the cars seeing rough service lives.  I followed this will oil pin washes of various shades of blacks and  browns to get the steel coloured interiors toned down.  I did several applications to get the streaky dirty look these cars had on their interiors.  Carrying ballast, rock and muck is dirty work.  

A bit of oil wash on the exterior to get a grimy yet well maintained look to the cars

I also used a black oil wash to get a gritty look on the car body, ends and underframe to get some patina on the car.  In the 1980's these cars were still relatively well maintained so only got grimy, not totally destroyed. 

This would be considered a bit excessive on a model railway car but perfectly prototypical.  Blue River BC, spring 2001






Once I was satisfied with the oil weathering I added some remnants of a load.  In the prototype photo above I caught some similar dump cars with a lot of left over material stuck inside the car.  I wanted to capture this so used some Vallejo 27.653 Ultra Matt Varnish with some Vallejo Pigments (73.113 light slate grey and 73.111 Green Earth) mixed in and applied in the corners and as streaks on the sides, ends and floor.  This (to my eye) captures the look of some wet material that stuck to the car when it was dumped.  It is a cool look that I hope I managed to capture.   





I still have one unpainted Austin Western car I picked up a few years back, I need to get it painted and weathered to join it's companions.  That will be project 5468 on the list.










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