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Completed my PRR X30 class one-off fire truck shipping car. 74’ of pure double door boxcar monstrosity.
I didn't want to wait for Lowell Smith to come out with the observation car for his SP Cascade, so I thought I'd fix the issue. I had an extra Kato smoothside observation car sitting in my stash (I know, it's a UP prototype, but it looks ok.....). I added the light housing to the roof of the observation end. I cut the skirting out of the middle of the car. Added a few other detail parts. Painted and lettered and it's done. The paint and lettering (Microscale decals) match Lowell's cars almost perfectly. Not bad for a 4 hour morning project.
The construction phase of my highway bridge is finished. Minor detailing and paint next.More in the Seaboard Central 3.0 thread in the Layout Engineering Forum.DFF
That looks great - nice job! If I'm not mistaken, the prototype uses those distinctive "Napoleon Hat" trucks. Kato sells those as spare parts. Small additional modification, and it would look even better.
I have a set of those trucks, but the mounting system is that newer "clip" system instead of the older phillips head screw that is on this car. I'll have to see if I can make it work.
I didn't want to wait for Lowell Smith to come out with the observation car for his SP Cascade, so I thought I'd fix the issue. I had an extra Kato smoothside observation car sitting in my stash (It's an SP prototype, but not the actual car that was used on the Cascade). I added the light housing to the roof of the observation end. I cut the skirting out of the middle of the car. Added a few other detail parts. Painted and lettered and it's done. The paint and lettering (Microscale decals) match Lowell's cars almost perfectly. Not bad for a 4 hour morning project.
If you take Pete's suggestion about the "Napoleon Hat" trucks, be aware that Kato has two (!) versions of them. The Kato Daylight cars have solid-bearing trucks, but the 4-4-2 sleeper in the Kato 20th Century has roller-bearing trucks. Not sure which is correct for the prototype, but both truck styles are available from Kato's parts department.