anybody out there got any photos of car tops? i would like to start weathering my house cars so the roofs are more realistic. thanks
grizlump
What era are you modelling?? Roofs tended to get pretty black in the steam era, since the cars were trailing behind steam engines day after day.
i should have been more specific. i understand about the blackened roofs during and shortly after the steam era but i would like to know more about what things were like in the early 60’s when roofwalks were still in use on the newer cars.
grizlump
Most ‘house’ cars had a metal ‘galvanized’ roof. Many times these would be painted the same color as the sides of the car or would be left ‘natural’(more modern) with some paint ‘overspray’ on the edges. When/if water leakage happened, ‘car cement’ would be applied to the roof to seal it up(sort of a heavy /gritty paint material). This would come in a grey or black color many times. Some railroads specified ‘car cement’ for the roofs of new box cars.
For ‘weathering’, I spray some flat aluminum on the roofs and let it dry for a few days. I them apply ‘patches’ of rubber cement. I also run some along the roof ribs where paint will wear off. The roof is then painted along with the rest of the car. When the rubber cement ‘patches’ are pulled, I have some nice ‘peel’ effect of paint that has lifted off. A little weathering with Floquil weathering colors finishes the car off.
Jim
Here is a photograph of the roof of a well weathered boxcar with a roofwalk, taken in 1980.
http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=47198
You might try looking through http://www.railcarphotos.com/, http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/, and http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ to see if you can find any earlier photographs.