Hello everyone! It's been quite some time since Uncle Will Wright has released his Z scale Cylindrical Covered Hoppers. A much needed piece of rollingstock. Actually the first mass production run of a plastic injection Covered Hopper. According to Uncle Will, these babies are selling faster than expected. From what Uncle Will has told me, he wants to produce a special run of these covered hoppers all in Canadian paint schemes. If you have ever seen a Canadian Grain train, it consists of all, if not all, of these type cylindrical covered hoppers. (Not exactly the SAME type of cylindrical hopper; for those of you who knit-pick posts) The cylindrical hoppers can still be seen on the modern rails of today! They were the forerunners of the more used ACF Centerflow/Trinity type covered hoppers that dominate the rails. If I have my info correct, in the early 1970's, the Canadien National Railroad had a select few rail cars painted in a special scheme. They were used in an Ad campaign just like all of the other special paint schemes that have popped up of the years. Anyways, one of the rail cars was a 4 bay cylindrical covered hopper. It was light gray with the red lettering and noodle CN on one side.......... and on the other side was the special paint scheme. While working on special Z scale re-paints for a few fellow Z scalers, I have taken the time to throw in 2 of my own railcars and created the decals to re-produce the Lifesaver Covered Hopper! It may not be a 4 bay hopper like the original, but it'll have to do! :lightning: Hobo Tim
Great job Tim. The only thing I am surprise is that Robert hasn't done it yet. The other Canadian cylindrical I want to see made is the one with the red body and black walkway. Keep the pictures coming.
Robert is right behind me! Robert will post his photos soon. It's a group thing! As far as the Canadian paint scheme, yes, I like that one also. I like all of them. Must be 5-7 different cylindrical paint scheme for Canadian hoppers, probably more! I like them all. Uncle Will wants to make all of them! Picture it now. A consist of 50+ cylindrical hoppers of Canadian grain paint schemes being pulled by CN or CP GP35's or even SD70's! Awesome! Hobo Tim
I think this is the best color scheme for the Cylindrical hopper. What do you think Tim, and so simple to make the decal.
Come to think about it, this looks pretty sharp too. http://www.krunk.org/~joeshaw/pics/csxt/cvd-hop2/csxt225713-2.jpg
Tim, did you mask each color. That is a lot of masking, which is one of jobs I hate. I never know if I did it right until I take it off. Also, how do you take the cylindrical hopper apart.
I made my decals last night, thank's to Tim's beautiful artwork! I need to paint a hopper light gray to do mine, so the plan is to attack it after work tonight. :shade:
Who's gonna chop up a pair of these beasties to built a 4-bay hopper more correctly?? The N scale version of this car was a special PWRS 'Mystery' car, and goes for big bucks on nearly any auction site. I'd love to have one, but I'd RUN it!
I did look into it, and discovered that there are also 2 bay versions of this car, so a well thought out chop could yield a 2 bay and a 4 bay car. As for me, close enough is good enough for now. I want instant gratification. As it is, I have only found 1 photo of a real car that matches the paint schemes of these cars. Like the pacman CP car, it's also a 4 bay car, but I have 3 of them anyways because they look cool. I also want some Wheat Board, and Alberta cars, so I can do the Canadian Grain Train thing with my SD75I's. :shade:
And that one's actually a 3-bay! Aren't the 4-bay versions almost the same length as the 3-bays? I know their bay spacing is less.
Masking for the rainbow of colors is actually........ John, I did not have to mask anything. I have a cheap airbrush, but I have modified it so I can make perfect paint jobs without masking anything! Hah! Actually, the entire rainbow and lettering is One decal. The other side consists of 5 decals. So, it was alot easier than trying to mask and paint just one side. Robert Ray gave me the idea of one decal instead of painting. To much can go wrong. Also, the one large decal takes some maneuvering for alignment before the decal sticks to the hopper. Took a few minutes to finish setting it. The decal has a complete white backing under it with all the color on top. the big decal is thick and not as flimsy as a regular decal. This thickness actually helped me place it correctly in position. Worked out ok! *Dis-assembly of a WDW Cylindrical Hopper; The cylindrical hopper was assembled using 6 pieces. 1. Main body sides, chutes, and end ladders 2. Brake Wheel 3. Main Body ends (2) 4. Roof section with hatches 5. Roof walkway Carefully remove the roof walkway using a hobby knife blade to slowly pry the walkway up from the roof, equally on both sides. Pry the roof top off. Possibly need a small flat jewelers screwdriver or a hobby knife. Slide out the two end pieces! Finally, remove the brake wheel if needed. This hopper is a very nicely made injection plastic item. Great detail! Robert, Having a large fleet of Canadian Grain hoppers of different paint schemes would look awesome! Last night I looked thru my saved files on Cylindrical hoppers and count close to 25 different Canadian cylindrical hopper paint schemes if not more! Hobo Tim
a good place to look at the paint jobs is Intermountains N website. sales of these canadian schemes have been huge. i wish intermountain would get into the Z scale market. they always produce six or more different car numbers per run and keep a good stock. dave f.
Well, all I could think about today was getting home and getting started on my repaint. I also wanted to weather it up pretty rusty since it's an old paint job.
Very nice Robert. I need to make some signs for my grain elevator. How did you make your signs. Do you still have the link to grain elevators. I want to detail my grain elevator, and give it more of a real look.
Robert, that's some beautiful pictures. Did you weahter your car with a airbrush? Did you use Rustall?
