Model Railroading > A BKTY (ex NOPB) Boxcar in 2022

At least 24 years ago I painted and decaled this Athearn "blue box" car by using Floquil UP Light Orange and Herald King decals. It was a fun project and I was quite proud of it because my goal at the time was to give it a faded look to fit the era. Well, recently I started getting bored with it and decided to age it by another 20 years. 

After studying numerous photos, many of the prototype cars are crudely patched over with all sorts of colors (not including the graffiti) by the owner. I first applied rust over the round herald before applying the apricot-colored patchework. In this case I mixed Polly S Reefer Orange with some Antique White and a drop or two of Reefer Yellow to achieve the color used on the real thing. My goal was to make it somewhat transparent to allow the nasty herald and billboard lettering on the right side to show through.

Decals used were made by Smokebox Graphics, Microscale, Weathering Solutions and a newcomer by the name of Fusion Scale Graphics which created the barcode decals.

Thanks for looking.........

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/22 19:36 by ghemr.

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We still get a LOT of BKTY boxcars here in Tyler Tx on the Cotton Belt,
and your models mimmick the real ones accurately on todays trains.

Most of them haul beer from Mexico, and the ones we see here are empties heading
back into Mexico.

Looks pretty nice.  What's the sticker beside the door say?

Jim

Jimmies Wrote:
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> Looks pretty nice.  What's the sticker beside the
> door say?

OPEN OTHER SIDE 

Thanks for the compliment!
 

Really nice work. Love all the different shades.

Neat.... I like the added customer placards... Also looks like a UP clean-out label, yes? Where did you find those?

Andy

wheel_slip Wrote:

> Also looks like a UP clean-out label, yes? Where
> did you find those?

Those cleanout decals are made by Smokebox Graphics.