Model Railroading > Upgraded Walthers UP Hoppers [HO Scale]

These are a couple of basic Walthers Mainline cars I've been working on upgrading in my free time the past couple of months night by night. Upgrades include hand-bent uncoupling levers, photo-etched metal roof walkways and crossover platforms, rubber air hoses, Smokebox Graphics reflective striping, Kadee metal couplers and weathering per prototype photos of the real cars. Weathering was done with a mix of airbrushing, powders and light washes. This was also one of my attempts at adding mud kickup to the hopper bays closest to the trucks. Photo-etched platforms are Plano Model Products part numbers: 11120 & 10821. Thanks to Keith over at Plano for helping me get these shipped.

Thanks for looking! Feedback is always appreciated. I am happy to share any of my techniques or answer any questions. 

Alex Wilson
Castro Valley, CA
ApproachAspect's Flickr Photos



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/25 18:41 by east_bay_alex.

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Here is a nice side profile of the cars, note the UP shield is not faded on this side of UP 90725 and a full side profile of UP 87337.

Alex Wilson
Castro Valley, CA
ApproachAspect's Flickr Photos

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Nice detail work with the right amount of weathering. 

Cheers!
Mike

Well done.
Just the right amount IMHO.

EXCELLENT!! and NO GRAFITTI

They look great! The right amount of weathering for some years of service. Well done!

gandydancer4 Wrote:
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> EXCELLENT!! and NO GRAFITTI

To my surprise while looking online for prototype photos of these cars, they did not have graffiti! Thanks for the feedback.

Alex Wilson
Castro Valley, CA
ApproachAspect's Flickr Photos

luv the just plain old cars. Just the way ya see en in the real world.