Modeling Insull's Empire in O Scale: AEFRE 49

Thursday, August 29, 2013

AEFRE 49 - #8 Epilogue

Instead of being an epilogue, perhaps this post should be called "Finishing the Model Part 2". In a rush to finish the prior post which "concluded" the building of the 49, a few items were overlooked. The model was painted Floquil Box Car Red. Testors has completely dropped the railroad line of paints (colors). However, if you check the other paint products still produced by Testors you may find a comparable color.

To be sure of the color, individuals who may have either seen the 49 and/or have color photos of the prototype were asked, "What was the color?" Walter Keevil responded with a "frame grab" taken from a 1944 Art Cox film. The color looks more red than my model. Perhaps the correct color for the 49 is barn red. Also note the unusual pattern to the siding.

Walter Keevil Collection

The lettering on my model is a decal made by Paul Mayer of Shoreline Decals.

As the post on building the 49 started to gain momentum, Joseph Hazinski of the Fox Valley Railway Museum sent me his drawings of the 49. After making them up with corrections, I sent them back to him.

This photo has Joseph's markings pointing out major items regarding the building of the 49. He points out many pieces of information regarding the building of the 49. I added one piece of information.

The red markings are the original ones. The green markings were done at a later date. I made my addition in blue.

The one item I left off the model were the small electrical boxes or outlets next to the headlight mounting on the cab. If you look at the photo above it can be seen to the right of the headlight mounting. The electrical outlet is pointed down to prevent rain and other junk from getting into it.

After discovering a Kadee coupler could not be mounted, my next choice was a Clouser brass working coupler now avaialable from Protocraft, www.protocraft.com However, the Clouser coupler will not mate with a Kadee. This sent me looking at the PSC catalogs for a lost wax brass coupler which worked and would be appropriate for the model.

If you recall from the introduction of this model to the blog, the idea of building a model of the 49 started when the late John Cloos asked me how to figure out the color of a prototype trolley from a black and white photo. John was hoping to make a 1/24 scale model. After the conversation he emailed the photo of the model as it was built in this blog as 1/48 scale model.