I need to do a 50' banner set. I have a 1970s set with the large "RDG" in the works - just needs a few tweaks to finalize...

I have the 50’ set that Chris used from Highball Graphics, but if I recall correctly the yellow color is kind of washed out or faded. It is supposed to represent a car that has been in services a while I guess, although the Athearn cars Chris did look great.

Too bad we can’t get Kadee to do a special run of their 40 or 50 foot cars decorated for Reading. It was done before with their hopper car so it is possible to get it done. I know I would buy a couple.

Mark... the Athearn cars are factory painted units,I did not do them.I'll add weathering later.

I did add two more Kato 35's to my roster.I completed both in a little over two weeks,surprized myself.
First up is 3625 front to rear left.


High angle shot.


Front to rear right.


High angle rear to front right.

Getting back...the 2nd completed unit 3623 front to rear right.


Front to rear left.


Rear to front left.


High angle.The roof weathering on 23 was done a little heavier then 3620/25.


All three units on the diorama.



16700 HP waiting to show their muscle.


Lead units.


This picture shows the difference in the Polscale RDG yellow.The SD45 was painted with the Red labeled RDG yellow while the 35's were painted with the Polyscale in the white and blue label which is darker...I do like the subtle contrast.

Closer look at the units.All were painted using PS RDG yellow air brushed straight out of the bottle,no thinning of the paint.SCII RDG green was also used thinned 50/50.The pilots and steps were hand painted Floquill eng.black and the trucks and fuel tank were hand painted with FQ grimy black.All the Kato supplied grabs and railing were first sprayed with dull coat before being hand painted with PS RDG yellow and then highlighting the grabs and railings using FQ railbox yellow.
Various detail parts from Calscale,DA and DW were used.The weathering was accomplished using paint,pencil and pastel powders.
Many reference photos for each unit were used.
Unit fronts.I used a micron ink pen for the window gaskets.


Long hood ends.


The hostler has them lined up for service.The drip strips are evergreen styrene.I also used the strips to fill in the gap above the side windows.The model has pre drilled mounting holes for the sun shades which looks out of place without the strip fill ins.The tips of the wind screens were painted silver and mounted to the body using MS Krystal Klear.The arm rest is from DA.Kadee short shank 153's were used on all the models.


The reference photos came in handy for the number placements on the longhood.3623/25 are somewhat similar,but 3620's were applied closer to the front of the unit.


Happy 4th of July to all!!

Working on a couple non Reading builds at the moment using a pair of IHC 2-8-0s for 2 different engines, a LV M-36 and a CNJ I-5. The M-36 has the most done on it, the I-5 is a boiler tube on updated running gear right now.



I'll do a follow the build thread on the 2 if you guys want to see it.