The WHBL Gravel Train
August 2, 2007
My neighbor always says that a coat of paint will make any old barn look good. I think the same can be true of cheap trains.
On a recent visit to a small train show I discovered five inexpensive Lionel hoppers. They were well used but in good working shape. The all blue cars were lettered for the great Northern Railroad. At just four dollars each it was a project screaming for my attention. My plan was to turn the five toyish cars into a realistic set of hoppers for the WHBL.
1) I began by sanding off all the old lettering. I probably should have used a higher grit count paper, but 60 was all I had in the shop. Sanding the five cars took about an hour.
2) The sanding process produced a lot of dust so I took the cars to the sink and gave them a good rinse.
After drying, It was time to apply a coat of primer. I used a brown/rust color for this.
3) I didn't worry about masking off the wheels since the primer was rust colored and in the end I wanted the wheels to look rusted.
4) After fully coating the cars with primer it was time to give them a blast of flat black.
With the cars painted black, I used a variety of chalks to weather the cars and add more rust to the wheels.
Just four hours latter, the WHBL had a fleet of realistic looking hoppers. The next step will be adding the lettering and numbers. I will then finish by spraying each car with dull coat.
