TSG Multimedia - SFLC 11157

SFLC 11157

July, 2010

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Atlas 53' Evans Boxcar, SFLC 11157

I modeled this car after photos I found on the internet and in a book about Santa Fe boxcars that I have on my reference shelf. Apparently Santa Fe acquired some of these Evans boxcars secondhand and patched them with SFLC reporting marks.

This particular car was originally a USLX car that I bought off eBay. I chose it because it was a close match to one of the SFLC cars I wanted to model.

This is one of the older production Atlas Evans cars with molded-on ladders (newer and current production cars have separate ladders), but they are well done and from a distance it is hard to tell the difference.

I patched the car by masking off the area around the reporting marks, referencing photos of the prototype SFLC 11157. I painted out the "USLX", but the actual car number looked to be unchanged (apparently Santa Fe kept the old car number in at least some cases), so I could not repaint that area. Since the number on my car didn't match, I had to very carefully remove the lettering using Scalecoat Paint Remover and a microbrush. I used lettering from Microscale sheet 87-1302 to piece together the new reporting marks for the sides and both ends. Once the decals were on I sealed them with Dullcote and weathered the model using many of the techniques I described in HO Weathering & Detailing Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Unlike the newer Atlas Evans cars, this one did not have much underside detail, so I added a complete brake system. On some cars this would be a waste of effort unless the model is for a contest, as it often can't be seen, but in this case quite a bit of it is visible from the side when the car is rolling down the track. It took a little time, but it was worth it. I also added Kadee No. 58 couplers, air brake hoses, a bit of chain for the brakewheel, and Plano uncoupling levers and photo-etched coupler platforms.