Hart Convertable Gondola for the PE

I was musing over the SP Hart Convertable Gondla model I picked up at a show a few years ago and lamented the fact that I was using a 40 year old Train Miniatures wood kit to stand in for a very important prototype on the PE.  While not common on the Orphan Spur I can surmise some made their way there to drop some fill or provided rock for a building project.  I was checking in on Robert Bowdidge's Blog Dry Creek to see how his Rapid Prototype projects were doing and like a bolt of lightning...Robert was offering exactly what I was needing.

This is an amazing example of what can be achieved with Rapid Prototyping today:

First, the kit parts.

I lifted this shot from Robert's site, I got so focused on working with the parts I didn't get a component picture.  As you can see, the printer did all the hard work for you...glue a few pieces in place and install grab irons and stirrups , paint and off you go.  As for surface texture, it is pretty smooth but there are a few bits of debris here and there and a quick swipe with a sanding stick and things clean up nicely.

Here is a picture from a CBC showing you how the gondola could be converted for different loads.

Out of the box pre-primed.  I drilled holes for brass grabs and stirrups and installed them.  Brass rod is not included with the kit.  I also installed the brake hardware at this time 

You can see some of the clean up on the deck, holes filled and sanded.  Ready to paint.

Finished...almost.  I primed the model and sprayed the model with Tamiya Nato Brown XF 68 which is pretty close to actual PE colors in that range.  I then did some highlighting with thinned washes.  Decals were applied over gloss coat, allowed to set and then recovered with more gloss to seal them and get rid of the film show around the markings.  The decals are stark white so I gave the whole model a very thinned down coat of the base color to age everything a bit.   I'll allow this to dry out a few days before doing washes.

Here the finished car is at the quarry picking up a load of ballast for some repairs.

Side view showing some of the weathering.  

Overall, a great kit and well worth getting a few on your layouts.