Great Northern 70104 Three Bay Hopper

The weather turned nasty this week, but we did get some lettering done before the bottom fell out of the thermometer in the afternoon.  This is one of the groups, a lot of letters to be drawn and cut out with two days of 'homework' earlier this week for me.

B End

This almost completes the lettering needed on the end sheet for this end of the car.  We did some more on the left side, but tight quarters and poor light resulted in no images.

You did not think I would let you get away without some views of our hopper car restoration, did you?  I know it may not seem to be balanced reporting but this major effort by the Freight Car Department is near to my heart, and I could not help but take a lot of images.

Trucks

Victor Humphreys continued work on the truck sideframes, completing the finish painting on the right side of this car.

Dimensional Data

I suppose modelers treat such notations with only passing interest as long as some generic stuff is shown on a car.  Not so with our restorations, seen here complete on the right side of the car.  There are a lot of letters and numbers painted here, each one having a meaning and significance to this car.

Coming Out

There were needed switch moves in Barn 8 and also Barn 4.  Our beloved hopper got outdoors for the first time since lettering efforts began and this 3/4 view from the B end shows much of the efforts to advantage.

A End

A similar pose is this view from the A end, and yes, some lettering has been applied here also.  Keep hoping for good weather for this pace to continue.

Right Side

This is a more traditional straight on view of the right side.  Amazingly, there are four more blocks of decorations to be painted on this side.

On the Move

Too soon, the locomotive coupled up and the hopper was off to be put away.

B End

This close up of the B end, shows nearly complete lettering for this end, some of it still wet from being painted an hour previous.

Priming

Victor Humphreys worked on two truck sideframes, cleaning them up and prime painting.  Here he is working on the near left truck on the B end.

A End

Earlier in the day, Victor applied the finish paint to the far right truck sideframe on the A end.  Yes, MINERAL RED is the correct color for the trucks.  Meanwhile, I was working to apply more lettering, seen also in this image.

A End

And here is the first lettering applied to the end of the A end.  Does that make sense?

Dimensional Data

On the right side we applied the AAR car type and the start of the dimensional data.