Re: Cimarron 27' Tiffany Reefer

Posted by Keith Hayes on Jul 25, 2020; 10:52pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Cimarron-27-Tiffany-Reefer-tp14345p15849.html

I am continuing to clean up a bunch of projects started over the past few years.

Thanks to this group, there is lots of good information on these Tiffany refers. I spotted the model at a train show long ago, and Derrell Poole's built models caught my eye--both due to the older, short car, the really groovy lettering and the orange color. Consulting other pages, it seems the proper color is a yellow with a drop of orange, so maybe not as orange as Derrell originally thought. I loaded up the airbrush and painted the trucks and bottom black, the sides yellow (with a drop of orange) and the ends a redish brown with a drop of blue. (Do a search on refers and you will find a ton of information).

The trucks are done: the outside brake levers conflict with the coupler pocket so they are not there. I drilled through the brake beams so the carrier wires from the bolsters run through, and soldered them on and cut the wire ends flush, so the connection is sturdy. As per ususal, I forgot to add some weight to the car, so I drilled a 3/8" hole just inboard of each bolster and added a some tungsten weights. The brass trucks are heavy and the car rolled pretty good with them alone, but now moves very smoothly with the added body weight. FYI, the tungsten weights come in fractional weights, so if you have a car that likes to lean this way or that, using one might solve the wobble.

Dr. Courtney raised some concern with his comments on dry transfers. I used these years ago in my student and early professional days: we would use Letraset and Chartpak lettering for drawing title blocks: nothing beat a fresh sheet of lettering, with the velvety-softness of the plastic carrier sheet. I have not used them for years on a model, though, and the CDS set that came with the kit was old, so I was not sure if they might dry out. Also...noone seems to say much about best practices regarding the sheen of the paint. Consulting YouTube, the best clinics are from Archer and some Pokemon folks. Go figure.

I added a couple drops of gloss to the yellow, let the paint dry for a week and cut open the dry transfers today. They went on great.

The carrier film is nice and velvety as I recalled and the lettering went on smoothly. It was reasonably easy to locate and align the lettering, and even provide some custom dates--though that is fiddley. Here the Leadville Shop Super admires the work.

I still have to do the other side, but another project is close to complete.

I do l-o-v-e that Colorado And Southern font!