Athearn Blue Box Kits

I have a Branchline Blueprint Series wood reefer kit thatI have not built yet. I look at it and all the small parts and then my G-Scale fingers and figure I am not ready yet.

Ihave an F&C gondola kit sitting on the work bench right now. I am hoping to start sometime before the end of the year. The one F&C kit I would like to get is the Butterdish milk tanker. They are so different looking.

 

Does anyone remember when Athearn blue box kits came in a yellow box?
I went ot a swap meet some time ago and spotted an Athearn 200 ton crane that was built and brush painted. I knew it could be salvaged so I bought it for $2. When I closed the box up it was yellow. The instruction sheet was printed in 1956.
I stripped it down useing brake fluid and painted the frame and boom dark gray and the body flat black,then decaled it for CMStP&P.
sorry about the bad pics!!

 

Finally got around to taking the photos.

Here is the bottom of the Athearn express reefer:



The Roundhouse express reefer:



The Roundhouse 36’ reefer:



The Athearn wood reefer

 

Hey Tom,
I could lend you the use of my 200 ton crane and we'll have them cars righted in no time!!!!

 

Thanks for that Tom! Looks great even underneath! Love the rusted axles!!! How'd you do that? You really gotta share your techniques with us!

 

Tompm:

You might try this ultra-flat on one or two cars; I would be interested in your opinion. It might do well on the truck side frames or the bottom of the car. Thanks.

http://www.trainboard.com/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/13/t/002302.html

 

Thanks for the suggestion, Flash. I will definitely look into it.

I think I know the paint you talking about. Does it come in a black can? We used some type of green camo paint that I think Krylon makes to paint our sewer vent pipe in the front yard. It worked great because it was a flat finish and the pipe now blends in instead of reflecting the sun.

 

Thanks!

It is a pretty simple process. I brush paint both sides of the wheel and the axle with a rust color. I use Americana Burnt Sienna, Folk Art Red Oxide, Raw Sienna, or Cinnamon. I use the paint straight out of the bottle, unthinned. After the wheel has dried I go over it with either Folk Art Asphaltum, Raw Umber, or Burnt Umber that is slightly thinned (1 part paint; 1 to 2 parts blue windshield washer fluid). When I go over the wheel I don’t worry about covering up all the previous color evenly. As a matter of fact I want it uneven. After the second coat of paint is dried I seal the wheels with Dullcoat or an acrylic matte finish.

The next time I weather a piece of rolling stock I will document it with photos and post a quick “how to”.

 

Tompm:

Does it come in a black can? My can is sort of white. It says "Krylon Camouflage" on the side with a cap to match the color. The paint you describe does sound like the same thing. This "camouflage" only comes in four colors; it reads "ultra-flat" on the side of the lid, too.

 

Andy

I may have to take you up on that. My LPPs took the crane out to get a Christmas tree last year and that was the last I saw it on the rails:

 

Does anyone know if Athearn is permanently phasing out the "Blue Box" kits? I have noticed that on thier website a significant quantity of kits have a red tag that reads "not currently in production".

I also received an email from Athearn telling me that it would be 6 months to a year before they are scheduled to produce undec' shake the box kits again. I have always depended on thier offset hoppers, boxcars, etc. to paint and decal. They had a good mix of offset w/ peaked ends, square ends as well as ribbed hoppers w/ both peaked and square ends.

I really prefer the "Blue Box" kits over the RTR stuff.

 

No they are not phasing them out. I have an email from them with a listing of what kits will be produced and re-released in the coming year. Email me and I can send you a copy or if I can figure out some way of posting it.

Me too. To me that is the fun part of the hobby. However, some of that RTR stuff is nice. I just got a Klemme covered hopper RTR which is very sweet.

 

Here are two Athearn Blue Box kits I made. One of my first in H0 scale. I had to file the truck bolster to lower the couplers. I had heard that BB kits usually have to have the coupler raised with the washers.


The only real change I made was to add Kadee no. 5s.

 

Flash. I can tell you first hand that the vast majority of mine have washers between the truck and bolster. I have about 250 BB kits. About 180 or so assembled. I have a "rig" made up of track, a re-railer, a Kadee coupler height gauge, and an NMRA standards gauge. I put all my cars on that contraption when they come off the workbench or they come off the layout for maintenance.

About 80% or more of the blue box kits have had to have shims. Usually it is a mix of the 0.010" and the 0.015" variety.

By the way, good job on those cars. BB are indeed the kings of "shake the box", but they DO have their place. As much as I like finishing up the rare craftsman kit, I always get a kick out of painting, decaling, and weathering one of the BB jobs.

 

Thanks, Kitbash. That is good info for an N scaler. Here is my latest Athearn Blue Box. I weathered it with acrylic washes and then with an airbrush. It came out a little heavier weathering than I expected.

Also, I was pleased to note that this is an all steel car with wooden sides. It even has a steel door and definitely shows the progression of freight car construction through the early 1900's in the USA. I thought it was neat that Athern even took the time to make such a model. AFAIK, there is no equivalent model in N scale. Maybe early Roco?

 

My latest Athearn Blue Box kit weathered for the SAMRA club fun run outings. I changed the number on this one using a home made, ink-jet decal.

 

Regardless of who makes the car kit the first thing I do is make sure all the parts are there. At the time of purchace I also buy a pair of Kadee trucks correct to match the prototype. Before assembly I weigh the car with the Kadee trucks. Additional weight is addded if necessary as the car is assembled. Adair Shops makes some weights that are heavier than the steel ones in the kit. I also use used stick-on tire weights from the local tire shop. They are in 1/4 ounce pieces and after removing the old tape I use contact cement to attach them as low in the car as possible.
Kadee couplers (not fakes) are used as well.
With excellent quality trucks and correct weight and coupler hight I have very few operational problems.