Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

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Dick_Morris
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by Dick_Morris »

A friend made a car from MDO (medium density overlay). Exterior plywood with a smooth, resin impregnated, paper-like coating. It's used for highway signs, so should withstand the weather well.
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

Sorry for not updating yesterday. The car was sanded and primed over the weekend and will get it's famous orange sides with "brown" ends and roof tonight.
Step 26.jpg
I also wanted to show an example of what a rebuild car could look like. By using the gondola ends from Precision Steel Car and a bit of metal/bondo work, the car will look just like the rebuilds of the 1940's (such as a R-30-18). This will take a bit more work but this feature could also be done at a later date and truly be a rebuilt car. It would be cool to see the car with wood ends one year, then steel ends the next (you may confuse a few people in the process too :D )
PFE Steel Ends.jpg
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

The car got a first coat of paint last night. The colors are a very close match to what PFE used to use and the paint scheme shown is a representation of the new 1929 color orange (it replaced the PFE yellow also seen on early cars).
Step 27.jpg
The car will be decaled in the 1922 scheme with one side being Southern Pacific Lines and the other Union Pacific (with the Overland logo). The whole car is being built as a R-30-6 shown in the year 1934 (the orginal car was built in 1912). In a couple years, the car itself will go through a rebuilt and become a R-40-4 with a steel roof (which is an easy change as a separate steel roof can be made and a couple numbers on the sides can be updated).
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

Second coat applied last night. The brown will need one more coat as a few spots of white are sticking through.
Step 28.jpg
For reference, I am using Sherwin Williams Resilience Exterior Satin Paint and brushing on everything. You could also use roller or a spray gun.

Pricing will be released tomorrow so stayed tuned! I will continue to finish building this kit with PSC door hinges and grab irons along with more detail parts and decals. There will be a couple weeks time between when the car is fully finished and the cut off dates for orders if you are wanting to see the completed car first before ordering a kit.
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

Pricing is up! Please see the post in the Live Steam Marketplace.

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 0&t=107860
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
cp4449
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by cp4449 »

SPSteam2491 wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 2:03 pm Pricing is up! Please see the post in the Live Steam Marketplace.

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 0&t=107860
Do we have a price for 1” scale?
Christopher P. Mahony
Los Angeles Live Steamers
1 inch scale member
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

Not yet. I am 90% complete with the design; just waiting on a bolster to verify the under frame details. Then the car will go to prototype and assembled up.
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

Here is what a finished Tier I car would look like on Tom Bee trucks. Even without decals and the detail parts, the car looks great. The great thing about these kits is that they can run like this for years until you want to put the details on it. All the information you will need to detail this car is in the instructions including placements and part numbers of the detail parts.
Attachments
Finished Tier I_A.jpg
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
jcbrock
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by jcbrock »

John, do these have the 6'1" high doors for the R-30-11 and earlier or are they the 6'8" doors for the R-30-12 and later?
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

The cars are designed with the 6'-10" doors used on the rebuild cars from 1940 on. But it wouldn't be hard at all to cut the doors down to the correct size depending on the model.
I did some planning on this and realized it would be easy to cut the doors down and glue the off cut back onto the sides, than to have the smaller door (such as the 5'-10" or 6'-4" height) and have to cut the opening for the doors larger and glue that off cut back onto the door. Once painted, the cut seam will disappear.
All the door height information and hinge layout are included in the instructions so you don't have to go digging around for the information.
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
vegasfan
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by vegasfan »

That's a nice looking car, and should be a fun build. Can you show the underframe of the completed car? I'm curious to see how the couplers and trucks are mounted to the body/frame.

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SPSteam2491
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Re: Pacific Fruit Express Reefer Kits - 1½" & 1" Scale

Post by SPSteam2491 »

The car is designed to be used along with a 1"x2" steel tubing. The tubing just needs two bolts to attach it to the body of the car. The trucks and couplers would then be attached to the tubing. I will get a picture of the frame sitting on the under body and post it later tonight.
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John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
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