Thanks, Rich. As usual, you provide both good historical information and
practical suggestions. I'll write Sunshine about their kit. My impression
is they build in small batches and probably don't have most of their
offerings available at any one time; they've yet to cash the check I
wrote'em two months ago for an SM-18 and an XM-28. That's OK. No point
squeezing the front end, since the lag time between when I get a kit and
when I actually build it can be quite long. I just finished assembling a
structure whose parts I painted and weathered 17 years ago. I'm very happy
with how it turned out, too. My dad taught me when I was a kid that the
most important single virtue for a model builder is patience. Still, we
could have a wager as to whether you get your Branchline cars before the
Sunshine hits my door.
I see Microscale has a decal set (871010) for "REA 50' Express Reefers
1929-67," which I guess should apply to the 53' cars you discuss and also,
hopefully, should include a lettering diagram and some indication of
appropriate numbering.
That leaves the question of color. Most of the color pics I mentioned (and
there are others) show what looks like a basic Pullman green, though a
couple of the cars appear lighter, with perhaps more yellow in the mix --
maybe closer to an "olive." I'm not looking for a precise match (given what
you say about long use without washing, that seems unnecessary), but I want
to make sure Pullman is the correct basic color, and not an olive drab or
the dark green I've seen for instance on REA delivery trucks. The roofs
appear to be black (canvas? tar paper?) -- an odd choice for a reefer,
wouldn't you think?
Thanks again,
Jonathan
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