Christian Ray

@jcjray.bsky.social

317 Followers 917 Following

Conceptual biology. Multiomics, information, and manifold learning. Ex-academic. Also here for LOLs, pols, and geometric varietals. DAW jockey and 1.5/10 guitarist. I like trains. I obviously do not speak for or on behalf of my employer.

HO scale box car model supported on alligator clips at the bolsters. It is shiny reddish brown, and has livery for A.T. & S.F. number 65130. On the right is the word, "AUTOMOBILE".
HO scale box car with decals applied on one panel. On top is the Santa Fe cross logo, at the center it reads, "A.T. & S.F.", and on the bottom is numerical data.
HO scale box car model with a near-black roof panels and Santa Fe brown roofwalk.
HO scale box car top view with the roofwalk painted Santa Fe brown but the roof panels still with just priming and highlighting colors.
HO scale box car with trucks removed, in the paint hood for priming with Mr. Mahogany Surfacer 1000. The trucks are being held with disposable chopsticks. The paint hood is cluttered with 1000 microliter pipet tips and little plastic cups.
Completed and unpainted HO scale 50 foot box car.
HO scale box car roofwalk being glued back together with black CA. Next to it, the and bracket that will go on either end of the roofwalk.
HO scale box car, inverted, with rubber air hoses being installed.
HO scale 50 foot automobile box car model. It is nearly complete, but some conspicuous details are missing like the roofwalks, and it is unpainted.
Inverted floor of an HO scale 50 foot box car with complete detail for K type brakes and prototypical couplers. The couplers are screwed on to allow removal for maintenance.
HO scale resin 50' box car model with the floor separated from the body, showing the metal weight included in the kit. Doors are installed on the body as well.
HO scale end roof walks for a box car, top view. They are comprised of a resin casting simulating wood, a metal corner grabiron with eyebolt, and strip brass support structures.
Steps in sanding out HO scale details for a box car. Top, the brake platform support casting as delivered from Westerfield. Middle, the casting is carefully and gently sanded against the flashing until it is thin and easily removed. Bottom, the cleaned up, sanded out casting.
HO scale resin box car casting with metal grabirons being installed through tiny holes. Interior view.
Main body shell of an HO scale resin box car on its side to show the interior connection point with the floor, which needs to be sanded to ensure a good fit without bulging the sides.
Table of AT&SF furniture/automobile boxcar deliveries and Fe-Q/R/V equipment variations by car series. Fe-Q was series 64701-65200, built 1924 by Pullman in the quantity of 500. It had a flexible metal roof, plate door, no end door, and Andrew U Section trucks.
Kit contents for Westerfield kit 12901, the Fe-Q auto box car.
HO scale Camino CNJ box car.
Completed HO scale Zerolene tank car. Note the tank end stabilizers and the three sets of tiedowns, all painted white to match the tank.
Fabricating HO scale tank stabilizing blocks. Three lengths of strip styrene are cemented together, trimmed and sanded to the right dimensions, and given simulated woodgrain texture using a razor saw.
HO scale Zerolene tank with clear nylon tiedowns looped and tied together, but not yet installed on the tank.
HO scale Zerolene tank with two lengths of nylon string that will model the center tiedowns, which is labeled on a diagram on the box to the kit.
Frenchified character from the Onion's political comic labeled "Pervers" saying, "Oui ... hon hon hon OUI!"
Nearly completed HOn3 Zerolene tank car, now with border stripe decoration on the side.
HO scale narrow gauge tank car with a white tank wearing a blue polar bear logo, the word ZEROLENE in large red/blue print, and below in smaller blue text is the phrase, "The Standard Oil for Motor Cars".
HO scale tank car casting with the word ZERO in large red letters and the words The Standard Oil below that.
HO scale tank car with a circular Red Crown Gasoline logo being applied to the end.
HO scale tank car resin casting with blue liquid mask applied around the bottom of the tank.
White HO scale tank with dome highlights in flat aluminum.
HO scale tank car resin casting in a paintbooth being painted Mr. Color flat white with Mr. Color leveling thinner.
HO scale resin tank car casting, primed using Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 White with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner (~1.5:1 ratio - my bottle of this paint is already quite thin).
HO scale resin tank car casting with half of the handrails installed.
A package of A-line D-1074, a collection of tiny gray metal rods with eyelets at the end. One example of a clipped and prepared stanchion is shown for illustrative purposes.
HO scale narrow gauge tank car disassembled into flatcar and tank parts, next to the decal set and a bottle of Microscale Liquid Decal Film.
Inverted HOn3 flat car being airbrushed with Tru-Color CNJ 1940s-50s freight car red with leveling thinner. The leveling part of leveling thinner is a drying retarder that improves paint distribution on plastic and resin parts. It doesn't have much effect on the wooden parts.
HO scale resin tank casting, the channel filled with a liberal quantity of Weld Bond.
HO scale resin casting of a tank car being drilled into with a Dremel burr attachment, outdoors with a rated mask and eye protection.
Half-finished HOn3 tank car model next to the number of fishing weights that will be needed to get the car up to NMRA standards: 10 of them.
Before and After pictures of an inverted HO scale flat car. In the before picture, only some brake details are applied and the stake pockets are not there. After, the brake detail is complete and the stake pockets are present. The side of the flat car planks has been straightened.
Black and white photograph of the prototype Zerolene tank car on which the model is based.
Kit contents for a half-built HOn3 Classic Miniatures tank car. A brown resin tank model is laying on a wooden flat car with striking ZEROLENE decals beside; box with remaining parts behind.
HO scale USRA Ann Arbor box car coupled to an HO scale Caswell AT&SF gondola.
Side view, HO scale Caswell gondola, showing the distinct board detail brought out by the weathering.
Side view, completed and weathered HO scale Caswell gondola.
HO scale Caswell gondola with the underside weathered.
Heavily weathered HO scale Caswell gondola with the A.T. decal melted off.
Increasingly weathered HO scale caswell gondola A end, now with subtle new rust stains.
HO scale Caswell gondola seen from the A end. It wears a coat of oil weathering.
HO scale Caswell gondola being panel lined with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color (Dark Brown). We will revisit panel lining after the oils are finished.
A-end view of an HO scale Caswell gondola with a fresh layer of Vallejo Air Sand (Ivory) 71.075 as a filter.
HO scale Caswell gondola with freshly applied Westerfield decals. The brake wheel has broken off and lays beside it.
HO scale Caswell gondola in the paint booth being given a very light coat of AK gloss varnish.
HO scale Caswell gondola being painted with TCP-019 Santa Fe Brown.
Masking an HO scale Caswell gondola. Yellow Tamiya masking tape is applied to the ledge, leaving the interior to be painted.
Old 40 foot wood side sugar beet gondola at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. Photo by Mike Mucklin.
HO scale Caswell gondola in a paint booth with a fresh coat of AK Gloss Varnish to protect the chipped dark gray / light gray layer.
HO scale Caswell gondola showing the chipping effect on the interior. Some of the chips are too large and go past all the paint layers.
HO scale Caswell gondola painted light gray, in the spray booth.
Mr. Color Dunkelgrau 513 and Flat White 62 were mixed 1:1 for a light gray undercoat before hairspray application. After hairspray, straight Dunkelgrau was applied.