32' Round Nose Van Trailers - Sheepscot Scale Products

Peter's trailers are on the right with a bit of weathering applied using PanPastel blender. Mine are not weathered yet and on the left.

Peter and I finally finished our truck trailer projects a few weeks ago. They turned out really well and was a real learning experience. We purchased the trailers from the Bob Bowes estate. Normally I buy things like this and just store it away for a decade or two but I left it out on my workbench as a reminder it could be our next Monday workday project. It took us a bit to get it completed as we worked on other projects in between. We also had to plan on a lettering and paint scheme.

These trailers are plaster castings with metal castings. I had not done any painting on cast plaster before so this was going to be an interesting project. All my experience in the past has been with stains on rocks and stone walls.

Painting the Trailers
One of Peters trailers was already painted but green, we wanted them all to be red. Since I was not sure how the plaster would take paint I tried a few different approaches. The green trailer was painted with a solvent based red spray bomb. It appeared to attach well. The other trailers are kind of chalky and I was not sure what paint to use. One trailer I brushed with dollar store Christmas red mixed into deep red while another I tried brushing Floquil caboose red. The Floquil paint just lifted off so not a good choice. The dollar store acrylic seemed to be a good choice as it appeared to stick well but the brush strokes did show especially since it needed three coats. By the time the gloss coat, decals and flat finish was applied this was not very noticeable. If you look closely there is a bit of variation in the trailer colouring.

 Christopher Creighton stopped by for a visit this winter on one of our Monday Workdays and I asked him about painting plaster. Christopher is the owner of Schomberg Scale Models which produces structure and details made from plaster. He normally soaks the casting with water and adds the first coat as a wash, meaning the acrylic paint is watered down a lot. He keeps building up the coats which could be numerous till the desired colour is reached.

 The captions tell the rest of the story...George Dutka

Here is what comes in the box and ready for paint. The metal parts are spray bombed with Home Hardware Camo Coat dark brown.

Peter on one of our workday Mondays drilling holes required on the underbody. Peter was using a Mini Metal trailer as a guide since the instructions are actually poor.

The rims are coloured using red chalk.

The kit came with some black construction paper that we used to make the mudflaps. I added Ontario commercial license plates for 1951 or 1958. Both years used the same style of plate. The roofs are brush painted with dollar store silver. Two coats are required.

My two finished models.

Peter Mumby's model. The trailers got gloss coat prior to decals being applied. This was followed by a coat of flat finish once decals are applied. All decals used are currently available from Black Cat decals and are from locally based company's. My uncle worked his whole life for Husband Transport located in London and only a few blocks away from my parents home when I was very young.

Trailers at work in Bellows Falls, Vermont on the WRD.

Another view of an Ontario line trailer in Vermont.