Over the last two evenings, I have been working on a small project with my Union Pacific heritage fleet. Recently, the Union Pacific put a large American Flag wrap on one of their baggage cars, and turned it into a Museum Car, which can frequently be found on their business and excursion trains. I found some photos of the car, Union Pacific 5779, "Promontory," and decided that I wanted something similar in my fleet. Actually, the reason I went looking for the photos was because I had found decals on eBay, for what the seller called the "UP Flag Car," and I was curious to see what they were talking about.
RR Picture Archives has several photos of the prototype, both before and after the flag artwork was added. After looking at several of the prototype photos, I decided that I could make such a car, so I bought the decals. I am not sure who makes the decals, as they came in a blank envelope and there was nothing written or printed on the decal sheet, other than the decals themselves.
When the decals arrived, I had one baggage car which I could have used for the decals, however I had already decided that that particular baggage car was destined to become an Alaska Railroad car. So, I began searching eBay for the correct, 85-foot, six axle baggage car, on which I could use the flag decals. Surprisingly, even after several weeks, nothing had surfaced on eBay. A week ago, I was in Billings, and decided to stop at Jim's Junction, the local hobby shop, and take a look around, and much to my surprise, he had exactly the baggage car I was looking for. I bought the only one that was on the shelf. It was a Chicago and Northwestern baggage car, but it had been painted up in the Union Pacific colors for use on their "City" trains. This was a fairly common practice, for UP and CNW to share equipment on those trains. It really did not matter what the lettering was anyway, because it would all have to be removed, regardless of what it said. While I was in the hobby shop, I got talking to another modeler in there, who suggested removing the lettering using a pink eraser. I had heard that before, and decided to give it a try.
When I got the car home, I went out and bought an eraser, making sure I got one that was soft, and had no grains or grit, which might scratch up the paint. I began erasing the "Chicago" on one side of the car, but I was disappointed because after several minutes, there were no noticeable results. There was some black residue on the end of the eraser I had been using, but as far as I could tell, it had done nothing to the lettering on the car. I decided to clean the eraser off and try again. At that point, I started to notice the letters fading, so I kept going. It was a fairly tedious process, to get the "Chicago and Northwestern," "Railway Express Agency," and the little REA star off both sides of the car, but after a while, it was all done. I had the blank yellow car I needed. I did notice that pushing harder on the eraser did not necessarily yield better or faster results. Actually, it tended to start to remove the yellow paint too, so a gentle grip on the eraser, and a bit of patience, seems to be the best way to go. I did notice that the the eraser made the paint a little shinier than in areas where I had not removed the lettering. This was minor and only visible under close inspection in just the right lighting conditions. I did not worry about it too much, because I figured the dullcoat would help to hide it in the end.
Once I was satisfied that I had successfully gotten all the lettering off, and there were no more stray marks from the lettering, I began cutting out the decals. The decals came on one large decal sheet, so whatever I cut out would be the size of the decal I would apply to the car. I carefully cut the decals out very close to the edge of the printed area, so that there would be very little extra clear decal material around the actual flag image. Once the flag was cut out, I used it to determine which grab bars would need to be removed before I could apply the decal. I then removed the roof of the car, removed the windows, and removed the grab bars. I stored the eight grab bars and the windows in a small plastic zip-lock bag, so nothing would get lost or dropped. The next step was to apply the decal.
The flag decal was the largest of the decals I had to apply, which lead me to believe it would be the most difficult. I decided to start with it, because the number and other lettering would be a lot easier in comparison. I started by using a paintbrush to apply some Micro-Sol to the surface of the car. The car has a smooth side, so I knew only a little would be needed, in most areas. Where there were changes in the surface of the car, such as around the baggage doors and around the grab bar holes, I applied the Micro-Sol a bit more liberally. Micro-Sol helps decals to conform to the surface of a model, particularly when the surface is uneven or irregular. It also helps to prevent tears from forming in the decal over uneven and irregular surfaces.
Getting the large decal on and aligned properly was a bit tricky. Actually, it was a full test of patience, honestly! Because the decal is so large, the entire thing must be moved at once when adjustments are needed, to prevent tears or bubbles from forming. Moving and adjusting a decal that is nearly as long as the car is quite tricky, especially over the changes in height where the doors are. I had thought about cutting the decal at the doors, but decided against it, because the cuts would have to be very precise to make the car look right, and then the alignment of the sections would have to be exact. That seemed like more trouble than it was worth! I used a paintbrush and liberal amounts of Micro-Sol around the doors to make sure that the decal formed to the surface of the door openings without bubbling. After what seemed like hours of adjusting the decal, but was probably only several minutes, I was finally satisfied with it and I set it aside to dry. I then went to cut out the other lettering, logo, and number for the car. At this point, the decal had been applied over the window openings, which I knew I would need to cut out later.
Once I was satisfied that the flag decal was dry, I applied the number. On one side of the car, the number decal went on top of the flag decal. The logo and lettering went on the side of the car, beyond the end of the flag. I then cut out two small holes in the flag decal, which I think are vents on the prototype, and the windows. I also reapplied the grab bars. I set the car aside again, so the number and letter decals could dry. I decided to dullcoat that side of the car as soon as the decals were dry, so that I would not damage the decals while working on the other side.
The next evening, I did the opposite side of the car. The other side of the car went nearly the same as the first, except that the flag decal is reversed. Having done it once, I was a bit more confident the second time around, and perhaps slightly more careful. It seemed to go a bit faster though. Once I was satisfied with that side, and the decals had dried, I put some dullcoat on there, to seal the decals in place, and set the car aside again.
This morning, I checked the decals and the dullcoat. I ended up doing a second very light application of the dullcoat because I wanted to hide the edges of the logo decals a little better. Once that was dry, I replaced the windows and reassembled the car. Now I have a museum car to for my Union Pacific Northern steam locomotive (#844) to pull around the layout with my other Union Pacific passenger cars.
Materials:
Walthers "City" Series Baggage 932-9574
Block Eraser
Flag Decal (available on eBay)
Micro-Sol
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