Rapido RR-56: SFRP 2106

 I began re-construction of Rapido's new Santa Fe RR-56 which will be repainted with some detail upgrades. The model was grit blasted using baking soda in my Paasche Air Eraser, an indispensable tool for modeling these days. I really appreciate the excellent body work of this model along with the etched grilles, however, there are some details which could be improved upon. 

The term Ready to Run (RTR) may hold true for some, but after locating a prototype image of both sides of the same car, I elected to strip one of my cars which will be repainted and decaled. In the interim, the door tracks were carefully removed, along with the doors, the hatch lid, running board, and brake wheel. The titanium or some metallic shade used by Rapido did not detract from the model, but in my observations, did not yield a galvanized steel look either. The majority of my time was spent removing the paint from the roof which is still evident on the seam caps in some locations. Masking the eaves of the roof will be fairly easy since the diagonal panel overhanging roof has clearance above the sides. I prefer to use Model Master "Steel" for the roof since it looks great once clear coated.

The model's color is one of those moving targets, and since converting to Tamiya paint, I will need to experiment with varying ratios and shades to get it close. The model will first receive a coat of primer and then the orange concoction will be airbrushed onto the model. Comparing Santa Fe orange to the various colors at my disposal, I also located two bottles of Floquil Military colors which could be useful for this project as well.

The immediate upgrades will be the replacement of the Champion-Peacock brake wheel with a Kadee equivalent, as well as placing some Moloco 70-ton ASF roller bearing trucks under it until Plate C releases their new ATSF specific truck. The car will be decaled using Microscale sets 87-255 (Santa Fe Mechanical Reefers) and 87-510 (Santa Fe 50' Mechanical Reefers). The model will be lettered in the Texas Chief paint scheme which will match my selected prototype SFRP 2106.