Pacific Fruit Express R-70-24: SPFE 459553

To continue my builds of insulated boxcars, I decided to model a PC&F built 57' RPL. Not having a clue as to how to letter these, I turned to several sources to include Dick Harley's PFE clinics, the Microscale decal prototype sheets, photographs from Railgoat, and the always resourceful George Elwood's Fallenflags.org. 

My vision for the reefer block northbound from Florida is to have a majority of FGE cars interspersed with WFE, SFRP, and PFE cars. The area I model was frequented heavily by blocks of cars for produce, beer, and other ladings requiring refrigeration and temperature control . The "foreign" cars will be representative of the region and likely include only a single or two examples of each.

George Elwood took this image of SPFE 459530 in North Little Rock, Arkansas sometime in the 1970s, and after a hunt for several months, I located a nearly new example of SPFE 459553 as found in the Morning Sun Books Vintage Freight Cars 1960-1980 by Paul Winters.

Volume 4 of this series contains an excellent prototype image of SPFE cars ranging from the R-70-20 and R-70-24 series. In hindsight, I should have purchased the Big Orange Book (Pacific Fruit Express by Thompson, Church, and Jones once published by Signature Press) to assist with lettering placement and prototype history. 

The R-70-24 consisted of 600 cars numbered as SPFE 459501-460100. The class was built only with Hydra-Cushion underframe components, and included several repaint variations throughout their service lives. To accurately model SPFE 459553, I learned several detail combinations were necessary to model this series of cars to include the "late" roof, small mechanical intake screen, Hydra-Cushion underframe components, and a modern brake wheel. The Intermountain Railway Company car is an excellent basis to build from and the prototype selected was constructed in 1971 placing it within my era. The kit assembled beautifully and without any issues, given I assembled it into major components such as the underframe and body. I replaced the trucks with Exactrail 70 ton trucks which were weathered separately. and have set aside the small details such as the stirrups and ladders until the very end of construction. The cut lever brackets are subject to errant removal during the build process, so care is needed.

The model was primed in white, and the car body color is represented by Modelflex Daylight Orange while the ends were painted with Tamiya gloss black. The roof was also primed in white and all of the components were overcoated with Testor's Glosscote. I began looking for decals and came across Dick Harley's PFE pages which also shed some light on the details of these cars. Lastly, I ordered two sets of PFE decals from Microscale 87-1341 and 87-1357. Both sets are useful and include separate decals needed for this model. 

Some small details unrealized by this predominantly FGE modeler are as follows:

• The Southern Pacific herald denotes the "B" end of the car
• The service plaque is an oblong affair
• The cutting of PFE decals is to be done vertically to maintain alignment with the door stops
• The second letter "I" in PACIFIC rests adjacent to the upper door stop which requires additional cutting
• The best method to lettering your car is to decal from the sill to the eave to maintain prototype spacing
• The trust data can also appear as a weathering artifact on the lower sill but it isn't
• The ACI label position can vary
• Door track lengths are vitally important
• Reporting marks on the ends can be placed above or below the uppermost reinforcement rib
• End lettering is typically minimal consisting of Spring and Wheel data

The model as seen below shows my progress thus far and needs only a few additional details installed and several coats of gloss and flat coats to be considered ready for the rails. Weathering will be minimal to follow the prototype, but enough to show usage on it's journey.