# Bachmann wooden refrigerator car kit



## bvdrr (Jan 3, 2008)

Well someone gave me a brand new kit. I know it has got to be old as I know the shop it came from went out of bussiness in 1993 and the price on the end of the box said $16.97. The plastic is a gray color but what I am asking,what color would something like this be painted? This would be for use on a small private RR,so they would probably have bought it from a major line and relettered it?Any suggestions are welcome.
Fred


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

The short answer is "whatever color you want." It's not a model of any one specific prototype, though it is ostensibly a narrow gauge car. The most "famous" narrow gauge refrigerator cars were the ones on the D&RGW, which were either yellow or orange on the sides with brown (boxcar red) ends and roof. I don't recall seeing other narrow gauge reefers, but there may have been others. In the 1910s and 20s (if I recall correctly, but around that time), "Billboard" reefers were all the rage on the standard gauge railroads. These were typically cars owned by private companies used to transport their own products to market, so they took delight in decorating them up as rolling billboards. The government stepped in and put a stop to that practice, determining that it put smaller companies that didn't have their own fleets of reefer cars at an unfair disadvantage. 

Bottom line, consider it a blank canvas to decorate as you see fit! 

Later, 

K


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## steam5 (Jun 22, 2008)

Fred, 

Pick up some reefer decals; CDS have very nice dry transfers. Generally with the decals they will suggest a paint scheme. 

Alan


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Typicaly you would see brown (or boxcar red as Kevin mentioned above) ends and roof with brightly colored sides, white, yellow, orange etc. The graphics would vary from very basic identification of a given line to the "Bill Board" reefers that would advertise their cargo as well as transport it. 

My next rolling stock project will be the I.C.R.R.'s Banana train that ran from New Orleans to Chicago... a long string of reefers from various produce companies all hauling bananas... The original train consist was mostly white and yellow with big banana graphics.. . ( I wonder how I could reproduce the smell of fresh bananas in my cars ????)

Cool thing about reefers (pun intended) your only limit is your imagination.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's a Bachmann reefer lettered & painted for the C&S: 









Reefer nos. 1100-1130 of varying lengths from about 26' to 30'.


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## bvdrr (Jan 3, 2008)

Richard, what brand and color did you use for the yellow and red on your reefer?
Fred


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Fred, 

Those particular cars were prepainted except for the weathering. The first car's a Bachmann and the other a Delton. I posted them just to show their good colors. 

When I repainted them for my own road name I used Bondo's red primer for the roof and ends. Krylon ruddy red primer also works good. They both have a brownish tinge to them and resemble the iron oxide paint used by prototype RR's. 

Yellow is a problem when it comes to commercial spray can paints. While the model paints don't generally stand up as well outdoors they still may be sufficient if the cars aren't just left outside in the open all the time and if they're clear coated with a flat UV paint. Armour Yellow is a good color to use if you use model paints, otherwise you'll have to compromise a bit. I found a spray can of Caterpillar yellow in spray cans that's used to touch up real tractors. I don't recall the brand except that it wasn't Krylon.


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