Livestock Operations on Model Railroadswith an emphasis on the ATSFJune 30, 2013 |
| Westerfield Westerfield kits are resin kits and require a high degree of modeling experience. This kit will require 10 or more hours for modelers who already have experience with Red Caboose, Intermountain, or Proto 2000 kits and who are comfortable with air brushing and decaling. The pieces must be cleaned, trimmed to fit, glued with CA adhesive, painted and decaled. Trucks and couplers are not included. Accurail, Tahoe and Kadee make Andrews trucks.
The SK-L/N/P car was a special 25th Anniversary Super kit run by Westerfield for one year only. It has been re-released by the new owner. They include the Caswell drop bottom mechanism and roof hatches when these cars were used in coke service. These cars were rebuilt with some variation. The original SK-L came with a different roof (available from Westerfield) which appears to have been replaced later in life. In 1943-3 more of the SK-L/N/P cars were rebuilt with steel structual members and radial roofs. Those masters are currently under construction for future release.
The SK-2 and 3 classes were identical except for the roof because they all were rebuilt from BX-3/6 box cars, themselves identical. They were the most plentiful design in the transition era, 4171 cars including the SK-5s. 1750 SK-2s were built between 1942 and 1946 with AB brakes, Ajax brake mechanism, and Flexible steel roofs. 1121 SK-3s were built between 1947 and 1950 with radial roofs from BX-8, 9, and 10 cars. 1300 SK-5s were built in 1952-3 which had diagonal panel steel roofs and apex steel running boards. These can be modeled from an SK-2 kit with Branchline diagonal panel roofs and Apex metal running boards. The SK-2 and 3 class had drover doors on the non-brake end; SK-5s had no drover doors. There were other minor differences. An article on doing the SK-5 conversion was published in The Warbonnet.
The production of the SK-M and O has abeen announced for the end of 2013. Of course Westerfield makes kits for other stock cars.
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