Mobilgas Tank Cars

Yellow is extremely problematic.  For Shell, I would say that UP Armor yellow is ok, but even named colors of yellow are different since they banned chromium.  I cannot match my Ford Commercial Yellow from 1980, even with the factory formula.  You should see how badly messed up the old standard Army-Navy yellows are.

bob2 posted:

Oh - and Simon, if you find it, give us a cite.  I would love to add a tank car book to my library.

Classic freight car series Vol#2 tank cars.

American Car and Foundry 1899-1999 by Edward S. Kaminski. 

Tank cars and more!

bob2 posted:

Yellow is extremely problematic.  For Shell, I would say that UP Armor yellow is ok, but even named colors of yellow are different since they banned chromium.  I cannot match my Ford Commercial Yellow from 1980, even with the factory formula.  You should see how badly messed up the old standard Army-Navy yellows are.

I found these on line from some full scale petrol restore guys.  Actually looks like it might be a pretty good match for a 30's Lobaugh or other Shell tank car.  These guys were arguing over different shades depending on the era of the piece.  This one I think was suggested to be for 1930's lubritorium stuff.

Yeah I loved that Chrome Yellow on the wings of prewar Army fighters and such.  I know what you mean about colors, it seems similar with my Rangoon Red, hard to match.  That said, I do understand the pigment materials are the problems, and the Chromium as a pigment is a big one!

Reds are less problematic.  I have two 1964/66 Mustang convertibles - both close to Rangoon red.  Happy.

Matching the Stearman AN Yellow wings is a serious problem.  I have to mix my own.

Here are the Deep Rocks - cleaned up a bit.  No, I didn't build or paint them - the blemishes on the top of the triple dome are from age and maybe fly spots.  I got some of the decal defects with Solvaset - lots of Solvaset!

Hello Tank car folks ....ok is this a Lobaugh?...it has Lobaugh trucks ......what is the best method to lay peeling decals back down?

Thank.you 

Cheers Carey

Carey Williams posted:

Hello Tank car folks ....ok is this a Lobaugh?...it has Lobaugh trucks ......what is the best method to lay peeling decals back down?

Thank.you 

Cheers Carey

Don't know what it is or is not, but repairing the lettering leaves you with only a few choices. Leave it as is. Or remove the loose decal parts and mix paint to match and hand paint what is missing(I have seen people do this and was amazed at how good it looked).  If you wanted to keep it as original as possible but look nice, remove the loose decal parts, clean the car with soapy water, spray the car with clear to seal what is left, and then try to find another set of the same decals to reapply over the top of the old ones(Decals almost have to be Walthers or Champ?).

Or you could just strip the car, add some detail, and repaint it...

I think it is a Thomas.  Re- stick the decal with Solvaset. Be very careful, because Solvaset will melt the decal as quickly as it sets it.

But you can find new decals - those are Walthers, and still available if you know where to look, and Protocraft has a really good set.  And I have (maybe) white ones with black outline.

I finally finished my new Lobaugh - photo above.  It has a few blemishes, but I am now happy.  I may do one more.

Thomas tank cars are nice, but not nearly as rugged as Lobaugh.  The wrapper is .010, and they use a lot of die cast parts.  I usually reinforce the tank with brass tube inside.

Bob Anson just authorized me to mention that he did the decals.  I had been reluctant to let on, because I thought he didn't want to do too much of this stuff.

Bob has an Alps printer and really good decal paper, and is willing to take on a few projects.  He did these from photographs, and you can see how nice.  If you need custom decals, Bob is an excellent source.

e2picasso at yahoo dot com to get his attention.

I am dangerous when I have a rattle can close by.  Grabbed this thing out of the Decathlon hangar, brought it home, and cleaned and hosed it with Flame Red.

It is a scratch tank with Walthers dome and underframe.  Bob made two widths of Black outline, so I used the thicker outline here - I was just decorating, not trying to reproduce an old Lobaugh.  For minimal effort it turned out well.

Still dangerous!  This one is an aluminum MiLoco tank.  Needs ladders. It is 17/64, so it matches the 12,000 gal Lobaugh to its left.

bob2 posted:

Still dangerous!  This one is an aluminum MiLoco tank.  Needs ladders. It is 17/64, so it matches the 12,000 gal Lobaugh to its left.

So it is supposed to be a 10,000 gal tanker but in 17/64" scale?  That's handy!

Bump!  Here are the three finished “flame red” cars.  A fourth gets decals tonight - silver Protocraft decals.

That aluminum thing on the right is an unfinished MiLoco.  I may polish it.

@bob2 posted:

Back to Mobilgas:  I sold my one prewar Lobaugh to Art Hayes, but saved photos.  It was easily my favorite tank car, and Art only got it by offering about five times what it was worth.  We are pretty sure it was a catalog photo model, since their tendency was to letter such things one side only.  Note white with black outline - we think that most Mobilgas cars were silver with black outline, which is also attractive.

Art and I are now in possession of white and black decals to duplicate Lobaugh appearance - we are reproducing models, not real tank cars.  Here is the Lobaugh:

I know this is an old post - but where did you get the Mobilgas decals?

Thanks

Jim

Bob Anson made the decals.