I finished up cutting and staining the planks for the slab cars and then moved on to painting the main components. A long time ago I purchased a couple of cans of Montana 94 matte spray paint for this project. Their RV-203 Oak Brown color seemed the closest to the weathered red paint seen on the cars at the National Slate Museum. I sprayed on one coat and let it dry for an hour or so. I then did a second touch up coat:
I then glued the inner sole bars to the outer sole bars, using the the brass bearing cups to align them. I had to further enlarge several of the holes; after messing a couple up with a small round file, I switched to a 1/4″ drill which worked better.
After many test fits of the brass bearing cups with the Accucraft wheelsets into the sole bars, I epoxied the cups in. I then glued the ends and the sides together:
Next, I added the decking to the cars and added the coupling hooks. A quick touchup with the oak brown spray paint on the bearing cups and the cars were essentially complete:
I still need to weather the cars but that’s for the future. I’m pleased at the way they turned out and they are great additions to the MQR rolling stock inventory.