Jim Hickey has been active in Proto48 modeling for a long time. He has contributed pictures to magazines showing some of his fine model work. Some of you may remember his “Protocals” line of high quality decals. He pioneered in the development of accurate lettering based upon actual cars rather than standard printer typeface typical of most decal makers. I don’t have any details on the model but would guess the car is built out of styrene with custom decals by Jim. The distressing and weathering is really some of the best I have seen. Study the photo carefully. There is much to learn from Jim’s work. The photos were taken by David Hussey at the 2006 Naperville meet.

James Hickey has been working in ¼”AAR/Proto48 for many years. He has built a large number of models over the years from a variety of materials. James has recently sent a bunch of black and white photos taken of his early work.

The Illinois Terminal Class B motor started out as a brass import that was detailed, painted and weathered by James. The wheels are done to ¼”AAR standards.

This freight motor was built from a Labelle wooden kit with a Q Car Company P48 trucks.

James modified this Overland import to accurate reflect the prototype Rock Island unit. He also produced the decals for this unit under his old Protocal business.

This CE&I rebuilt gondola was based upon a Model Railroader construction article. James used styrene to build the model. He added some dents to the sides to give it a well used look.

This Fruit Growers wood reefer was built using plans in the Car Builders Cyclopedia. He used styrene as the basic material.

More of James' models.