Before tackling specific boxcar models, it would be best to talk briefly about various paint schemes seen on WP boxcars during the 1950-1958 era.
White Square Herald Scheme -- From about 1930 to 1949 most WP boxcars were painted mineral red, with white gothic lettering and a rectangular black-and-white "Feather River" herald. On wooden boxcars the herald was painted on the upper half of the doors. An enameled metal plate was bolted to corrugated steel doors on single-sheathed auto cars. On all-steel cars the herald was painted on the car side to the right of the doors. The paint was described as "aluminum", however, this referred only to the pigment, not the visual color which was WHITE.
Silver Square Herald Scheme -- Silver lettering was standard between mid-1949 and late 1955. Silver also replaced white in the herald. Otherwise, lettering was similar to the "White Square Herald Scheme".
Feather River Route Scheme -- Between late 1955 and 1959, most new cars were delivered with yellow lettering. The herald was replaced by the "Feather River Route" slogan in gothic lettering to the right of the door, all minor lettering was also yellow gothic with "Western Pacific" in extended railroad Roman was to the left of the door. Some earlier steel cars were repainted in this way between 1955 and 1959.
Most steel WP boxcars built or repainted before mid-decade had black ends and roofs. This actually was not paint, but black car cement, a thick sealant similar to automobile rust proofing. Photo evidence from Jim Eager's WESTERN PACIFIC COLOR GUIDE TO FREIGHT AND PASSENGER EQUIPMENT (Scotch Plains, N.J.: Morning Sun, 2001) suggests this was used on only a few cars purchased after 1955. Some repaints after that date also had black ends, but others did not. This gunk was difficult to remove, and it was often left in place during repainting. It is also hard to tell from photos whether a car with dark ends was treated, or if that was just road grunge.
The WP was very parsimonious about repainting their cars. Before 1960, most cars would not likely have been repainted in newer schemes unless rebuilt due to wreck damage. Some boxcars built as early as 1945 were still wearing original paint in MW service at the time of the UP merger. Repaints into the "Silver Square Herald Scheme" were very rare, as few steel boxcars would have needed repainting during the 1949-1955 period. Repaints into the "Feather River Route Scheme" beginning in 1955 were more common, and even included a few 1951-built PS-1s.
The WP applied many special schemes to cars with cushioned underframes or load restrainers. There were many variations, many shown in Eager's book. Here are some of the better-known types which can be modeled with decals:
Silver With Giant Orange Feather Scheme -- Applied new to 19501-19520 in 1951, and as repaints with existing black ends and roof on 19521-19542 in 1953. This scheme denoted cars with Pullman-Standard "Compartmentizers", but without cushion underframes.
Orange with Giant Silver Feather Scheme -- Applied new to 1961-1970 and 3011-3050. These cars were orange (black ends and roofs on 3011-3050), with black lettering, and a giant silver feather which ran the length of the car. This scheme was used cars with Pullman-Standard cushioned underframes. Evans Damage Free load restrainers were applied to 3011-3050, and these cars were marked "DF + CU" in black to the right of the door.
DF Silver Feather with Rectangular Herald Scheme -- Applied new to 3001-3010 and 3801-3818. These were 50-foot PS-1 double-door boxcars equipped with Damage Free load restrainers, but without cushioned underframes. They were freight car red with a silver feather overlaid by an orange "DF" to the right of their doors, and also had a rectangular black-and-silver herald on the left.
Medium Orange Feather Scheme -- Applied new to WP RBLs 55951-56001, 56001-56100; TS 601-610, 611-620, 801-840; plus repaints of WP boxcars 19501-19542, 3011-3050 and 1961-1970 beginning in 1956. These cars carried a medium-sized orange feather to the right of the door. Below this was the slogan "Rides like a Feather" in a yellow script. To the left of the door was "Western Pacific" in orange extended railroad Roman. Most other lettering was yellow. There was some variation in the minor lettering on these cars, depending upon special equipment, and the doors of RBLs featured an orange "DF" or yellow "CP". Some regular boxcars wore metal plates on their doors with "DF" or "DF-2" in yellow.
Decal notes: Champ HB-327 contains decals for the "Medium Orange Feather Scheme", and includes data for both 40 and 50-foot boxcars. This lettering is also useful for the 1955-1959 "Feather River Route Scheme". However, the "Western Pacific" roadname in HB-327 is orange, versus yellow in the "Feather River Route Scheme". The yellow "Western Pacific" is found in Champ HN-31Y. Roadname decals for the "White Square Herald Scheme" are still sold by Champ as set HN-31, but finding matching gothic dimensional data is a challenge. Champ also offers the "Silver Square Herald Scheme" as their set HB-169.
Detail Associates has a small line of little-known WP boxcar decals. Their 9002 offers the "Silver Square Herald Scheme", and has many more goodies than the rather spartan Champ set. Set 9003 represents the "Feather River Route Scheme". Some other sets are for later 1960s schemes, but include minor lettering like loader descriptions which are useful for 50' PS-1s in the "Feather River Route Scheme".
Microscale's set 87-438 has several types of large feathers and other lettering for loader-equipped boxcars. Also note their set MC-4266 with white lettering for the 50' single-sheathed cars can also be used on other equipment.
Clover House (P.O. Box 62, Sebastopol, Ca 95473-0062: mail order only) offers several useful dry transfer sets. Their 8370-01 will letter series 20001-20200 in the "Feather River Route Scheme". Set 8725-02 has the correct lettering and arched roadname for SN wooden boxcars. Set 8725-03 will letter SN's 1955 50' PS-1 boxcars.
1952-1953 -- 40', 6' door PS-1 boxcar (built 1952); Kadee 3998/4000 (undec.) or Intermountain kit 40498 (undec.), Microscale 87-438 decals. These cars were orange with black lettering and a medium-sized silver feather to the left of the door. Only two cars wore this special scheme (test cars with Pullman-Standard cushioned underframes). These were the only WP PS-1s with 6-foot doors.
1961-1970 -- 40', 8' door PS-1 boxcar (built 1954); Kadee 4997/4999 (undec.) or Intermountain kit 40496 (undec.). Originally these cars wore the "Giant Silver Feather Scheme" (Microscale 87-438). All cars in this series were later repainted with the "Medium Orange Feather Scheme" beginning in 1959. Champ HB-327 has the correct lettering, but lacks the "DF-2" symbol which was on a plate mounted on the door. Intermountain has offered this car with the yellow "Feather River Route Scheme", and with similar white lettering. As far as your editor knows, this scheme was NEVER used on any cars in this series, and certainly NOT in white. Accurail also has a similar car lettered in the "Medium Orange Feather Scheme" as their kit 3419. The roof of this car lacks stiffening ribs on the outermost panels, has an odd side sill, and comes with a Youngstown door (should be Superior).
3801-3818 -- 50', double-door PS-1 boxcar (built 1954); Kadee 6508. This new (2006) car is lettered 3812 in the "DF Silver Feather with Rectangular Herald Scheme" and comes with a silver roof and running board. Intermountain's first run of their 50' PS-1s offered this scheme, though the roof and running board were painted freight car red.
12001-12150 -- 50' double-door, single-sheathed boxcar (built 1929): Roundhouse kit 2151. This model is actually based on a WP prototype! The lettering on this car, and on Roundhouse kit 2141 (see below), is silver. The lettering should be white (Microscale MC-4266). It is unlikely that many cars in this series were repainted with silver lettering after 1949, as they were due for retirement.
13001-13100, later 40001-40100 -- 50' double-door single-sheathed boxcar with end doors (built 1929): Roundhouse kit 2141. Also based on WP prototype! The same comments on silver lettering noted above apply to this car.
14301-14540 -- 40' single-door rebuilt steel boxcar (rebuilt 1937-1941): Sunshine resin kits: Murphy ends and white decals (64.16); Murphy ends and silver decals (64.17); Hutchins ends and white decals (64.18); or Hutchins end and silver decals (64.19). Kits 64.18 and 64.19 actually contain both types of ends. These cars were originally wooden auto cars, later rebuilt with steel sides as plain boxcars. Most were scrapped in the 1950s, with just one car left in 1959. It is doubtful if many in this class received silver lettering.
15001-16000, later 26001-26125 -- 40' single-door, single-sheathed boxcar (built 1915): Accurail kit 4001; a very poor stand-in. The car is about one foot too tall, the center sill is a fishbelly type (this can be fixed with styrene strips), and the roof completely wrong. This class was delivered on arch bar trucks and converted to Andrews in the 1930s. The model comes with AAR trucks which no cars in this class are known to have had.
16001-18500, later 27001-27600 -- 40' single door, double-sheathed boxcar (built 1916-1918): Sunshine kits: square heralds in white lettering with inverse Murphy ends (59.1), or inverse Dreadnaught ends (59.2). They are also available with silver lettering with inverse Murphy ends (59.3) and inverse Dreadnaught ends (59.4), but this paint scheme is doubtful.
SN 2301-2328 -- 40' single door, double-sheathed boxcar (built 1916-1918): Sunshine kits 59.5-59.6. In 1947, the WP sold 28 wooden boxcars to the SN. These were all from WP's special series 316001-318500, cars renumbered from 16001-18500 in the late 1930s that remained on arch bar trucks. SN 2301 was the only SN car in this group with inverse Murphy ends, represented by kit 59.5. Kit 59.6 comes with inverse Dreadnaught ends which are correct for the rest of the SN class. Sunshine kits come with decals, but SN dry transfer lettering is also available from Clover House as their set 8725-02. For more information on SN's wooden boxcars, visit our SN On-line story 40' WOODEN BOXCARS ON THE SN.
SN 2329-2350 -- 40' single door, double-sheathed boxcar (built 1919-1920): Sunshine kit 59.9. These models can represent SN's wooden-end cars as 2129-2153 with their original K-brakes until 1948, or as 2329-2350 with A-B brakes from 1948 until the last were retired in the 1970s. They rode on arch-bar trucks until the mid-1950s when most received Andrews trucks. This kit was offered as a special run by Sunshine in 2003 and may not be repeated.
18501-18505 -- 40' double-door boxcar, modified from 20201-20550 (1955); Red Caboose 8543; a poor stand-in. The model doesn't even have the right numbers, and has an inside height of only 10'. A better solution is to add the left-hand doors to Intermountain kit 40898 (undec.). These cars were lettered in the "Feather River Route Scheme", but the slogan and "Western Pacific" name were flipped to better fit the small space to the left of the doors. Champ combined HN-31Y and HB-327 decals, or Detail Associates 9003, will provide the correct lettering. These cars were specially equipped to carry auto parts to the Milpitas Ford factory, and were not in general service during the 1950s.
19501-19542 -- 40', 7' door PS-1 boxcar (built 1951). These were the famous silver-painted cars with the giant orange feather across the doors. Use Kadee 4798/4800 (undec.) or Intermountain kit 40494 (undec.) with Microscale 87-438 decals for the original scheme. 19501-19520 were built new with silver-painted sides, ends, and roofs. They were originally numbered 20801-20820, but renumbered into a separate series in early 1952. All rode on Chrysler trucks with outside shock absorbers (not currently available). 19521-19542 were repainted in February 1953 and were random cars drawn from series 20821-21400. This group retained black car cement on their ends and roofs, and rode on ASF-A3 trucks. An exception was 19537, equipped as a test car with roller bearing trucks (standard ASF-A3s with journal box covers removed). It wore a variant paint scheme with black ends, a sliver roof, and the "Roller Freight" symbol to the right of the door. Yesteryear Models has offered both major variations on assembled Intermountain models. Early runs came with an incorrect Murphy roof instead of the PS-1 roof. As early as March 1956, cars in both groups were being repainted boxcar red with the "Medium Orange Feather Scheme". 19501-19520 received boxcar red ends with a black roof. 19521-19542 had both black ends and roofs. For this scheme, use Kadee 4798/4800 (undec.) or Intermountain kit 40494 (undec.) and Champ HB-327 decals.
20001-20200 -- 40', 6' door modified AAR boxcar (built 1937): Red Caboose kit 8043, or Intermountain assembled 45707. They are stand-ins, as the prototype had a 9' 6" inside height versus 10' on the models. As built, they wore the "White Square Herald Scheme". Clover House 8370-01 dry transfers are correct for the "Feather River Route Scheme" used on some of this class after 1955.
20201-20550 -- 40', 6' door 10' 6" inside height modified AAR boxcar (built 1945); Intermountain kit 40898 (undec.). These cars wore the "White Square Herald Scheme" when delivered. A few were repainted into the "Silver Square Herald Scheme" between 1949 and 1955, and more with the "Feather River Route" scheme after 1955. A similar model was offered by Sunshine in resin as kit 31.26 (white lettering) and 31.27 (silver lettering). Two similar cars that are NOT accurate are the Athearn 40' steel boxcar and Accurail's kit 3224. The Athearn car has rare square corners. The Accurail car comes with correct paint, but the ends are the post-1955 late improved Dreadnaught, and it has a Stanray diagonal panel roof, both fatal errors.
20551-20800 -- 40', 7' door 10' 6" inside height AAR with 4/4 improved Dreadnaught end boxcar (built 1947): Branchline kit 1612 in white lettering. Branchline also offered a special run with silver lettering for the 2003 PCR NMRA convention. While silver repaints on a 1947 car would have been rare before 1955, they were possibile if the car had been wrecked. Some of these cars were repainted after 1955 in the "Feather River Route Scheme". A similar model has been offered by C&BT Shops as kit 10208 in the "Silver Square Herald Scheme", and as kit 10209 wearing the "Feather River Route Scheme". Beware of C&BT Shops cars with 8' doors lettered for WP, which are completely wrong.
20821-21400 -- 40', 7' door PS-1 boxcar (built 1951): Kadee assembled 4803, or Intermountain kit 40471. Both models have the as-delivered silver lettering, with black ends and roof. For "Feather River Route Scheme" repaints, use Kadee 4798/4800 (undec.) or Intermountain 40494 (undec.), and combined Champ HN-31Y and HB-327 decals, or Detail Associates 9003 decals.
35101-35425 and many others -- 50' double-door PS-1 boxcar (built 1954-1960s). Kadee assembled 6502, 6505, and 6507 and other numbers; Intermountain kit 40603, Intermountain assembled 45608; Kadee 6698/6700 (undec.) or Intermountain kit 40698 (undec.) with various decals. All WP cars of this type had the so-called "arc slope with lip" side sills, as modeled on the Kadee cars. Intermountain cars have a different sill, though this can be corrected, and they also have incorrect 16' doors. A recent assembled Intermountain car was lettered for the 15101 series, which is not a correct number. Kadee 6507 was offered in the "Silver Square Herald Scheme", while 6502 and 6505 came in the "Feather River Route Scheme".
SN 2401-2500 -- 50' double-door PS-1 boxcar (built 1955): Use Kadee 6698/6700 (undec.) or Intermountain kit 40698 (undec.), and add scratchbuilt Superior 6-panel doors. Letter with Clover House 8725-03 dry transfers.
601-604, 701-800 , SN 1621-1629 -- Wooden cupola caboose (built 1910-1931): Overland Models assembled brass 1296.1-1296.3 (various paint schemes, plus undec.). These are VERY rare cars, but very nice. Roundhouse kit 3452 is available lettered WP. A correct model would require a new frame and steps, but the body is essentially correct. The cupola is too narrow, but otherwise similar to the prototype. If you must reletter, Champ HC-198 (discontinued) will provide you with all-silver lettering, including the herald. Some cars had small colored heralds, and these can be scrounged from Microscale diesel sets. Another possibility is Walthers 7500 (undec.), which suffers from the same problem with the end platforms, and lacks truss rods, though the body and cupola are closer. Model Railroading Warehouse (Red Ball) has announced a plastic kit for these cars, with possible release in 2006. Don't forget that some wooden cabooses, and some single-sheathed cabooses cited below, were repainted in the "silver with an orange stripe" paint scheme in the 1950s. There were even a couple in an experimental solid orange with black lettering.
617-628, 630-642, SN 1630-1639 -- Single-sheathed cupola caboose (built 1938-1942): Assembled brass modes imported in the 1960s by West Side. Both passenger step and tender step models were made. The tender step models are fairly common on the used brass market.
629, 643-703 -- Single-sheathed bay window caboose (built 1942-1945): Assembled, factory painted brass models imported by Overland. Their AB-1127 represents 629, the first car built, which had a different bay from others in the class. AB-1128 will be the more common design, painted boxcar red and lettered in yellow numbered 645. AB-1129 is the same model in silver with an orange window stripe as 651. Also common on the used brass market are less detailed West Side models imported in the 1960s.
425-460 -- Welded steel bay window caboose (built 1955-1956): Assembled brass model imported by Overland in various versions. Athearn has a similar car, kit 1285 (undec.). Actually a pretty nice model of an SP car, but with riveted sides, an incorrect roof, odd-sized windows in all the wrong places, and an incorrectly shaped bay, it isn't even close to WP cars. The Athearn car has been offered in the original 1955 WP paint scheme by Bev-Bel.
11201-11210 -- PS-2 covered hopper, 2003 cubic feet (built 1957): Atlas assembled 18301 (change car number) or 1800 (undec.). Atlas cars require replacement of their outermost ribs with channels and Athearn ASF-A3 roller bearing trucks. Kadee 8601 (undec.) comes with the correct ribs, and can be lettered with Champ HN-153 (discontinued) and Microscale 872 gothic data. An infamous builder's photo shows these cars with barely visible yellow lettering. WP experts disagree whether these were repainted at the factory, upon delivery by the WP, or after a very brief period of service. In any case they wore all-black lettering for most of their service lives.
11301-11330 -- PS-2 covered hopper, 2003 cubic feet (built 1958): Kadee 8213 and 8214; Atlas 18201. The Kadee cars are about as close to prototype as possible and are offer numbered 11301 and 11330. Atlas offers their model as WP 11301. It is almost correct right out of the box, except it comes with roller bearing trucks. Kato ASF A3 plain bearing trucks are better. The corner steps are a different style from WP cars, but this is correctable.
11501-11510 -- PS-2 covered hopper, 2893 cubic feet (built 1958): Walthers 932-7950 (undec.). Letter with Champ HN-153 and Microscale 872 gothic data. Con Cor offers kit 9521 lettered for WP. The paint on the Con Car car appears way too dark. It probably should be stripped and repainted, in which case you could start with kit 9500 (undec.).
2351-2400 and 2401-2700 -- 50' flshbelly flat cars (built 1937 and 1942): Athearn kit 1399 (undec.). The Athearn car has only 13 stake pockets, while both WP series had 16. This is a serious flaw, since the lettering has to fit between the pockets in a certain way to look right. No, you can't take off the stake pockets without messing up the upper rivet line. Red Caboose offers a 40' flat car lettered for WP as their kit 2217. The WP never had any 40' steel fishbelly flat cars, but you could splice three of these into two 50' cars that would be fairly accurate. Sorry, this is the slicing and dicing I promised to avoid, but it is the only way to get a WP flat car that is even close to correct.
5001-5070 -- 46' GS gondola with side extensions (converted 1958-1959): Red Caboose kit 5201. This model has only a 40' inside length, so it is at best a stand-in.
6501-6600 -- 53' GB mill gondola (built 1945): LifeLike Proto 2000 kit 21049, RTR 21475, and various other numbers. A very good model of these cars as delivered in white lettering. The floor should be wooden, the interior tie-down loops removed and the prototypes rolled on National B-1 trucks (available from Proto 2000). Two types of ends are included; the "bow tie" version is correct. Proto 2000 continues to make additional runs of these gondolas with new numbers both as kits and RTR.
6601-6800 -- 53' GB mill gondola (built 1949): LifeLike Proto 2000 kit 21475 and various other numbers. My model correctly included the orange triangles on the corners, but the lettering is white rather than the prototype's silver. The off-color lettering can be concealed with weathering. "Banana-taper" ends are correct for this class. AFAIK, the floor was plain sheet steel, rather than the nailable steel type included in the kit. The interior tie-down loops are correct.
9001-9050 -- 65' GB mill gondola (built 1949): Athearn 93600 (undec.); Eastern Car Works kit 3010 (undec.). No decals for this one, (Champ dropped their WP gondola set several years ago) but the as-built lettering was silver. Originally the ECW kit was produced by E&B Valley as an unique PRR prototype which was offered in dozens of roadnames, including WP (lettered as 6609. Duh!). Later, ECW acquired the kit and tooled new sides which are close to the AAR design used by WP. Unfortunately, the ends were not retooled so the car is a weird hybrid. It also rides way too high, but shaving the bolsters down and remounting the couplers is a fairly simple task.
9101-9400 -- 46' GS gondola (built 1953): Red Caboose kit 5006. This model has only a 40' inside length, so it is at best a stand-in. It has been pointed out that the Detail Associates GS gondola is nearly identical to the Red Caboose car. It is a fine kit, but still inaccurate for the WP, and doesn't even have the advantage of being painted and lettered.
SN 4001-4020 -- 46' GS gondola (built 1958): Red Caboose kit 5013. This model has only a 40' inside length, so it is at best a stand-in.
TS 201-205 -- 46' GS gondola (built 1958): Red Caboose kit 5016. This model has only a 40' inside length, so again it is only a stand-in.
10701-10800 -- 31' ballast hopper (built 1957): Bruce's Train Shop assembled SG-21 (undec., no trucks or couplers). This resin car models an SP AC&F prototype which was also used by the WP. It could be improved by Detail Associates 6412 steps. This model is also feather-light, but there is room under the slope sheets for some A-Line tape weights. I added Athearn ASF-A3 roller bearing trucks. The correct lettering as delivered was yellow. Sorry, no specific decals, but Microscale 87-78-6 and 87-460 should provide most of what you need. These hoppers were WP signature cars, and everybody needs at least one. Note that Bruce's Train shop also offers a similar Greenville car, SG-20. Your editor formerly recommended this model before SG-21 was released. The hopper gates on Greenville cars are somewhat different from WP practice.
55951-56000 -- 50' plug-door insulated boxcar (built 1956): Branchline kit 1700 (undec.). These cars were built with a "thin top rib + 3/4" Dreadnaught end, and slightly different side sill than the model, though the doors are correct. The correct decals are Champ HB-327.
56001-56100, TS 601-610, TS 611-620, TS 801-840 -- 50' plug-door insulated boxcar (built 1957, 1958): Branchline kit 1700 (undec.), kit 9002 (TS lettering). These cars had different PC&F doors, so the models are stand-ins, though fairly close. Champ HB-327 decals offer the correct lettering.
Refrigerator Car Note: The 2,775 PFE reefers which carried WP heralds were owned by WP, but were integrated into the general PFE fleet and were NEVER specifically assigned to WP service. Given that WP cars were such a small part of PFE's huge fleet, the chances of finding one on WP track were very slim. After 1953, just 889 WP-owned cars were rebuilt and retained for service, making them even rarer. For all but the largest layout, one or two WP cars should be enough.
All known WP PFE reefers were R-30-13 clones (later rebuilt to R-30-9 standards) with wood-sheathed sides and ends. There NEVER were any WP PFE reefers with steel ends, or all-steel cars, as Athearn and Intermountain would have us believe.
50001-52775 -- R-30-13-9 (R-30-9) clone refrigerator (as rebuilt 1938, until early 1950s): Sunshine resin kit 25.10, which correctly represents the taller post-1938 body and "built-up" underframe. Red Caboose kit 4231 also has this taller body. It comes with a questionable Bettendorf underframe, but Tichy offers a "built-up" underframe kit as part 3030, and can be adapted to the Red Caboose car for a more accurate model. The underframe is a bit beefier than the 30-ton design, but it is about as close as you can come right now, short of scratchbuilding. Tichy's complete kit 4024 (undec.) cannot represent rebuilt WP cars as it is an R-40-4 design with several detail differences. Accurail offers their wooden reefer lettered for PFE/WP as kit 4823. This car is actually a BREX design, and so is a poor stand-in.
55001-55899 -- R-30-9 clone refrigerator, with modifications (rebuilt 1953): Use the Red Caboose body 4231, with the Tichy underframe 3030. Remove the ice hatch platforms, and add A-B brakes. Letter with Champ HR-8 decals.
MW 7021-7058 -- R-30-9 clone refrigerator as an ice service car (converted 1951): Red Caboose kit 4214 represents these cars in silver paint with black lettering. Use the Tichy 3030 underframe. Some of these cars lost their hatches and platforms upon conversion to ice service. Red Caboose also made a car in boxcar red paint with silver lettering for the WPHS convention in 1998 as kit 4216. This paint scheme cannot be verified for the R-30-9 clones, but was used on other WP ice service reefers purchased from the Rock Island.
75101-75200 -- 36' double-deck stock (converted 1938 from 75501 series): Westerfield resin kit 5453. Absolutely correct for the WP.
1201-1250 -- 12,500 gallon 40' tank car (built 1929): Athearn kit 1570 (undec.). This car needs an upright brake staff, a taller dome spliced from a second tank (or Detail Associates' part 6219), removal of one tank platform, and shaving off four rows of extraneous rivets that run around the tank between the dome and the ends.