H.P. Products #249 Express Reefer kit

[TheKnighTT]

Build a string of these for your Pacific. Dropping one and picking up another at each town on your pike is real fun.

So my ´59 H.P. Products catalogue tells me. I came across one of the #249 Express Reefer kits and wanted to share with you. It seems like a combination of the #557 Wood Auto Car and the #550 Steel Reefer plus the passenger car trucks.

Unfortunately the doors are decals, that makes repainting and redecalling somewhat difficult.

[milwrd1]

Yes, the HP 249 Express Reefer kit used decals for the doors. I believe the HP 249 kit was the only HP kit provided with decals. Decals for the other HP kits were purchased separately. Portions of the HP Reefer decal set (HP 491) were used for the doors on the HP 249 kit. HP 491 (scan attached) contained reefer decals for 5 road names (BREX, SFRD, PFE, ART and FGEX). The decals provided with each 249 kit varied......I've found HP 249 kits provided with only the decal reefer doors, kits provided with the decal doors and the herald, and kits provided with the decal doors, herald and the road name. It appears the "HP kit packers" just took a scissor and cut up one of the 5 decal road names on a HP 491 sheet in random format and added it to the box, making sure that at least the decal doors were provided. See the attached scan for details.