I recently aquired a set of 3 Athearn early era HO B&O (blue with a light blue band) for $10 apeice and can afford to add some detailing and running gear upgrades. I would love to hear from anyone who has had simular cars and was able improve them.
Here is a great start…
Actually the round roof coaches are very close to Reading commuter coaches cars (if you replace the 6 wheel trucks with 4 wheel ones) especially the ones on the Push Pull. One of the things that will help the looks is to finish the center sill. If you turn the car over you’ll notice the center sill has a two step taper to it. Cut a piece of sheet plastic to the slope of the shallowere taper and glue it in the center of the car. When you look under the car it makes the fishbelly look continuous, but the thin plastic lets the trucks swivel their full extent. You can also add bulkheads out of sheet plastic so you can’t look down the length of the car. A cheap addition is to cut out the doors of one platform on a car and make the door folded against the bulkhead with the trap door folded up and the handrail on the trap door. The only problem is it would require you to pain the blue and grey on the new side door. Small finishing nails make good steam traps. Dave H.
Those are some awsome photo’s Dave. It is a shame you could not post them here as I am sure many others would enjoy your tips.