Look at this car, the first orange car behind the ABB units. What type of car is it? Is it available in HO scale?
It looks like a combination (coach/baggage) car. I think Walthers has these available, but I’m not sure how much work it’ll take to kitbash.
no idea about the car , but that’s a great shot . hey wait a minute … isn’t that an S curve the train is going through ? heheh
It is a baggage/dorm/coach. The Walther’s baggage/dormitory is a New York Central, Budd built prototype that is nothing close to this car. With cars like this you are more than likely gonna be stuck having to buy brass. I will search around and see if anybody produces brass car sides for this car. Check out the below links…
http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00011039+OP-11039
http://users.sisna.com/JimBobNay/skitrain/SST_1231.html
http://community.webshots.com/photo/58964086/1169264363040710043VWPNOh
It looks like NKP Car Company has this car. i have constructed several cars using brass car sides and Train Station Products core kits. With a little patience you will have a really nice car, and have a lot of fun building it to boot!! Check it out…
I have never done anything like this before. Do you have the time for a little tutorial? Maybe other people on the forum will like that as well…
Give me a little time to put something decent together as far as how I construct these cars. I am sure there are other forum members that will be more than happy to chime in with their tips as well. What is nice about brass car sides is that you can’t really screw them up permanantly unless you try. If you screw up, not all is a total loss (trust me on that!).[:)]
First thing’s first; research the prototype. This car is D&RGW baggage/dorm/coach #1230, built by Pullman Standard. This is the prototype pic of the car NKP sells…
http://photoswest.org/cgi-bin/imager?00011039+OP-11039
The fluting is unpainted stainless steel, the smooth area of the car side is yellow, the roof is silver, and the line seperating the roof from the car side and the fluting from the smooth upper portion of the side is black. The trucks and underbody are silver.
Good start, looking forward to this, thanks.
I have compiled a pretty plain shopping list to get the car started. Fortunately you can get most everything you need from one manufacturer, which is Train Station Products:
#455, passenger car trucks (these trucks are correct for this prototype)
#460, passenger car detail kit (details for underbody like ACs, brake gear, batt boxes, etc)
#492, passenger car core kit sides (these make the brass car sides the correct thickness for the core kits)
#807, passenger car core kit for Pullman Standard/ACF cars (this is the roof, ends, and floor, along with the vestibule partition and various styles of doors)
#448, roof vents
The above items, along with the car sides from NKP Car Company will have you well on your way to getting the car started. I would also suggest that you use Faller Expert liquid cement (#170492) and the thick and medium ACC from Handibond. There are some other details you will want to add but I will discuss that later.
The manufacturer of the car sides will (or at least they should) provide instructions with the car sides. All you are gonna get is the plated, brass car sides. Carefully trim away any “flash” there may be. If there are any burrs file them down. There is kind of a cross roads at this point. If you plan to paint over the plating (to include the bare stainless areas) the surface needs to be prepped. What I do is soak my sides in a bath of white vinegar overnight. This “etches” the surface of the plating so the paint adheres better. If you aren’t going to paint the sides still need to be cleaned with something like denatured alcohol. After this is completed, I take some sandpaper and scuff up the inside of the car sides. This is so the core kit sides, which are styrene, have a better surface to adhere to as opposed to the smooth plating. I don’t know if the skirting on this car comes curved (probably not), but I can almost assure you that you will have to create the curvature yourself by using a wooden dowel and a rubber mallet. There should be instructions from the manufacturer in regards to this. Be VERY careful to not damage the stirrups below the baggage door. They can be broken off very easily during this process. Once all this is complete, the car sides are prepared for assembly, with some possible minor adjustments later on.
EDIT: Personally I paint over everything. This is because, when finished, the car will be comprised of plastic roofs,ends, and underbodies, and plated brass sides. If you just paint over everything, everything will match.
I will have to continue this later. I actually have to go earn my paycheck now!!
This is VERY interesting, looking forward to the rest of this tutorial.
Based on the paint scheme, after its built, should be an easy paint job too.
Rick
The next part is when it starts getting fun. All of the plastic parts need to be cleaned. What I have found myself doing is removing all the plastic components from the sprue, filing or sanding off all the flash, and then washing them. I wa***hem in a warm (but not hot) soapy water. I just use liquid dish soap. This removes the mold release that can affect the paint (although some manufacturers like Tichy say their mold release is paintable). Be very careful not to loose any small parts when doing this. I use a strainer to avoid that. Rinse and dry everything well.
Once that is complete, I move on to core kit construction. Train Station Product kits are nece kits with great tolerances. I would still dry fit all parts before final assembly with liquid cement. I start with assembling the ends to the roof. This core kit comes with two styles of roofs. One is Pullman Standard (has weld seams) and the other is ACF (has rivets running cross ways and longways). You will want to use the Pullman Standard roof judging by the pics. I then apply the cement to the ends and attach them to the roof (you may also want to install the doors before you do this). Be sparing with the cement so it does not ooze out on you. If it does ooze, DO NOT try to remove it immediately. This can cause some nasty damage to the plastic. After the cement dries you can then sand and smooth everything down.It is very important that both of the ends are centered on the roof and everything is squared. If not, you can have a twist in the roof, and that is not good. At this point, give the cement some time to dry before proceeding.
Looks like a combine car. If you’re looking for that exact car in HO scale, I can’t be a big help, but IHC does carry the combine car (just no Rio Grande).
The next step woul be to take the passenger core kit sides and trim them so they don’t block any window openings on the brass car sides. Just line up the passenger core kit sides with the brass car sides (do not glue yet) to determine what needs to be trimmed, if anything. Do not trim anything from the edges of the styrene car sides. You may have to trim the styrene around the baggage doors so the floor fits correctly. Just note which end is which before gluing anything.
Next, using the plastic cement, cement the plastic core kit sides to the core kit noting which end of the sides are toward the vestibule. Make sure everything is square and allow the cement to set.
Ance the cement has set, dry fit the brass sides into the side of the completed core kit to ensure a proper fit. One of the first things you may notice, depending on the cuvature of the skirting, is that the sides won’t lie in place properly because the skirting does not fit properly on the core kit ends. You may have to file the ridge on the inside of the core kit ends down, towards the bottom, so the skirting rests properly on the ends. Basically you want the brass sides to rest flat and even on the core kit without glue or cement. The may require some filing of the ends of the brass sides, but just make sure they are square. The NKP sides should not require any filing, though. Once everything appears to fit properly, you are ready to glue the brass sides to the core kit. For this I use a fairly liberal amount of Handibond Thick ACC, but not so much that is oozes. It takes longer to cure, but you have a few extra seconds to play with if you need it, and it seems to cure stronger than the thin or medium. Again, be careful not to get this on the outside of the car. If you do, just leave it alone until it cures. If you get any acc on the plated sides, let it cure and simply scrape it off with a toothpick or something even strongert if neccessary. Don’t use debonder to remove it because the debonder may attack the plastic. Som
After the above steps, you are definately going to notice the beginnings of a nice car. The one thing I would do now is make sure that there is no styrene showing below the bottom of the brass car sides. If so, simply file or sand the styrene flush with the bottom of the sides.
The next step that I take will be difficult for me to translate into text, but I will try my best. Next is the installation of the floor blocks (these are what will allow the car body to rest evenly on the floor). For these I use Plastruct .125 square rod (product #90780). I cut the square rod into 1 1/2 - 2 inch sections. I typically use 3 on each side (the center of the car body and over each truck). In this case the baggage doors may prevent you from centering a floor block over one of the trucks, so get as close as you can.
You will notice on the ends where the carbody will rest on the floor. I use the ends, along with the floor as a guide to place the floor blocks. How I do this is that I use the floor as a straight edge. I place the EDGE of the floor on the inside of the carbody, assuring that the ends of the floor are butted completely against the the molded in floor blocks on the ends. This will ensure that the floor blocks that you are installing will be even with those that are in the ends. Then I apply the Faller liquid cement to the side of the floor block that will be glued to the inside of the carbody. At that point I run the block back and forth very slightly to ensure a good bond. Before you remove the floor, make sure the cement has had sufficient time to cure so that the blocks don’t move while removing the floor. The liquid cement may ooze a little and make contact with the floor, but that is OK. You just don’t want to apply so much cement that you have a lot of ooze.
Once the cement has had a couple of minutes to cure, I will again take the edge of the floor and make sure everything is even. I only do one block at a time. This is a critical step because if this isn’t done proper
Well Well, all these guys have posted good stuff, but you’ll just need to kitbash it. Wathers and Model Power (better off to go with Wathers) offer a variety of luggage and passenger car. From the look of that train I’d say that its a baggage car. Will take some abundance of patients to paint and detail. Good luck
HEY!!! I found the floor plan for this car. This is very handy to have when doing the interior…