I need to hear some of your ideas on how to place the engineer and firemen figures in the cab of a diesel engine with plenty of room. Attachement to the side of the shell seems to be the preferred method.
I was repainting an SD40 into NYC and removed the cab figures a few months back. Looking at the crew, it became clear that you don’t need a “seat” upon which to place the figure.
You could get some thick, square styrene and cut it to fit the right height, then glue your figures to the styrene, and then glue the styrene to the deck. FWIW.
Received an MTH Railking GP7, decorated for Chessie/B&O. The Ches-C is at the end of the long hood (as it should be for former B&O engines), yet the single crewman was facing the shorthood, and that is the direction the unit is set up for. The figure and grey plastic “seat” pop out easily with a precision screwdriver. This same engineer (W/M, reddish-brown hair, brownish shirt, black way-ferrer glasses) is already piloting several other engines in my fleet. My youngest daughter was giving the task of painting his hair white (2 coats), and his hirt C&O enchantment blue. Then he was hot glued on to the inside of the cab, on the other side, now facing the long hood. I have a pack of Woodland Scenic engineers, and one of the standing waving men was used for the firman side window, angled facing into the cab (their faces are kinda googily-eyed anyway), with his gloved hand holding the window frame. Again, hot glue easily held him in place.
How about on a milk crate with a sack of grits on top?
Seriously, I like the idea of some wedge to glue him to the cab inside. Another idea would be to use those “Glue Dots” that have been mentioned here before. This way, like Fife said, if you want to change direction in how you run her, you can with little effort.
Dennis
Thanks for the input. I thought somebody would have something really unique, like a spring loaded engineer that waves as the train goes past the station. Now where is that hot glue gun!
Why put anyone in the engine. You are running it on remote control. [:-^] You can be a modern RR and say it operates on remote control. [tup]
An interseting note on the waving engineer, Lionel’s archives had a Postwar steam locomotive (I can’t recall the exact engine number, maybe a 226 or 1666) with a figure inside the cab that would lean out of the window when the engine went into a curve. It was activated by a spring (I believe) and the drawbar that connects to the the tender. The Toy Train Revue Video Series (Vol. 1, Num. 1) goes into more detail on the piece. Just a little interesting fact to contribute.
I use hotmelt glue and attach the figures to the inside of the cab. I like hotmelt because the glue can be removed fairly easily without marring either the inside of the cab or the figures yet it is a strong enough glue to keep them in place.