Questions about the Rapido dome/observation Park cars

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
21

Good thing I didn’t try to install a latching reed switch then! We might have turned the observation area into a smoking lounge!

Dave

22

Glazing update:

Last night I was motivated to attempt to mask off the light leaks from around the windows. The glazing strips are tacked in using ACC type glue. With careful prying using an X-acto #17 chisel blade I was able to coax the bond free and easily remove the strips.

Park_glazeB4 by Edmund, on Flickr

You can see the thin, pad-printed ‘gasket’ here. I used some Model-Master Black Chrome Trim paint to blacken the area around the edge of each window.

Park_glaze1 by Edmund, on Flickr

I wasn’t too concerned about the outer edge, only where it meets the gasket.

Park_tail by Edmund, on Flickr

For some reason the rearmost window is slightly small. Most of the Park cars I’ve seen seem to have this glued in crooked. Not sure if I’ll re-use this glazing or make up a new, better-fitting piece. This window took some persuasion to get it popped out.

Good Luck, Ed

23

And crooked.

24

Hi Ed,

Minor question: Have I been using the wrong term to describe the illumunated sign on the back of the car? I referred to it as a ‘drumhead’. You called it a ‘tailsign’. Are the terms interchangable or does ‘drumhead’ refer to something else?

You mentioned that you were going to improve the rear side marker lights. I’d like to see how you do that.

Dave

25

Many of the early name-train signs were indeed “drum” shaped, hence drumhead.

But I see reference to ‘tailsign’ when it came to signs that were any shape other than the round drum shape.

It seems like the advent of the streamlined cars brought about more rectangular signage. Was it UP [City of San francisco?] that actually had a neon sign on the side of one of their trains?

I seem to recall the B&O favoring the round drum shape, even applying some on the front of the locomotives. New York Central, even in the heavyweight days favored a rectangular sign for many of their name trains, including the Twentieth Century Limited.

I took a quick look at the marker light yeaterday and I believe I would destroy it trying to remove it so I may just try to carefully paint the forward half, ahead of the molded ridge, silver and/or CP maroon.

Drumhead:

ATSF rear Pullman and Drumhead by Marty Bernard, on Flickr

Tailsign:

NYC 20th Cent Ltd, Englewood, Chicago, IL Wingate Brook which substituted when the either of the two regularly assigned cars Hickory Creek and Sandy Creek were being shopped. April 21, 1965 by Marty Bernard, on Flickr

(both photos Public Domain)

Have fun! Ed

26

Thanks Ed,

Does anybody know if the real side marker light lenses were clear or red? Also, would they ever have displayed a different colour?

Edit: Just answered my own question. This view shows a dual colour red/white marker light:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Canadian_(22263483230).jpg

Modelling that would be an interesting challenge, although you could probably count on one hand the number of people who would notice.

Dave

27

The outer shell of the lamp housing was clear toward the rear half. It was divided into two colored “bullseye” lenses, red on the bottom and yellow on the top. I do not believe there was any light projected toward the front. That part of the “bullet” housing was aluminum.

Look at the Budd NYC marker above and all you see it the small (1-1/4") red bulls-eye light lit.

Park_crop by Edmund, on Flickr

I’ll try to find a better photo.

Park_crop_marker by Edmund, on Flickr

Regards, Ed

28

I found the same photo while you were posting. Looks like the light was not painted so silver would be my choice.

Next question: When would the white light have been used? Maybe when the train was backing up?

Dave

29

Not white but yellow. Correction, green in Canadian train rules.

I would have to dig out the specific rulebook conditions but in certain territory, when your train is occupying a siding and the switch to the main track is returned to normal the marker on the side facing the main track would be switched to yellow to signify that a following train may approach and pass said train “safely” in the siding.

Canada_marker by Edmund, on Flickr

There is a trap door near the ceiling of the observation car where the rear of the marker can be accessed and switched to yellow.

Funny how a thread on reed switches takes so many twists and turns! Great to see the information here!

Cheers, Ed

30

Hmmm? How to do that? It would need a decoder I think.

Dave

31

I’m finding the whole thread to be very informative. It also reads like a detective novel as you follow through all the questions and answers!

Dave

32

Jason did it with the classification lights on the Royal Hudson. Click F6 once, white, click again, off, click again, green, click again, off… repeat.

Rapido said they’re working on a three-color marker for future runs [Y]. I urged them to use white or RED since they did the same thing on the RS-11 (white or green). Not often you would see green classification lights (section following) on a newer locopmotive, although, for some first-gen locos the option was there.

Ed

33

I got the Champ decal set today that will allow me to backdate the car from the Action Red livery to the Maroon. The new decal stripes are a tiny bit wider than the Action Red strips on the shell which is obviously a good thing, but I want to know if the Maroon colour will be affected by putting them directly on top of the Action Red stripes. The maroon decals already look quite dark. If they are intended to be used overtop of a silver paint, I’m worried that they might come out almost black if I put them over the red stripes. I’m going to remove the CP Rail lettering, but should I try to remove the red stripes as well, or maybe paint them silver first?

Thanks,

Dave

34

You could use an otherwise unneeded portion of the maroon decals (a numeral, f’rinstance) and temporarily apply it over the red to get an idea if the red stripes need to be removed or not.

Wayne

35

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for the suggestion. There are a couple of extra inches of the wider maroon stripe so I will work with that. There is also a much narrower pinstripe that goes below the windows so I will apply a piece of that too. It will be going directly onto the silver surface so I will be able to see if there is a noticable difference in the colours between it and the wider stripe which will be going over the Action Red colour. I doubt there will be. The decals look to be pretty opaque.

Dave

36

I managed to get the white CR Rail lettering off of the red strip with no problems. I used Tamiya’s Extra Thin styrene cement and the lettering came off quite quickly with only a tiny spot where the black shell showed through the red paint, and there was no damage to the surrounding areas.

Next step will be to do doctorwayne’s test with a spare piece of the new decal. Then, assuming I don’t have to paint over the red, I will find out if I can get the stripes absolutely straight![^o)]

Dave