I got a couple sets a walthers HO streamliner pass. cars and a few comment /questions first ,lighting .
THOSE tops are a pain in the rump to get off ! twist sure
After a bit a reading I found some led light boards cheap but nice quality and tryed, without success to solder to the wires to the exesting clips [:$] So I ended up running decoderwire down thru the floor and attached to trucks screws and that worked really good with no flickr, yet… and attaching to the pic-up screws still gives all wheel pick-up (for now anyway)
going to install a few folks inside and then put those rediculously difficult to remove tops, back on BUT was thinking is it worth it to paint the insides of the car to add in detail ??? seams it could more a pain than its worth in this scale, HO
and some of these I got used with no boxes or GRAB IRONS ,are these off the shelf detailwest ect size grabs or a walthers parts thing ??? again got the tops off why not ,I dont want to take em off again[:(!]
You want to paint the interiors, just to prevent the lights from causing the walls and roofs to glow in the dark. You want a light color to make the lighting appear brighter. Light pastel colors look good inside streamline cars.
I understand your frustration, but don’t give up on removing the roofs off of the Walthers streamliners. Part of the headache in removing the roof is due to the tabs that are hooked into the notches made for them.
Some roofs pop off easily…others are "challenging.
For the stubborn roofs, in addition to the twist method, in which the idea is to get one end of the roof to lift up slightly, another tool that you may find useful is a flat, thin wooden or plastic stick. Something like a narrow popsickle stick. After the roof end lifts up, run your thumbnail back and forth along one side to widen the gap. Locate the gaps where those tabs are and gently push them with the stick. Alternate from tab to tab. Eventually that entire side of the roof will come up.
Seemed so difficult at first, but after having done this various times, I can get any roof off in less than a minute. Just takes a little patience and a relaxed attitude.
Painting your interior piece and the walls improves the appearance. If you choose not to remove your one-piece interior unit, painting is a bit more challenging but not impossible. However, most of these interiors are held in place by 4 to 5 screws. Just remove them, and your interior will slide up and out. The fit is snug but not tight.
You may have seen these before. The first shot is my Walthers diner that I metalized with Alclad. As you can see, I don’t bother painting the floors, just what can be seen when looking through the windows from 2 or 3 feet away.
Sorry Antonio : I started acquiring supplies to do the job as I only want to remove the roofs Once ! then hiking/vacation season started so its kind a on hold, I got some smd led boards from a guy on e-xxx that seem to work well ,and I connected wires to the screws on the trucks and so far so good, …By the way the way you painted those interiors is first rate … Jerry
Always a good idea to use a material that has a bit of flexibility to avoid accidentally breaking those tabs.
BigJerr, I understand about wanting to take the roofs off only once! It can be a bit of a hassle. Thanks for the kind words regarding the interior. I just kept it very simple since I realized that the view of the interior is limited with the window shades.
However, for cars with more elaborate interiors, such as observation cars, I’ll be painting more of the details. The headache I sometimes run into is finding photos of the actual colors of the prototype interiors. The roads I’m modeling (SCL with ACL and SAL ancestry) used various color decors between the late 1940s-1960s. So whenever I can’t find good photo references for the specific types of cars, I’ll go with the low key colors that were often used during that time period range.
I invested approximately 30 hours in painting 10 Walthers interiors and adding people - which also had to be painted. At the end of the day, when the cars were being operated, you could "see’ the passengers but not the interior colors. The exception was the dome seating areas.
If I were to do it again, I would merely spray the molded seats and floors from the under side, and the interior surfaces of the sides, roof. and end partitions to block light penetration. No fancy color coordinated multiple hue affair, just basic black or grey.
But then again, a friend creates place settings with food on the dining car tables. To each his own.