Scratch Build of 1951 Pullman Carriage

[Bigdave22014]

Pullman car roofs were painted white out of the shop, as were the interior roof panels and dividers.

However they very quickly become a dirty grey in traffic, especially in the steam era.

How about a combination of these colours? The dividing panels in white, and the cant and T sections in grey? I don't think the grey would be too intrusive. 

If you are doing a skeletal frame, how are you doing the light fittings and ventilators?

Still can't believe the quality of the work that's going on here.

[CedB]

Absolutely marvellous hendie - WHAT a solution!

 

Looking great on the model although I think you have a point that the white might catch the eye too much? Not too much of a problem though, you can always repaint them  

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

This continues to exceed available superlatives.  Brilliant work

[Jo NZ]

Rgarding the interior roof colour.  Smoking was still allowed, so you could use the standard "pub nicotine yellow"

[Tinners]

9 hours ago, hendie said:

 

Ouch!  Even after just half an hour in natural UV, the plastic became very brittle and a couple of the Tee sections broke off while I was trimming the supports.  Just that small amount of flex while the snips cut through the plastic is enough to make things fly.

 

 

But the good news is that it fits perfectly!  Creating the rest of the roof is going to be a doddle now.

 

 

Trim the supports before you cure. I had this exact issue when printing a 1/350 crane. I cured it and managed to snap the girders and legs.
I re-printed and cut the supports off and then cured it under a nail polish UV lamp. Curing took less than a minute.

[bentwaters81tfw]

I did wonder if you might make a clear roof, painting just the ends over the vestibules - maybe a French curve - and only have the ventilators or roof fittings on the painted parts. You can still have your detached complete roof, and also keep the dust out.

[hendie]

On 5/29/2020 at 8:58 PM, perdu said:

You like, I love!

Looks blooming marvellous H.

 

Thanks Bill.  I think it's really starting to come alive now, thogh still loads more to do

 

On 5/30/2020 at 12:19 AM, JeroenS said:

Fantastic progress! Great stuff and I think the solution for the roof is perfect. The red oxide seems a better choice to me but a side by side is necessary to make a decision on that. The white looks a bit too modern to my eyes when compared to the interior's atmosphere. 

 

The red oxide should arrive in a few days.  I spent an hour or two yesterday in SolidWorks and got all the roof structures completed.  Now I just need to STL them and then a few hours in Chitubox and they should be ready to go.

I fully expect to have to make a few adjustments and reprint one or two, but having the printer at home is a real godsend.

 

On 5/30/2020 at 4:06 AM, TheBaron said:

Stop me if you've heard this one before....I've found a way to avoid those situations where the snips (great though they are) are a bit too brutal on the structure by making the contact diameter (not the support diameter!) 0.15mm* in the support settings in Chitubox, which let's you gently use a scalpel to cut away the joints on the print instead of using the snips. 

 

* I didn't believe such a small value would work and still provide enough support but it does.

Alan, what about a mirror floor to the plinth as well so that all your work on the undersides is not lost to view?

 

Lovely to sense your aura of  satisfaction at how well things are drawing together in this phase of the build. 👏

 

Thanks Tony.  I'll have a go at that.   I know I reduced the diameter and the depth at one point but I'll check what I have against your suggestion.

A mirror is under consideration - I had thought about a diorama, but I think I want to keep the display nice and clean - (the car is the star!) plus I'm no good at dioramas.

I will admit to feeling pretty pleased with myself at ties during this build

 

On 5/30/2020 at 4:07 AM, Bigdave22014 said:

Pullman car roofs were painted white out of the shop, as were the interior roof panels and dividers.

However they very quickly become a dirty grey in traffic, especially in the steam era.

How about a combination of these colours? The dividing panels in white, and the cant and T sections in grey? I don't think the grey would be too intrusive. 

If you are doing a skeletal frame, how are you doing the light fittings and ventilators?

Still can't believe the quality of the work that's going on here.

 

Yup, as you stated, the ceiling (&roof) and dividers were white, and will be white on this build.

I don't think grey would be too intrusive either, but I'm going to try and keep as authentic as possible.  I think white for the carlines is out now, but a quick test with grey against red oxide will determine the winner.

Interior ceiling fittings?  Still to finalize my thoughts on that.  I'm thinking of a small wooden spar between carlines, maybe 2 or 3mm wide with the fittings hanging from that. I think there's only 6 ceiling lamps total (excluding corridors etc so I don't think that would be too obtrusive.

The cone vents I may leave off this car and just have them on the full roof, but I'd like to display the rotating vents on this - another thought is maybe just a small strip of roof between the carlines with the vent fitted on that.  I'd need to do a mock up to see if that idea is going to work.. or not.

 

The biggest issue presenting itself that I can see coming down the pipeline is the canopy over the bar. It follows the same shape as the bar front and hangs down from the ceiling.  It will be easy enough to make (I think), but when it's fitted in place I think it may obscure the cabinets and Flèche d'Or display on the wall, and I don't want to lose that.  This one may take some thinking about before I arrive at a solution.

 

On 5/30/2020 at 4:18 AM, CedB said:

Absolutely marvellous hendie - WHAT a solution!

Looking great on the model although I think you have a point that the white might catch the eye too much? Not too much of a problem though, you can always repaint them  

 

Ta Ced.   I shall be forever indebted to you for prompting that particular solution.  Yes, I think white is out as it draws your eyes too much from the rest of the interior.

 

On 5/30/2020 at 4:54 AM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

This continues to exceed available superlatives.  Brilliant work

 

Thanks Crisp - appreciated

 

On 5/30/2020 at 5:33 AM, Jo NZ said:

Regarding the interior roof colour.  Smoking was still allowed, so you could use the standard "pub nicotine yellow"

 

In 1951 smoking was still allowed, but this is the year 2000 rebuild - the same year (I think) that smoking started being banned just about everywhere

 

On 5/30/2020 at 5:45 AM, Tinners said:

Trim the supports before you cure. I had this exact issue when printing a 1/350 crane. I cured it and managed to snap the girders and legs.
I re-printed and cut the supports off and then cured it under a nail polish UV lamp. Curing took less than a minute.

 

I'm going to take a more stringent approach when doing the supports this time around.  I feel certain I can get away with fewer supports and I'm going to decrease the diameter and depth of supports too.

I'll probably remove as many as I can before the final cure, but leave enough in place to prevent warping and I can always razor saw the remainder of the supports if needed.

 

On 5/30/2020 at 6:31 AM, bentwaters81tfw said:

I did wonder if you might make a clear roof, painting just the ends over the vestibules - maybe a French curve - and only have the ventilators or roof fittings on the painted parts. You can still have your detached complete roof, and also keep the dust out.

 

Thanks but I'm staying away from the clear roof option - it presents too many problems and I think the skeletal carlines will work perfectly and not look out of place.

I'm still swithering whether to include a small part of roof skinning at the vestibule ends though there are some nice shear plates and the carlines at the vestibule ends are pretty interesting (if you're into that sort of thing). Also, just before the roof was skinned, my name, along with several others involved in the project were stamped into one of the shear plates and it would be nice if I could figure out some way to replicate that

 

I'm also playing a few scenarios around in my head concerning the corridors. Unlike the rest of the car, the corridors and vestibule ends had flat ceilings positioned at the cant rail level.  Obviously if I do wood paneling you won't be able to see anything so I am considering doing those ceilings in clear styrene. That will allow me to fit lights in the ceiling and you'll still be able to see into the corridors.

So many decisions to make.

 

 

 

 

[hendie]

ah... the weekend.  Storms and flash flood warnings. What more can a man ask for ? (Saved me from taking my evening constitutional in 90 degrees and ungodly humidity levels).

 

So where did this weeks little sessions get us to with Pegasus then?   All the paneling was finished last time around and now it was time to start on some finishing touches.  In the bar as mentioned previously, there are three chromed handrails to prevent inebriated passengers from falling out of the windows.  Unfortunately, when I came to drill the holes for the hand rails using the little jig that I made and surprisingly enough, hadn't lost, I came a cross a small problem.  The drills were too long to fit in the available space between the wall and the bar front.

 

 

That led to some expletives  frustration  kicking the dog   innovative thinking and resourcefulness (of a sort).  I ended up snapping a drill bit and gluing a small styrene disc to the end to use as a sort of thumb-wheel - that allowed me to get the shortened drill into position and eventually get a semblance of some holes in the woodwork. Not fun.

The hand rails were made up from brass rod and I'm using the ruler here to verify that all three handrails are on the same plane.  Everything seemed good so the hand rails are now off chromed and waiting for the clear coat to cure.

 

 

I also did a test fit of the first luggage rack.  While I think it looks okay, I also think it could do with the top rack being a tad longer and angling upwards slightly.  I've adjusted the model and the new version is ready for print.  Once I've printed those I'll do a side by side comparison to see what looks better.

 

 

Remember the printed roof structure ?  Even though it wasn't correct and one broke into many pieces, they didn't go to waste.  I repurposed this bulkhead

 

 

.. by sandwiching it between two sheets of styrene and this can now fit between the bathroom and the dinette. I'm using the other frame to ensure that I'm going to have clearance for the new roof when it's fitted

 

 

And in a surprising stroke of luck, this bulkhead allows me to terminate the cistern pipework in a believable manner.  The wooden strips shall be painted white - well, not those strips as I decided they were too thick, but their replacements will be white.

 

 

The the corridor wall got fitted and the sink added. All that's left now is a toilet roll holder, if I can remember to make one.

 

 

All of which now brings us to this stage. All the paneling is complete and really only finishing touches to be added to the interior for the main part.  We're still missing a vestibule end and a few minor items.

 

 

But before I get to that point I had to reverse a bit and flip her over. It's a long time since she's been belly up and I had a forest of cobwebs and an army of arachnids to re-home before continuing.  Quite amazing just how many cobwebs can appear over the years when you're not working in there.

Anyways, the reason for turning her over is that at some point, this is going to be fixed to some tracks which in turn will be fixed into a display case.  With surprising forethought I had actually built in a method by which this would be fixed, although in the intervening 6 years I had never got around to actually doing anything about it.  As I'm about to begin some fragile work that will be above side frame height, this was my last chance to be able to do something without having a possible wreckage on my hands.

You can just about make out a small bolt and nut in the middle of the bogies in this shot. That's what holds the bogies to the chassis - or at least it is in this build

 

 

Removing the original machine screw which was holding the bogies in place, I replaced that with a small length of thread rod.  That thread rod was then locked in place with a slim nut, and on top of that I used coupling nuts - quite appropriate really.  Coupling? Trains? oh never mind.

 

 

When the coupling nut is painted black it disappears into the background and is not really noticeable - and it allows me to thread in a bolt from under the tracks when I'm ready.

 

 

While that was going on I made some blinds - Luckily when I painted the curtains I kept the excess paint in a pipette and stopped with a cocktail stick.  I find that paint can keep for some time in that fashion.

The blinds were fashioned from some sheet styrene, some small plastic rod, and I found some brass widgits on a scrap PE fret I had lying around which make reasonable blind handles/hooks/restraining thingies.

 

 

The blinds then got fitted to the dinette/corridor wall - this is the view from the dinette side

 

 

and the view from the corridor side. They pass muster

 

 

Once Pegasus was back right side up, the Trianon bar sign (finally) got fixed in place, and in this shot I'm holding a section of cornicing along the top edge which is ho wit will be in it's finished state. - with the dust removed of course.

 

 

The second vestibule end got fixed in place - a job I've been avoiding for months with no reasonable excuse as to why

 

 

then just to finish up this evenings work, I dry fitted the dinette wall even tho' I know it fits and took a shot from outside. 

 

 

I just know I'm never going to be able to get all the dust out of this thing.

 

Anyways, must dash and make some dinner - hopefully some more work to show over the weekend.

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

The rain woke me at five this morning. Just in time to do a catch up on your latest shenanigans. Darned impressive stuff as always.

I really like the printed roof structure idea, I'm sure that you can overcome the fragility problem.

[CedB]

More gorgeous stuff hendie - looking better and better every update  

 

7 hours ago, hendie said:

I just know I'm never going to be able to get all the dust out of this thing.

I've got one of these and I use it a lot to clean up the bench and go over models after sanding. 

It sucks (in the UK way) really well and anything sucked up gets caught in the body so you can check if anything important has been 'captured'.

Cheap as chips I bet you could push a flexible tube on the end to get into all those tight spaces…

[larchiefeng]

This is one of those builds that has been so interesting to watch and I’m always excited to see the latest progress. I’m going to miss seeing it when it’s done. It’s kinda like a long running TV series that you get so invested in and when it ends; it kinda leaves a void.

 I know that you are probably pretty well over it and really are looking forward to seeing it completed but, I think that a lot of us are going to miss seeing the weekly installments.

Fabulous work and I think that with the 3D printer it really has made a big difference in being able to bring certain parts to life in a way that would have been extremely difficult otherwise. I have seen you do great tiny things just scratch building but, this is just one more tool that has elevated your already prodigious talent! 

[hendie]

On 6/6/2020 at 1:02 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

The rain woke me at five this morning. Just in time to do a catch up on your latest shenanigans. Darned impressive stuff as always.

I really like the printed roof structure idea, I'm sure that you can overcome the fragility problem.

 

Thanks Pete.  I'm sure one way or another I'll manage.  I'm trying printing a section off today at different settings to see what happens.

 

On 6/6/2020 at 3:17 AM, CedB said:

More gorgeous stuff hendie - looking better and better every update  

 

I've got one of these and I use it a lot to clean up the bench and go over models after sanding. 

It sucks (in the UK way) really well and anything sucked up gets caught in the body so you can check if anything important has been 'captured'.

Cheap as chips I bet you could push a flexible tube on the end to get into all those tight spaces…

 

Curses!  You made me go and buy one.   In these days of Covidity, Amazon is becoming more of an addition

 

On 6/6/2020 at 12:35 PM, larchiefeng said:

This is one of those builds that has been so interesting to watch and I’m always excited to see the latest progress. I’m going to miss seeing it when it’s done. It’s kinda like a long running TV series that you get so invested in and when it ends; it kinda leaves a void.

 I know that you are probably pretty well over it and really are looking forward to seeing it completed but, I think that a lot of us are going to miss seeing the weekly installments.

Fabulous work and I think that with the 3D printer it really has made a big difference in being able to bring certain parts to life in a way that would have been extremely difficult otherwise. I have seen you do great tiny things just scratch building but, this is just one more tool that has elevated your already prodigious talent! 

 

Those are very kind words and I really do appreciate each and every one of them.  It makes the build process easier during the hard times when you know people are out there cheering you on.

 

 

Today's update may get quite long and there's a very good chance I am going to be jumping around all over the place - I've been working from one end to the other this week and also getting some of those "have to do before you can move on" jobs out of the way.

Life sort of began this week with an oopsie. Bummer.  My plan was to have one door closed and one door open on each side so that you can see into the vestibule at each end. When I picked up the door I realized I had glued the handle on the wrong side of the door - so, off it had to come - thankfully with only minimal damage.  I still have plenty of the transfers left so a small patch repair was applied.

 

 

Then I realized I had ran out of the door handles I had printed at Shapeways so long, long ago.

Now, a year ago that would have been a major issue but now, I can just throw the model into the printer and have at it and an hour later I have more handles than I know what to do with.    Honestly!   I have no idea why I printed so many when I only needed about three.  Senility eh?

 

 

Here's a quick comparison of my home brewed handles versus the Shapeways expensive option. Can you tell which is which?

Actually, the home brew is on the left. It could be argues that the home brew is lacking a smidgen of detail that the Shapeways version has, but that could well have been my printer setting - and my FEP film was getting a bit battered and needed to be changed out. But hey - if you can tell those apart from a foot away then you're a better man than I.

 

 

Handles were duly glued in place - this time double checking I was applying them to the correct side for the door opening. After that, I had to shape the interior paneling.  Surprisingly I got a decent fit at the first attempts on each doorway.

 

 

complete with rebate for the door to close up against.  Not that anybody will ever notice it.

 

 

At long last, all, yes that's right... ALL the doors are finished, complete with hardware and ready to be hung... unless I decide to add hinges.  Dammit!   Hinges - I will need to add hinges to the open doors but that shouldn't be too difficult a task.

 

 

At the newly fitted vestibule end, the fixed door got fitted.  I do like how that all looks together. Some of that hardware was a real pig to make but it does bring it to life doesn't it?

 

 

At the other end I did a quick dry fit to get a visual of how the open door scenario is going to look.  Works for me it does.  The hand rail on the right is a little bit out of alignment but those things are so fragile I don't want to force it and it can really only be seen from this angle.  I dunno, downright sloppy workmanship eh?

 

 

I guess this is really another milestone. For the first time in this build, both vestibules are fixed in place along with all the doors, or at least, two doors and two door frames.

 

 

While all that kerfuffle was going on the printer was churning nicely away in the background.  I kept feeding it until I had three prints ready.

This time I removed 90% of the supports before the final cure, leaving only those support necessary to keep the part square while it had a sunlight bath.

 

 

Things went pretty good this time with no breakage and the only damage was to the end of one of the cant rails where one of the clamps bent it over and I didn't notice until I was removing the clamps after curing. 

One thing I realized once I started assembling this was that I was being a tad dense in my design work.  I had broken the roof structure up into 60mm long sections as that's what fits nicely on the printer.

That meant that I had a lot of Tee bar sections ending in mid span and I was going to have to do a lot of joining these together to make up the full roof structure.  I'm going to print off some lengths of Tee bar and some cant rail separately, that way I can end the Tee bar at the carlines, than add a small length of tee bar between the carlines. I think that will look tidier than trying to join a bunch of T's in mid span.

 

 

Now, since I am going to have the entire structure open I am going to have to do something with the mess at each end - back when I started this whole adventure I never envisaged having no roof so I never really gave any thought to the internal at the top of the vestibule - the roof would have covered all that - not so now.

Checking back through the drawings I found that 4 lengths of steel box section was used to strengthen the vestibule area - one of the main reasons for the rebuild and so that it would comply with (then) current crash regulations.

A quick search through the brass parts drawer revealed some box section I had bought off the cuff about ten years ago - and it was the perfect dimension. Win!

I cut some short lengths, glued them in place then added a small length of plastic I Beam between them.  Okay, that's beginning to take shape now.

 

 

That was the easy part - I then spent about thee or four days messing about with no clear idea in my head as to what I was trying to achieve.  My first thoughts were to make the wooden ceiling panels and I could fit small brass light fittings to them.

 

 

Then I changed my mind.  Idea No 2 was to chuck the wood, and use plastic square rod to replicate the strengthening beams in the vestibule area.

 

 

Then I changed my mind again.

I prefer using brass if at all possible, so started all over again

 

 

At this point, rather than just looking at the drawings, I actually looked at the drawings... and it all came back to me.  A lot of design effort went into designing the vestibule ends to meet crash regs, and one of the things we had to do was really beef up those areas and we did that by adding more beams and shear plates to absorb any potential impact.

Just above the vestibule ceiling we had beams going from the front pillars, back past the end of the side frames and extending into the first compartment from each end.

Like this below.  Those beams were then connected to the side-frames by a number of shear brackets to transfer the load from the vestibule to the main side frames, as well as being welded to another set of pillars coming up through the partition separating the bathroom (and kitchen at the other end) from the vestibule

 

 

Unfortunately the brass sections I had available, though they were of the correct X-section dimensions, had very rounded edges that I didn't like (after I had started making up the frame.)

So, I changed my mind again!  

This time I ended up with this

 

 

That all looks a bit messy so I threw some primer on, and even with the primer it starts to look a lot more like it was actually engineered, and not just thrown together.

 

 

The shear brackets I mentioned above fit between the outer section and the cant rail - the small white bit that you can hardly see here below. There are three shear brackets on each beam so I have to make 12 of these little buggers when the time comes.

It's going to be quite an interesting challenge when it comes time to fit this all together as I can't fit those shear brackets just now as they need to fit inside the cant rail, so I'll need to wait until the roof structure is in place before the fun and games begins.

 

 

At some point during all this melee the partition got fitted between the bathroom and the dinette, along with the small plain cornicing. It's amazing the difference those last strips make to the overall appearance.  The cistern got fitted.

Then I had a realization...

 

 

The bathroom ceiling can not be arched as in the rest of the car due to those honking great beams passing through. The bathroom ceiling either has to be flat - or it has a step to hide those beams from the interior.  As I left the company in the final week or two of the build, I never got to see it fully fitted out, and there are no photo's to my knowledge of the interior of the bathroom - or at least I don't frequent those particular websites that would!

That left me with a problem - the cistern pipework. That probably wouldn't exit into the bulkhead as I've shown but since it's above the ceiling it would just carry on and route to wherever it needs to go.

Then an unlikely sensible portion of my brain kicked in - the cistern was not functional. We only included it because it was on the original car and it looked cool so we had it cleaned and refitted it.

That being the case, the pipework would more than likely just disappear into the ceiling and end there as the ends would be hidden.  Though that would be accurate I think it would look untidy so I've chosen to stick with my version.  Sorted.  So while it may not be 100% accurate, it is reasonably close.

 

 

Disaster averted we moved on down the car.  Probably 4 or 5 years after it was originally made, the dinette/corridor partition was fitted and that meant that I could now fit the cornicing around the dinette. What a difference instead of hang those raw edges exposed at the ceiling level.

 

 

as a quick comparison, the bar side is still "unfinished" while the dining room side has the cornicing fitted. - Though not without some issues of my own making.

 

 

I hadn't really paid close enough attention to the height of the cover strips and they weren't all equal. Yeah I know - sloppy workmanship yet again. That meant in order to prevent the cornicing wandering all over the place I had to trim the tops of the cover strips so the alignment was reasonably horizontal. A brand new sharp chisel blade came in very handy here to remove the high offenders and even up the top level.

 

 

While I was traversing up and down the car, I remembered to fit the last three hand rails - the three chromed rails in the bar area. The drunkards can be herded safely now.

 

 

I also started on more ceiling partitions - this time the dinette/dining area partition. The hole in the center is for the ventilation - coming soon to an exciting episode near you.

 

 

There's been a bit of discussion here and there about white versus red oxide and which would be best.  My gut instinct was to stick with red oxide as that would be be more realistic and actually reflect the real build.  Well, during the week, a small jar of red oxide magically appeared.  How as it going to look?

Judge for yourself... ( beams just dry fitted)

 

 

Personally, I think it looks great.  It's not too bright and in a remarkable stroke of luck, it does seem to go with the overall color scheme, blending in very nicely.

So while the airbrush was fired up I slapped some paint on a couple of roof structure segments.

I'm liking this red oxide finish. - it really looks the part.

 

 

The big question though is:  How does it affect the overall visual when trying to look at the interior?

As far as I can tell, it's gong to be absolutely fine.  This shot is digitally untouched and all the color hues are very similar yet you can still clearly see inside without being distracted by the framework.

 

 

I did adjust brightness and contrast on this one, but threw a table in there just to see what the effect was like.

I firmly believe that once the tables and chairs and other assorted gubbinses (i.e. lamps) are in place, you will hardly notice the roof structure.

 

 

wow. This has been a bit of a mammoth post so I guess it's time to leave and get some more coffee.

I'll leave you with a couple of parting shots of where we stand now

 

 

I find this shot strangely comforting

 

 

okay. I'm finished - yes really. I am.  The printer is finishing up another print and I want to see how it turned out since I went a bit crazy with the exposure times for a small experiment.

 

toodle pip chaps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JeroenS]

Wow indeed! I too like the red oxide roof structure, it blends in very nicely.

[Pete in Lincs]

8 hours ago, hendie said:

So while it may not be 100% accurate, it is reasonably close.

You've been looking at my builds again, haven't you?

The red oxide roof beams look great. Or rather, they blend nicely and are easy to see past. 

A great catch up and it's good to see how much has been achieved.

I can't remember, did you ever build the rails, or is that waiting until the end? I which case now, will they be prints?

[Heather Kay]

The roof beams work really well. This whole build is coming together really nicely. I need to up my game a bit for the commissioned work! 

[Bigdave22014]

The red oxide roof beams seem to blend in, especially with the dinette and all that dark wood.

 

It may be too late now, but are you planning to do anything with the axle ends? they don't protrude like that on the real bogies. 

[CedB]

Mini vacuum purchased ✓

Red oxide on the beams ✓

New handles ✓

Interior visible ✓

Beams on the vestibules ✓ 

 

And this?

 

 

Look at that detail!

Superb Alan, the whole thing's looking absolutely gorgeous.

[gunzo]

Hi Hendie

 

Due to a computer issue I lost track of your build way back when you were still looking at livery colours- well, since then just WOW!!!

 

Could you remind us of the colours/sources you eventually elected?

 

Meanwhile, I'm sure the axlebox covers will be a doddle for you.

 

Les

 

(humbly building an O Gauge Blue Pullman set that will definitely not stand muster against your work)

[Gorby]

Just when you think it can't get any more impressive... WOW!

 

I don't know how you manage to keep going after so long.

[Brandy]

As you say Alan, wow! 

Count me as another vote for the red oxide. I think white or even light grey would draw the eye to much and block the view of the interior.

Fabulous work in all areas, this really is a tour de force! 

 

Ian

 

 

[TheBaron]

21 hours ago, hendie said:

I went a bit crazy with the exposure times for a small experiment.

I was hoping you would.

 

21 hours ago, hendie said:

As far as I can tell, it's gong to be absolutely fine.  This shot is digitally untouched and all the color hues are very similar yet you can still clearly see inside without being distracted by the framework.

Sums it up perfectly from this end Alan - the ensemble effect is working well.

 

[perdu]

Colour me converted, red oxide is perfect as is all the rest of this wonderful work of art.

 

 

[hendie]

On 6/14/2020 at 12:58 AM, JeroenS said:

Wow indeed! I too like the red oxide roof structure, it blends in very nicely.

 

On 6/14/2020 at 1:13 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

The red oxide roof beams look great. Or rather, they blend nicely and are easy to see past. 

 

On 6/14/2020 at 1:46 AM, Heather Kay said:

The roof beams work really well. This whole build is coming together really nicely. I need to up my game a bit for the commissioned work! 

 

On 6/14/2020 at 2:08 AM, Bigdave22014 said:

The red oxide roof beams seem to blend in, especially with the dinette and all that dark wood.

 

Thanks Jeroen, Pete, Heather, BigDave.  I had hopes it would work but was (more than) pleasantly surprised.

 

 

On 6/14/2020 at 2:52 AM, CedB said:

Mini vacuum purchased ✓

Red oxide on the beams ✓

New handles ✓

Interior visible ✓

Beams on the vestibules ✓ 

 

And this?

 

<snip>

 

Look at that detail!

Superb Alan, the whole thing's looking absolutely gorgeous.

 

Thanks Ced.  She's really coming to life now

 

On 6/14/2020 at 6:22 AM, gunzo said:

Hi Hendie

Due to a computer issue I lost track of your build way back when you were still looking at livery colours- well, since then just WOW!!!

Could you remind us of the colours/sources you eventually elected?

Meanwhile, I'm sure the axlebox covers will be a doddle for you.

Les

(humbly building an O Gauge Blue Pullman set that will definitely not stand muster against your work)

 

Les, I tried Humbrol's Pullman colors but they were horrible - in both color match and in consistency.  For the Pullman Cream I ended up using "Indian Ivory" from a local hardware store. It's now been discontinued but I believe Rustoleum offer the same color in their range. For the Pullman Umber I used Model Master Italian Dark Brown - again discontinued.  It took me several weeks of searching to find the last jar in an online store when I needed some more recently.  I think there's a close match in Rustoleums offerings but can't remember the name offhand.

 

On 6/14/2020 at 10:35 AM, Gorby said:

Just when you think it can't get any more impressive... WOW!

I don't know how you manage to keep going after so long.

 

Thanks Gorby - some days it's a struggle, but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And in this case I sincerely hope it's a train!

 

On 6/14/2020 at 10:56 AM, limeypilot said:

As you say Alan, wow! 

Count me as another vote for the red oxide. I think white or even light grey would draw the eye to much and block the view of the interior.

Fabulous work in all areas, this really is a tour de force! 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian.  I think the general consensus is that the red oxide is a go!

 

On 6/14/2020 at 2:45 PM, TheBaron said:

Sums it up perfectly from this end Alan - the ensemble effect is working well.

 

Thanks Tony.  There's sometimes in a modeling endeavor where you sit back and go Wow!  Did I really make that?  Did I?  me?  Really?

This is one of those times.

 

8 hours ago, perdu said:

Colour me converted, red oxide is perfect as is all the rest of this wonderful work of art.

 

Thanks Bill. I believe if you thin it enough it also works as fake tan.

 

On 6/14/2020 at 1:13 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

I can't remember, did you ever build the rails, or is that waiting until the end? I which case now, will they be prints?

 

Way back - and I can forgive you for forgetting - I did purchase a G Scale length of rail for this.  I need to start figuring out how it's going to go in the display case and cut it.... working on a few ideas.

 

On 6/14/2020 at 2:08 AM, Bigdave22014 said:

It may be too late now, but are you planning to do anything with the axle ends? they don't protrude like that on the real bogies. 

 

I made some axle covers some years ago when resin casting - then mad some printed ones.  It's one of those jobs that's so easy I keep leaving it and putting it off - same with the buffers

 

 

I found some spare time on Sunday to bunker down in the basement for a few hours and get some more done.  I was looking forward to begin fitting at least some of the roof structure.  A last look over before I began and I realized that I hadn't yet fitted the cover strips between the walls and the ceiling partition.  There should be nice white strips going around the top edge of the bathroom here.

 

 

I also spotted that as currently built, there were going to be elements of bare wood showing as well - seen here on the rear face of the dinette panel.  The cant rail is outboard of those panels and while it hides them to some extent it doesn't hide them completely.  This was something I never planned for as originally there was going to be a roof on this and therefore I never really gave it much thought... until now.

I quickly made up some cover strips for the bathroom and then carefully, very carefully painted the top edge and rear of all the wood panels with stain.

 

 

It must have been one of those days for remembering things - just as I was about to start my new roofing career, I remembered the toilet roll!

I must have planned ahead for this at some point because as I ratched about in my Pegasus' boxes I came across one solitary "thingy" that I had turned on the lathe - I had even drilled a hole in it. Another ratch around found a small stainless steel rivet which worked to hang the toilet roll on. The toilet roll was simply a piece of styrene rod with a hole drilled though and then painted white.  Looks convincing enough though.

 

 

Then fitted. Apologies for photo quality but the camera just didn't want to focus here. At least you can see it's there.

 

 

A job I was quite concerned about was the fitting of the three chromed rails in the bar.  Fitting them was the easy part, but getting all three aligned was more of an issue.  Get that wrong and it was going to look like crap from outside - and I couldn't see that side as I was fitting them.  I finally got to turn Pegasus around and was pleased to find that the alignment seemed pretty good from outside. Not perfect, but certainly passable.

 

 

After all that it was time to begin fitting the roof structure.  First on were the shear beams from vestibule rearwards using CA and TET. 

I had a little cutting and shutting to do with the first carline section - I found the ceiling partition was just a tad too tall, and interfered with the longitudinal Tee section forcing it to turn skywards.  That was easily rectified by filing two recesses for the Tee section to sit into. 

I designed the carline sections with a rectangular section just below, and offset from, the cant rail.  I have a 2 mm gap between the skin of the side frame and the rear face of the paneling, and that rectangular section slips in there nicely with the cant rail resting directly on top of the side frame. The carline section was glued in using GS-Hypo allowing me some time to gently position the carline section in place.

 

 

Next up were the formers that shaped the compound curves of the roof ends.  This wasn't an easy task - 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm Tee section in very brittle plastic.  It was swipe gently with the file, test fit and repeat numerous times.  To be effective and not look out of place, the former must lie at the same height and level with the top of the carlines, and span between the end carline and the skin at the vestibule end.

This is the first one glued in place

 

 

Finally, all four formers done and in place.  The two in the center run parallel with the longitudinal axis of the car, but the two formers outboard of them are slightly canted and angled in towards the two box sections either side of the gangway. From some angles they can look a bit weird, but that was the way we designed it - so that's the way it is.

 

 

Convincing, no?

 

 

Then a shot from the side just to check levels and squareness etc of the structures.  I'm happy with that.

 

 

Next on the never ending list of things to do during Covid was to start adding the shear brackets and shear plates.  The three shear brackets that are fitted along the length of the outboard beam were straightforward, but there's also a vertical shear plate that connects inboard of that outer beam to the roof skin.  That was a little more challenging.

It was a case of trim a bit, try a bit to get the vertical portion of the shear plate - the awkward part of this operation was that there is a flange on top of that vertical shear plate and that flange is bent over and runs at the same angle as the roof... along a curve!.

To accomplish that I cut a wide strip and glued it long the straight top edge of the the shear plate. I held it at an appropriate angle while the TET dried. Then glued around the curve of the shear plate.   I ended up with a really wonky looking "T" shaped thing.   Once the TET had dried I trimmed it back with a sharp blade, then finished off with a sanding stick.

 

 

Another one of those to make then I get to do this all over again at the other end... then figure out how to do the soft furnishings as they need to go in before I can finish the roof structure.  

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

5 hours ago, hendie said:

Convincing, no?

Convincing, YES!

[CedB]

Wot Pete said - amazing, especially the bendy bits. 

 

Great work hendie