Espeefan's Passenger Car Modeling


ALAN ... That is an AWESOME reference for you - even impressies me!
Thank you for posting it ... need more time to study your photos and reading!
The society passenger car books are an awesome reference. There are six volumes of which I own five. Volume six is the Business Car fleet which I don't need. They were expensive but well worth it!
 
I have to kick off two weeks and change worth of travel later today, but since I was up early, I figured what the hell, I can do a little bit. Yesterday I painted the interior pieces for the Overland chair car. I added a few passengers and went ahead and glued the pieces into the car. This is done with old faithful Canopy glue. I apply it, wait five minutes for it to start to tack up, then put it into position and clamp it in place. Note the position of the screw holes for the floor attachment. Make sure not to foul them or you'll pop your interior loose when you put the floor on. There's just so much added when you can see people in your passenger train. I have seen many expensive trains run at the club, beautiful consists, with empty seats. I usually add about ten passengers per car and stagger them to give the illusion of a more crowded car. I buy the cheap painted people off of e-Bay. 90 seated passengers for about 10 bucks. I also buy the more expensive Preiser figures and mix in a few of those where they can be seen, as they are better detailed.

Interiors 1.jpg


Interiors 2.jpg


buy your passengers here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225857687476
 
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Hey all, I'm taking on a custom painting project this week, trying to recreate WSOR Northern Pass from a rivarossi baggage car. I would like to get a spray based paint, but I am really lost on what to get. I know it can't be gloss, but I really don't know what type of paint to get. Acrylic? Lacquer? Enamel? What brand should I buy? it all gets very confusing...
 
I have to kick off two weeks and change worth of travel later today, but since I was up early, I figured what the hell, I can do a little bit. Yesterday I painted the interior pieces for the Overland chair car. I added a few passengers and went ahead and glued the pieces into the car. This is done with old faithful Canopy glue. I apply it, wait five minutes for it to start to tack up, then put it into position and clamp it in place. Note the position of the screw holes for the floor attachment. Make sure not to foul them or you'll pop your interior loose when you put the floor on. There's just so much added when you can see people in your passenger train. I have seen many expensive trains run at the club, beautiful consists, with empty seats. I usually add about ten passengers per car and stagger them to give the illusion of a more crowded car. I buy the cheap painted people off of e-Bay. 90 seated passengers for about 10 bucks. I also buy the more expensive Preiser figures and mix in a few of those where they can be seen, as they are better detailed.

View attachment 179522

View attachment 179523

buy your passengers here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225857687476
Great looking cars and thanks for the EBay site to buy LP from
 
Hey all, I'm taking on a custom painting project this week, trying to recreate WSOR Northern Pass from a rivarossi baggage car. I would like to get a spray based paint, but I am really lost on what to get. I know it can't be gloss, but I really don't know what type of paint to get. Acrylic? Lacquer? Enamel? What brand should I buy? it all gets very confusing...
This is a series of questions:

Do you prefer solvent based paints or acrylics (water based) They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Chiefly, solvent based systems require toxic chemicals, like Xylene, lacquer thinner, acetone, etc. to thin and clean up. With acrylics, you can use water.

Next up is what is available? This may force your hand unless you're good at micing paints to achieve a particular color. Who makes the color you want? I'm not sure who might have paints close to what you'll need. I'm assuming red and gray, correct? You might try other modeling groups, or the WSOR fan groups on Facebook and ask who has used what. you're going to have to research this. Try Tamia. They may have something close.
 
This is a series of questions:

Do you prefer solvent based paints or acrylics (water based) They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Chiefly, solvent based systems require toxic chemicals, like Xylene, lacquer thinner, acetone, etc. to thin and clean up. With acrylics, you can use water.

Next up is what is available? This may force your hand unless you're good at micing paints to achieve a particular color. Who makes the color you want? I'm not sure who might have paints close to what you'll need. I'm assuming red and gray, correct? You might try other modeling groups, or the WSOR fan groups on Facebook and ask who has used what. you're going to have to research this. Try Tamia. They may have something close.
Yeah, Red and Grey. I'll look and see what Tamia has. Will the finish on the cap represent the finish on the car? (By that I mean gloss, matte, ect.)
 
A couple of PS's:
1: Don't ever try and bake plastic. Even at low temperature and especially if you're using solvent based paints. Your project may sag into nothingness!
2: Off to the library for photos of the cars so I can get the masking lines right. The Daylight is easy, I've done enough of those to know it by heart, but the yellow cars had variations on where the red stripes went since it was applied to so many different car types. Lucky for me I have the necessary books. The historical society's paint and lettering guides, and their passenger car books are invaluable for this work. If you aren't blessed with a huge library, Railfan.net will probably get you through. Google is your friend!
Photos, even the ones taken now, are an important source for information. Fun to go through all the books as well.
 
Will the finish on the cap represent the finish on the car? (By that I mean gloss, matte, ect.)
Not necessarily, but if it does turn out to be flat you an always clear coat it, that will give it a nice gloss. The yellow cars in this thread were painted with Floquil which is a flat finish paint. I clear coated them and they look fine, so if the closest you can get is a flat paint, don't worry!
 
just got back from Spartanburg today. Flew through LaGuardia, and got out in front of the weather. Leaving for Boston Sunday, but I have a little time here. Just before I left last Sunday I finished up the assembly on the Overland coach. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! Still need to paint the grabs, and maybe some final touch up, but she's ready for service!
Overland Coach 1.jpg
Those Coach Yard diaphragms make all the difference!
Overland Coach 2.jpg
 
Yeah, Red and Grey. I'll look and see what Tamia has. Will the finish on the cap represent the finish on the car? (By that I mean gloss, matte, ect.)
I turn the Tamiya bottles over to see what the finished color “should” look like. But that is not a true indicator of the way it may turnout. Tamiya sells colors both gloss and matt.

The gloss paints are the “X” followed by up to 2 digits (Ex. X1 is gloss black)
The Matt finish paints are the “XF” followed by up to 2 digits (Ex. XF1 is flat black).
 
Practice makes perfect! :) masking tape makes a difference too. I use Tamiya tape. it comes in different widths, and is plasticized. It goes around corners well. AK also makes tape in multiple widths that is very good for masking models. One thing, don't burnish the tape, just press it down firmly. Burnishing can ruin the edge.
I am re-reading from the beginning to catch what I missed or skimmed initially. I do that on treads of great interest, like this one!

I learned to ALWAYS burnish the tape. I could never figure out why it the edges were hit or miss, rarely consistent. I have a project (2 structures) on the bench (back burner) that need various striping. Maybe between the grandson’s hockey games today I will try this. Thank you
 
I am re-reading from the beginning to catch what I missed or skimmed initially. I do that on treads of great interest, like this one!

I learned to ALWAYS burnish the tape. I could never figure out why it the edges were hit or miss, rarely consistent. I have a project (2 structures) on the bench (back burner) that need various striping. Maybe between the grandson’s hockey games today I will try this. Thank you
I can't remember where, but I read somewhere that burnishing the tape distorts the clean-cut edge. I just press it firmly down with my fingers. NO tools or fingernails! if you are worried about wicking, a little of the previous color or some clear, or for structures maybe some flat so that any wicking you do get is neutral.
 
Well intrepid followers, we're getting close to the end of this little project! It'll be next week before I can get started, as I still have one business trip and the Amherst show to do before I'll have any real bench time again. The rest of my seated people should be here by then, and in the below photo of several interiors are the components for the Coffee shop, and Coffee Shop Tavern Lounge. There will be plenty of cutting and pasting involved to get what I want, but the bones are here:
Assorted interiors.jpg

The beige interior has a lunch counter in the middle of the car. I'll have to scratch a top and come up with seats for it somehow. I'm hoping I can find a guy who has pasenger car interior components at Amherst. Maybe he'll have lunch counter seats. Mind you I won't be doing everything in the cars. The judicious closing of certain windows prevents anyone form seeing that something isn't there! What you'll see mostly is the lunch counter and Tavern Lounge seating areas, and the coffee shop seating. I have to paint the parts of course. Dayight cars had some interesting colors. Red and blue dominating. Should be fun!
 
I can't remember where, but I read somewhere that burnishing the tape distorts the clean-cut edge. I just press it firmly down with my fingers. NO tools or fingernails! if you are worried about wicking, a little of the previous color or some clear, or for structures maybe some flat so that any wicking you do get is neutral.
Thank you. I have structures to finish the stripes on this week. No more burnishing foe me.

I do spray away from the edge but I did start doing a spray of the clear during Covid of 2020
 
Well folks I thought I never would get home! Three cities in two weeks is a younger man's game for sure! I also came home with a wicked cold which I managed to give to both my wife and daughter, so I'm on their fecal roster. Anyway, at long last we're back to the passenger cars! I went through the assorted interiors and found what I needed for the Coffee shop and Lunch Counter Tavern. Color photos of this stuff are hard to come by and I wanted the interiors to be at least reasonably close. I was figuring what to do and looking through the library and then my current copy of Trainline shows up and look what's in it: A nice article in the Daylights. Included were photos of food service cars in color. This is why you need to belong to your favorite railroad's historical society! They are a great resource for obscure information not easily obtainable.
IMG_4959.jpg
IMG_4960.jpg
These gave me colors for the furniture. I've started painting the interiors. I have to cut out the lunch counter portion and install seats and a counter top. I'm deciding what to do here because the prototype had a counter that looped around, and this is just a strait counter. Modify or good enough? We'll see!

Tavern and coffee shop interiors.jpg
 
Well folks I thought I never would get home! Three cities in two weeks is a younger man's game for sure! I also came home with a wicked cold which I managed to give to both my wife and daughter, so I'm on their fecal roster. Anyway, at long last we're back to the passenger cars! I went through the assorted interiors and found what I needed for the Coffee shop and Lunch Counter Tavern. Color photos of this stuff are hard to come by and I wanted the interiors to be at least reasonably close. I was figuring what to do and looking through the library and then my current copy of Trainline shows up and look what's in it: A nice article in the Daylights. Included were photos of food service cars in color. This is why you need to belong to your favorite railroad's historical society! They are a great resource for obscure information not easily obtainable. View attachment 180659View attachment 180660These gave me colors for the furniture. I've started painting the interiors. I have to cut out the lunch counter portion and install seats and a counter top. I'm deciding what to do here because the prototype had a counter that looped around, and this is just a strait counter. Modify or good enough? We'll see!

View attachment 180661
Great, I couldn't find any for my passenger car interiors so I went with blue, seems I need to re-paint all mine them a biege.
 
Great, I couldn't find any for my passenger car interiors so I went with blue, seems I need to re-paint all mine them a biege.
wouldn't much with the interior walls of the basic car body unless you're doing a contest quality model, amybe with a removable roof. You just don't see the inside walls much. I did it with that green heavyweight diner and didn't even really notice! Stick with the interiors and any visible partition walls, things people will actually see.
 



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