First venture for passenger and dining cars and need to know which manufacturer and/or type have the detailed interiors INSTEAD of the silhouettes . Have been looking like the devil but figured stop wasteing time and " just ask the experts " !
WEAVER has some of the nicest detailed varnish out there (and have some of our favorite fallen flags). Downside is they don't like running on anything less than O-42.
All the weavers i found had the silhouettes .... which I DON'T want .... will keep looking . I have all 072 tack .... smart move I made years ago ... Thanks though uncle fifey ... you know that nikname is gonna hang on you for awhile don't ya ..... ?
I have MTH Railking streamliners that have "detailed" interiors - seats, tables in diner, no silhouettes but they did not come with passengers. You might want to check out their premier line of passenger cars too.
MTH has some nicely done passenger cars in both the Railking, w/o passengers, and Premiere lines, the newer ones w/passengers already installed.
K-Line had some really great ones but it seems as though they fetch quite a hefty price on the Bay for the better sets. Hopefully K by L will re-release some of them in the future.
That being said, it still requires a lot of extra work to do the "finishing touches" on even the best sets out there. I had looked into doing the interiors with "road name" appropriate color pallettes, table cloths and china, etc. but finding some of the stuff was a nightmare. Needless to say they are all as they came off the boat except for spending a bundle on seated passengers.
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Dougdagrump and lynbrookyankee ... thanks millions guys ! They're just what I was looking for ! Even found 2 sets in the era I want .... detailing and passengers will be added later ... not utensils though ... good luck on that one Doug ... now for the bidding war on ebay ... LOL . The tablecloth idea is fantastic ... Doug . .... no more enlarging pics trying to look inside for detailing when the description does'nt say .... I think my eyes were starting to cross .....
I bought some heavey wieghts from K-line and the interiors where detailed fantastic. Almost make my Daylight pathetic looking.
O.T.
There was a modeler, believe it was on OGR, that went far and away over want I had wanted to do. He had even used mini LED's in something to resemble candles on the tables in the dining cars and observation cars. Looked fantastic but with my "skill level" I'd end up melting down the cars.
WOW !!! ..... Sounds great Doug ! Me either .... beyond my abilities . These will open up a whole new adventure in O scale for me . I'd rather not have the passengers installed .... detailing and making them different is 3/4 the fun and satisfaction to me . Now that I'm off the caffeine coffee my hands are alot steadier ... the wigglies on tiny items is about gone ...LOL .
Philanight .... now I added those to my list ..also .... am only buying one set of passenger cars and might as well go all the way ... plus can add more to it ... thanks buddy .... like I said before this is my first passenger attempt .... am new to them .
Just saw WW2 sitting soldiers to add to them ... man this is going to be fun !
I have two passenger sets now and am considering the potential of a D&H set as well. I have used two different brands of passengers.
#1. First set was the 40 pc set originally done by K-Line, now available with several different labels on them. They are OK but seem a bit large for "O", had to lop off a lot of feet and/or legs to get them to fit in some places.
#2. The better fit were the MTH passengers, not near as cheap as the K-Line but a much better fit plus a better diversity of poses, paint colors, etc. Still had to trim some toes but not feet or legs.
If you are up to doing some painting you can get the unpainted MTH passengers in a bag of 100 relatively cheap.
If I'm not mistaken I thought I saw in a K-line catalog a troop train that was detailed. It was recent so it might be K-line by Lionel.
I have detailed a RailKing heavyweight set, as well as a streamline set. MTH figures fit best, and I hand-painted the ones that are $29. for 120 figures. About 20 of them are standing, and I've made porters, waiters, and bartenders out of some, Others are standing in aisles or in private compartments. Between these 2 trains I have about 200 figures...far more than what you get with the "figures included" sets. And no 2 figures are exactly alike. It truly is "another hobby"...just don't rush it.
Dining car tables are best done out-of-car, on a square of plastic that will become the table top. I have table settings that "Circus Craft" made years ago...but you can make plates with a hole-punch, a plastic "napkin" with 3 silver lines put on it (for silverware), short glasses made of clear beads, tall glasses from thin straws (see kids juice boxes), silver enlongated beads filled with dried flowers for a vase. A slow careful walk in a craft store will find many interesting things.
Found it K-Line by Lionel 2007 priemer catalog has a U.s. Army troop train with figures in the cars.
One of the magazines I had read a few years ago suggested using seated HO people for the passenger car interiors. I forget which, but the author did a complete detail...including the privy. For the price, you may want to look at some HO people before spending $ for MTH people. I too have a number of MTH passenger sets that had been given to me by a kind friend. Once the layout is done, plan is to detail some of these with people. Don't forget the porter taking a smoke break by an open door to make it a little more "real".
Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Joe, If memory serves, some of your photos were my inspiration to give it a go. Any chance you still have some of them available to show your handy-work?
Am cutting and pasting all your info and suggestions ... saving them all to a text=help file . Thanks guys ... Joe those ideas are fabulous ! Unbelievable .... this is going to be FUN !!!! and rewarding ! Am bidding as we speak .... as soon as this horrible cold my wife graciously gave me eases up .... off to the craft store .
Some added thoughts about painting all those MTH figures. It is very important NOT to skimp on brush quality!!! Buy a few very fine sable brushes...a 00, and a #1 should do it. I use Poly-S water based model paint, which will cover in ONE coat. I have found that less expensive "craft store"paints need 2 or 3 coats. This project takes long enough as it is, so no use being "penny wise/pound foolish". Buy the basic colors like white, black, yellow, red, flesh, concrete (yes, concrete...it's a great gray), blue and brown. You can mix other colors from these. Wash the figures before painting with liquid dish soap and water.
To keep your interest up, paint no more than 15 figures at a time. Paint "production line", flesh first on all, then very light colors (like men's shirts), and so on. Ending with shoes and hair allows you to hold the figure thoughout the entire painting proccess. I do NOT agree with those who tell people to mount a line of figures on a stick before painting. I do not bother with facial features like eyes. This usually leads to a cartoon-looking mess. I take my cue from how Arttista figures look.
PhilaKnight,
Those are beautiful troop transport cars by K-Line, and the cars have a decent length.
Thank You,
Have A Healthy And A Happy New Year,
Ralph
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