I am working on building Amtrak's Coast Starlight that runs from Los Angeles to Seattle. Bolow are some pictures of what I have done to improve Walthers new plated superliners.
Walthers Superliner II Amtrak Sightseer Lounge Phase IVb #932-16122
http://www.haworthengineering.com/
~Excellency in the Details ~
Now for the Superliner I Lounge:
Walthers Superliner I Amtrak Sightseer Lounge Phase IVb #932-16194
NOTE: The lounge itself is prototypical; the added decals are not. The Coast Starlight has a unique car in the midst of the train named the Pacific Parlour. In real life, it is not a superliner but rather an ex-Santa Fe high level. I have had Microscale’s decal set for such a long time that I finally said I would just apply them to a superliner. Please forgive the inaccuracy.
The car has painted interior, wheels, couplers, and diaphragm just like the first car. Walthers did a great job on the window placement difference between superliner I and II cars.
So, with that, Pacific Parlour 39973:
Looks great. I have the Superliner II Lounge, Diner, Sleeper, and Transition Sleeper. I also have the Superliner I Coach (2), Sleeper, and Coach Baggage. I painted my interiors different colors than yours, but I am happy with the way they turned out. I also like what you did with the Superliner I lounge. Looks great. Hopefully someone will produce one in HO.
EDIT: Before you had technical difficulties, the pics were awesome.
Will
Yes, that's a big problem with any model brand of the Sightseer Lounge cars, those big honkin' windows make it really obvious that you're running the empty shell of a car. I have a couple Con-Cor brand that I scratchbuilt interiors for the upper level. Vastly improved the appearance of them, even though they're the only ones with interior detail. The smaller, darker windows in the other Superliners hide the fact they have no interior, but since the obvious one has an interior, everybody assumes the rest do as well.
EDIT: Wheww....I decided that I wanted the thread to be nicely laid out so I drafted it up in MS Word. When I copied and pasted it to the forum, needless to say the forum didn't like it. Sorry guys for some lines having a lot of space and others no space. I will definitely not do that again!
At least it is readable again. Let me know if you have any questions. Michael
Michael,
Always enjoyable seeing a passenger train modeler sharing info on a project.
Great work! What a difference this type of detailing makes on streamlined varnish. A+ for painting those white headrest cloths on the top of the seatbacks. Adding an interior and passengers brings these cars up to a much greater level of dimensional realism.
Questions:
1. What shade of blue did you use? Looks similar to Santa Fe blue.
2. Which brand(s) of passengers are you using? I plan on adding some passengers to my Rivorossi and Walthers cars in the future and am looking for suggestions.
3. Will your interiors be lighted? The flouresent interior kits from Miniatronics would go nicely with your cars: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/475-100ICL01
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
You are giving more inspiration/work to improve my Superliners even more. Good job on painting the suspension parts silver on the Superliner IIs. I guess I will need to do that to mine.
How did you paint your coupler without fowling up the mechanism? I assume they are Kadees.
Antonio,
I believe those figures are made from Preiser. I have some like that in my cars and they look familiar. I always buy the unpainted figures and paint them the way I want them.
MRH044 NOTE: The lounge itself is prototypical; the added decals are not. The Coast Starlight has a unique car in the midst of the train named the Pacific Parlour. In real life, it is not a superliner but rather an ex-Santa Fe high level. I have had Microscale’s decal set for such a long time that I finally said I would just apply them to a superliner. Please forgive the inaccuracy. The car has painted interior, wheels, couplers, and diaphragm just like the first car. Walthers did a great job on the window placement difference between superliner I and II cars. So, with that, Pacific Parlour 39973:
But you know what, it sure looks good, kinda like something Amtrak would do in a pinch hit if the Parlours went down.
-Morgan
AntonioFP45
The painted interiors sure made these cars look better. Thanks for noticing the headrests!
1. I am a first year in college so I work on these cars to relax. I live in the dorms and therefore don't use an airbrush. What I do use is cheap paint form Michael's. The blue is 'denim' and below is a picture of some other colors I used on the cars. Each bottle cost me $0.33.
2. Preiser
3. I don't have any plans for lights right now but I will keep those in mind.
wholeman
The suspension parts were still wet while I took the pictures! Very glad you noticed!! For the couplers, I just paint the outside of the kadee brown being careful to not get paint in the mechanism.
Thank you for telling me how you painted the couplers. When I painted the interiors of my cars, I used PollyScale which about $3.50-$5 a bottle. I am glad you are able to also enjoy college and still do MR. I am a senior in college and am finally getting more into the hobby since I will be done with finals this week.
Yeah, it is how I unwind. Spray paint would have been more efficient that is for sure.
MRH044,
Great use of those paint products. Good example showing that it's not always necessary to buy "brand name" model railroad specific paints for every project.
AntonioFP45 MRH044, Great use of those paint products. Good example showing that it's not always necessary to buy "brand name" model railroad specific paints for every project.
Thank you! They are also a lot easier to work with in my room :)