This is a need for help with kitbashing Walthers Heavyweight Baggage Car.
1. How do you go about removing the roof in order to get to the inside the car? In my case I want to do a kitbash with it and the baggage doors need to be changed out. The doors are not the correct configuration for what I want to do with the car. (See next item.)
2. Does anyone have any idea if there are any commercial detail parts that are close to the doors on this car: NP 1511? I am trying to convert the referenced Walthers car into something that would be close to that car. I am planning a full North Coast Limited train for a donation. (The baggage car is the only car of the 16-car train I haven't managed to get a good lead on for building. I have already had at least one false start.) Given that I don't have any dimensional drawing of these cars, I'm not sure about trying to scratchbuild the doors.
Any help that the forums could provide would be appreciated and most welcomed.
davidmbedard1. Twist the body of the car. The roof will separate. ...
Thank you. That solves problem one. In the process of getting the roof off, I also discovered that the doors are able to be removed from the rest of the car. (I wasn't aware of that.) If need be, I can use the doors in order to KB new doors. However, if there are commercial parts that can be adapted, I would still prefer that option.
Before you spend a lot of time with the Walthers baggage car, you may want to look at an Athearn Heavyweight baggage car.
I have a six car set of Athearn NP heavyweight cars, and the baggage car is close to the one in your photo. The Athearn model does not have the small window at one end, but otherwise looks like the one in your photo.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Heartland Division CB&Q Before you spend a lot of time with the Walthers baggage car, you may want to look at an Athearn Heavyweight baggage car.
I actually looked at the Athearn car previously. The problem I see is, at least to me, the underframe is not right and there would be too much work to modify it to be correct.
FRRYKid....2. Does anyone have any idea if there are any commercial detail parts that are close to the doors on this car: NP 1511? I am trying to convert the referenced Walthers car into something that would be close to that car. I am planning a full North Coast Limited train for a donation. (The baggage car is the only car of the 16-car train I haven't managed to get a good lead on for building. I have already had at least one false start.) Given that I don't have any dimensional drawing of these cars, I'm not sure about trying to scratchbuild the doors....
I'm not familiar with the Walthers baggage car: is it the correct length for your prototype? As for the doors, are the openings the correct width?
If the answer to both questions is "Yes", then it's not at all difficult to scratchbuild baggage doors. Use a small machinist's square to lay out the outermost portion of the doors (raised area) on a sheet of .010" styrene - make the height and width the same as the Walthers doors which you're replacing, then use a sharp blade to cut out the areas for the windows and recessed panels. Next, use the same method to lay out the rear panel to the same width, but make it six scale inches lower than the bottom of the window openings. This will be a simple rectangle roughly 2/3 the height of the door. Use solvent-type cement to affix it to the rear of the previously-cut out panel, carefully aligning the side and bottom edges. Use .010" or .012" brass wire to fashion the door handles, then install the doors in the car.After the car has been painted, cut window "glass" from a sheet of .010" clear styrene - it should be as wide as the door and tall enough to cover the area from the top of the shortened inner door piece to the top of the full-height outer piece. Carefully cement it in place with solvent-type cement.
Here's a wooden baggage car kitbashed from an Athearn Pullman, with doors built as described:
...and a MDC RPO modified into a mail storage car with taller doors:
I haven't forgotten the window in your prototype. Here's a Rivarossi RPO/Baggage, to which I've added a couple of windows in the baggage compartment, as was common in the '30s and earlier. They're cut from the Athearn sides removed during the conversions from steel coaches and Pullmans to wooden baggage and express cars.
If you don't have an Athearn car on hand which to cannibalise, and want to use this method, send me a PM.
Wayne
I'm not exactly sure if the Walthers car is the right length, but in looking at pictures, it looks right to me. For what I'm doing, there may some rivet counters that yell at me for using it, but I trying to get the idea for most people.
As for the doors, given that it looks like I will have to scratchbuild the doors, I was planning to use the existing door panels as templates for the new doors. The Athearn doors are the right style, but the layout is not correct for my prototype. The larger door has the 6 windows in one string, while my prototype has windows in two 3 window blocks and a large center divider. The smaller door has 4 windows, while the prototype has 5.
I have already accounted for the windows. I am planning to cannibalize a Rivarossi Pullman car for the windows. I need the 6 wheel trucks from that car for a heavyweight sleeper in the train as the ones that were originally on that car broke when I was working with them. (On one, the coupler mount broke off when modifying it for a Kadee coupler adapter. The other truck frame broke when I was trying to remove it from the car. The only thing I can figure out is that the trucks were old and brittle.)