I purchased several IHC heavyweight passenger cars on Ebay for about $10 each.
The cars were presented new in box, but there aren't any end doors in the vestibules. Meaning, if I look in one end of the car I can see all the way through the car to the other end. Obviously this isn't prototypical, but I wasn't sure if perhaps the seller removed some piece that should have been there. I don't want to spend a lot of money on detail parts, but I feel like something needs to get built from styrene to hide the gapping ends.
Has anyone already done this and, if so, can you share some pictures?
Also, while trying to remove the trucks from the cars to install metal wheels, two trucks fractured. I don't know if it was plastic fatigue or not, but I was extremely gentle. With the trucks already broken, I experimented some more and couldn't get a wheelset in without cracking it some more. I have never seen trucks molded in such a delicate plastic before. I bought a junker at a train show to swap the trucks with (IHC wants $9 each for replacement plastic trucks... and a lot more for replacement metal trucks) so I am okay. But, anyone else have this problem?
I am thinking of swapping the trucks out for Athearn ones, but not sure if it will work. I already bodymounted the couplers, so no problem there.
Since I only dropped $9 per car, I don't want to spend a lot to make them runners.
Thanks.
Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/
These are Rivarossi cars which, I think, are somewhat similar to the IHC cars. On this one, I cemented .020" sheet styrene to the "glass" (plastic) partions near the car's ends. That partition is right about where the inner wall of the car's vestibule would be, so I cut a window in the centre of the plastic before cementing it in place, then used some strip styrene to simulate a doorframe around it. The rest of the straight partitions inside the car were made from .060" sheet styrene, and it was affixed to the floor and any adjoining interior partitions using solvent-type cement. The curved walls are .010" styrene sheet, which was pre-curved, then cemented in place and clamped until the joints had hardened.On the Rivarossi cars, the windows are part of the roof casting, so any across-the-car partitions need to be sized to allow clearance for the roof/windows to be installed.Once the roof is in place, the interior is detailed enough to look good enough...unless you wish to add lighting...I don't.
Most of these cars have had the majority of the original window "glass" removed, and replaced with sheet styrene windows cemented inside the car, with window shades attached. I leave enough of the original window material to still allow the roof to clip into place as it did originally.
This one is a Rivarossi combine, with more passenger windows added using window castings from New England Rail Services. The baggage area windows were cut from Athearn heavyweight coaches:
This combine was made from a shortened Rivarossi diner, and it has the interior vestibule walls installed in the car rather than in its roof...
...ridership is obviously low, perhaps due to passenger unease over the car's weights, which are in the car's roof.
Wayne
Thanks for the pictures and explanation. I think I will do just as you did regarding building up the end walls, as well as cutting away the windows and replacing them with clear styrene.
Interior detailing might be tough because I added a lot of weight to the floors already and painted it black. Hum...
Benjamin Maggi...Interior detailing might be tough because I added a lot of weight to the floors already and painted it black. Hum... Add
As you can see in my first photo, there are large weights in both of the washroom/smoking lounge areas, while the car in the second photo has the same in its vestibule end, while the solarium area's banquette-style seat cushions are actually lead castings.
The first combine has weights in the washrooms at the vestibule end, and similar weights in the baggage area, and the last one has all of the weights on the underside of the roof.
Originally, most of my passenger equipment had additional weights installed on the underside of the roof, and while performance was very satisfactory, I was concerned that the additional weight would cause premature wear in the truck journals, as the Rivarossi cars' trucks were styrene, not Delrin. Most of those cars weighed between 12-15oz.
I added weights to the frame by building up boxes of styrene glued to the floors of the cars and then filling them with a lead shot/glue slurry. I might be able to pry them off but likely would damage them. So, I will rely on the black paint to sort of hide them. These cars are just roster-holding spots anyway.
Thanks!
You can buy sheet lead from Amazon. I have a sheet of 1/8" thick lead that is soft enough to be cut with sissors. You could cut lengths of this lead and lay in the walkways. After painting they would be invisible.