They look really nice. NKP even offers instructions for a good clear coat to spray over the plated sides. With that mix they should have a finish similar to The Coach Yard's stainless cars. If you have never done sides before I think you will really enjoy them. There are great interior ditails available from companies like Precision Scale, Red Cap Lines, and Palace Car company. You should also be able to get all other details such as roof vents and under body details from Train Station Products. I found some decent vestibule roof vents from Century (Showcase Miniatures). http://www.showcaseminiatures.com/passengercar.html
I would highly recommend roughing up the insides of the sides with some sandpaper. This will help tremendously with the bond between the styrene and the plated brass.
csmith9474 wrote:They are plated. I have just recently painted some sides and they come out very nice. There appears to be a lacquer coating on them, but not enough to affect the details. The instructions say that you can paint over them the way they are. I suppose if you wanted to paint the sides before putting them on the core kit, you could bake the paint on. I haven't tried that yet, but see no reason to do so. I guess time will tell. The only thing that I don't like about them is that you have to curve the fluting. The instructions also explain how to do this. Basically you have to get after them with a rubber mallet and a wooden dowel in a vise. Just be very careful not to damage the stirrups when doing this.
I would use them plated if they look like stainless steel or close. That is the look these cars should have.
It sounds like the curves for the fluting might be tricky, but I probably could handle it.
Thanks
csmith9474 wrote:It appears the only N&W car they have is the 10-6 sleeper.
I am looking to do the stainless steel cars only at this time.
csmith9474 wrote: Here you go.... http://www.nkpcarco.com/sou_cars.htm They take a little work, but are fun to build. The fluting on the etched brass sides is better than the fluting on a lot of RTR brass models. I have built several cars using brass car sides and love'em. With the offerings from Train Station Products, you can get one "outshopped" pretty quick, especially since they released the styrene sides for the core kits. They give the correct thickness for the brass car sides.
Here you go....
http://www.nkpcarco.com/sou_cars.htm
They take a little work, but are fun to build. The fluting on the etched brass sides is better than the fluting on a lot of RTR brass models. I have built several cars using brass car sides and love'em. With the offerings from Train Station Products, you can get one "outshopped" pretty quick, especially since they released the styrene sides for the core kits. They give the correct thickness for the brass car sides.
They do look good and that might be my only option.
I looked at the pictures and it states they are brass, but are they plated to simulate stainless??
I am looking for models of the budd cars that were used for the Southern Tennesean train that was pulled by the N&W J's on the N&W portion from Lynchburg to Bristol.
Anyone have good suggestions for the RPO, 52 seat coach and the round or blunt observation??
I noticed Walthers has some coaches but they do not seem to be close to the 52 coach example in the web page below.
Thanks.
http://www.cbu.edu/~mcondren/MRP/Tennessean/Tennessean-equipment.htm