Passenger Car Interiors. Athearn

[Anonymous]

Are there any interiors available for the Athearn line of Passenger Cars?.
Thanks in Advance for any info. I'm new to this so I hope I'm in the
right Forum.

Jim Lawler.

[nfmisso]

Hi Jim;

Not specifically, but http://www.walthers.com/ carries many interior pieces that you can adapt for your cars..

[Anonymous]

I've not seen any that are made for Athearn specifically, but there are some universal ones you can work with. It will take some modifying.

The following is an example:

http://www.desplaineshobbies.com/red_cap.html

Warren

[AntonioFP45]

Jim,

Just purchase the Rivorissi passenger car interiors. Easy to work with! Since they're designed for the 85ft. cars and your Athearns are 72 footers, just neatly cut out a portion of the middle (may be about 2"- take measurements! ) and install both halves with light dabs of glue, simple as that! You may have to trim the sides also about 1/8" from each side if memory serves me (I switched from Athearn to Rivorossi a few years ago) Be patient, take your time!

I always paint my interiors (brush). Don't breathe the fumes! Have ventilaion or a fan running! USE FLAT COLORS. Look at pass. car photos of your prototype or several railroads. Since there was a huge variety, I went "generic" and used the most common color groups.

Depending on the railroad,

Coach or "Chair Car" : my seats are usually in the red or brown family of colors. I always paint the "vestible end" of the partition silver to represent "stainless steel".

Dining car kitchens are easy. Mask off the dining room and spray the kitchen Bright Silver to represent stainless steel. I paint the table tops in the dining room section white to resemble table cloths. The seats light brown or pullman green.

Sleeping Cars I paint the beds one color and leave the pillow area blank or touch it up with white. Bathrooms are ALL silver.

Observation cars can have a variety of colors in seats and tables. I tend to use blues, greens, and light browns.

NOTE: I never paint the floor on any cars. Even with lighting you won't see it! You don't have to be "TOO" meticulous as a lot of the details will be hidden once inside the car, but the seats, tabletops, and kitchen area are quite noticeable.

Two more humble suggestions:
[1] Unless improvements have been made, the Athearn plastic windows give a distorted view of the interior. Consider buying clear plastic glazing from the hobby shop. Very cheap! Cut and shape it into long strips that would cover all of the windows on each side. Make sure that the strips also overlap the windows vertically as the glue will be on the overlap sections over and under the windows. Glue the strips along the passenger car walls. Windows will look more realistic and the view to the inside will be quite nice.
[2] Later, light up your interiors. Kits are available and model railroader has had some really good articles in the past decade. E-mail MRR and ask them if they can mail you an archived article.

I like American passenger trains and it's nice to read from someone that enjoys them also.

Hope this helps! God Bless!

[Anonymous]

I understand some of the newest passenger cars are glued shut?

[AntonioFP45]

Locomotive 3.

In HO scale? I don't know. I think it would be quite unwise for a manufacturer to produce passenger cars that can't be dissassembled! The Walthers passenger cars are beautiful and more detailed than Rivorossi, yet the interior is accessible for installation of the lighting kit. Athearns and Con Cor are also accessible. If unsure, check with your local model RR shop. Every HO passenger car I've ever seen is able to be disassembled somehow.

Rivorossi has a "newer" improved HO passenger car line that looks very nice and comes with interiors!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45

Locomotive 3.

In HO scale? I don't know.

I own the Budds.

My reference was too broad. I did not wi***o name Athearn which was the problem
for another modeler.

[Anonymous]

Like Jim I too have some Athearn passenger cars that I would like to detail the interiors.

My Athearn cars are blue box kits that I purchased back in the mid-80s when I was MRRing at that time. They are still in there original boxes and plan to start putting them together soon. I have enjoyed reading these posts - Thanks for the great info!

[Anonymous]

They used to sell interiors for the athearn passenger cars years ago. But I think that fell out of production in the face of AHM, Riverossi interiors and possibly the more recent and current offering that fully feature interiors already installed.

Now if I can find some people that will fit them seats.

[Anonymous]

Palace Car Co., Box 973, Kearney, NE 68848-0973, Tel: [phone] makes interiors for Athearn, MDC and Model Power passenger cars. Kits run about $15.75. Kit includes floor plans and seats. Depending on kit it may also include weight, and sytrene strip for making interior walls. I found mine at the '04 NMRA Seattle show and have been pretty happy with it.