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Interior Detailing a UP Dome Observation Lounge

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  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Monday, February 18, 2008 2:32 PM
 Arjay1969 wrote:
 dcfixer wrote:

I got wipers on all the Rivarossi stuff. They're OK, but they slow down the wheels and require periodic cleaning.  I can tell by the wear that they will also require replacement in the near future.

A suggestion...take a piece of brass tubing that has an inside diameter large enough to clear your axles.  Cut off a piece about 1/8" long.  Now grind off one side of it so that you can slip the tubing onto the axle without removing any wheels.  solder the tubing onto the original wiper, and you have a new pickup that will not only last forever, but give (in my experience) better contact (larger surface area coming into contact with the axle).  Voila! Smile [:)]

I love this forum thing. Smile [:)] There's such a wealth of experience and knowledge to be had, and so many nice people willing to share.  Thank you all.

 

That's one of the things I love about it too...I learn something new just about every time I log on. Smile [:)] 

I did the pickups on my Rivarossi 44 seat coach using 3/16in tubing for the Athearn 4 wheel pass wheel sets.  There is a distinct improvement! Smile [:)]

Thanks, Robert.Thumbs Up [tup]

DC

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: College Station, TX
  • 675 posts
Posted by Arjay1969 on Monday, February 18, 2008 4:11 PM

DC,

No problem!  Glad to be of service. Smile [:)]

 

Hey, how about some photos of those so everyone can see the "Hippie Pickups"? Big Smile [:D] 

Robert Beaty

The Laughing Hippie

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the

end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming

your way.          -Metallica, No Leaf Clover

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 8:12 PM
 Arjay1969 wrote:

DC,

No problem!  Glad to be of service. Smile [:)]

 

Hey, how about some photos of those so everyone can see the "Hippie Pickups"? Big Smile [:D] 

OK. I will do that after the paint dries on the OSH trucks that I'm putting on the car...a couple of days.

DC

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Thursday, February 21, 2008 9:08 AM
 Arjay1969 wrote:

DC,

No problem!  Glad to be of service. Smile [:)]

 

Hey, how about some photos of those so everyone can see the "Hippie Pickups"? Big Smile [:D] 

"Hippie pickups"!!  3/16" Cu tubing, Athearn 4-wheel passenger wipers and wheel sets.

 DC

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: College Station, TX
  • 675 posts
Posted by Arjay1969 on Friday, February 22, 2008 11:06 AM

Very nice!  Your soldering skills are superior to mine, I'm ashamed to admit. Wink [;)]

 

Robert Beaty

The Laughing Hippie

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the

end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming

your way.          -Metallica, No Leaf Clover

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Friday, February 22, 2008 4:34 PM
 Arjay1969 wrote:

Very nice!  Your soldering skills are superior to mine, I'm ashamed to admit. Wink [;)]

 

Robert,

Thanks for the kind words.

 I'm a total solder bombardier with the cheap solder pencils.  They are so frustrating. Then I got a good, variable temperature solder station with a sleek pencil, interchangeable tips and a soft flexible cord. I use the small screwdriver tip for working on the cars.  I picked up a nice, used Weller station on Ebay for $60, including shipping.  It has made all the difference, and the tips last a long, long time.  I have 25 year old Wellers at work, some with the same tips. The other thing is that I keep the tip clean by wiping it on a damp sponge before each application. There are some good soldering tutorials on the net.  Weller has a lot of info on their site.

DC 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: College Station, TX
  • 675 posts
Posted by Arjay1969 on Friday, February 22, 2008 5:12 PM
I have a Weller soldering station, actually.  Maybe it's time to change the tip. Smile [:)]

Robert Beaty

The Laughing Hippie

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the

end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming

your way.          -Metallica, No Leaf Clover

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Good ol' USA
  • 9,642 posts
Posted by AntonioFP45 on Saturday, February 23, 2008 7:18 PM

DC,

Thanks for posting the "hippie pickups" photo.  I want to light up the interiors of my Metros and Rivorossi passenger cars with LEDs and this looks like a good method.  I've uploaded your photos so I can use them as reference.

Big Smile [:D]Thumbs Up [tup]  

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:06 PM
 AntonioFP45 wrote:

DC,

Thanks for posting the "hippie pickups" photo.  I want to light up the interiors of my Metros and Rivorossi passenger cars with LEDs and this looks like a good method.  I've uploaded your photos so I can use them as reference.

Big Smile [:D]Thumbs Up [tup]  

Antonio,

No problem.  I think they will last a long time. Smile [:)]

I should probably point out something that may not be obvious in the photo.  I didn't use the truck/wiper mounting screw as the electrical path to the inside of the car.  I hard wired a very flexible, multi stranded, 22-26 wire to the wiper directly ( the solder blob between the screw and wheel axle).  The wire passes through a hole in the bottom of the car (under the wiper)  and is soldered to the Cu run under the flooring.  The wire needs to be very flexible, so the insulation is stripped off, also.  I also put a large gradual bend in the wire inside the car and down in the recess to allow unrestricted movement of the truck.  I did this because after all the interior is done, the last thing I want to do is to take everything apart and tear up the flooring to fix an electrical problem. I have had too many problems with wires breaking and poor contact when using the rotating truck mounting screw for electrical.

  • Member since
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  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Monday, March 31, 2008 2:38 PM

I see that someone has "bubbled" up my thread. 

While I'm here, I want to mention that I no longer use any wipers.  All my lighted Soho and Rivarossi cars are now riding on Walthers trucks, with 8 wheel electrical pickup (the dome obs looks great with the Walthers 41-CUDOs). Smile [:)]  Not only has the flicker been practically eliminated, but my throttle position as been reduced at least 30% due to the lack of wiper friction on the 4 cars that had the wipers.  I have also found a small, high capacity SMD capacitor that looks promising.  I will post a new thread on this when I get pics and the capacitor circuit finalized.

Sorry, Robert.  Sigh [sigh]    But, the "hippie pickups" are still king of the wipers, IMHO.

DC 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: College Station, TX
  • 675 posts
Posted by Arjay1969 on Monday, March 31, 2008 3:31 PM
 dcfixer wrote:

Sorry, Robert.  Sigh [sigh]    But, the "hippie pickups" are still king of the wipers, IMHO.

DC 

 

S'aright. Smile [:)]  They still work quite nicely on plastic trucks, such as the ones from Train Station Products (which are what the majority of my fleet is equipped with).

 

I' m looking forward to seeing your improved lighting circuit, though...that sounds promising. Smile [:)] 

Robert Beaty

The Laughing Hippie

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the

end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming

your way.          -Metallica, No Leaf Clover

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  • Member since
    December 2003
  • From: Good ol' USA
  • 9,642 posts
Posted by AntonioFP45 on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 2:25 PM
 dcfixer wrote:

I see that someone has "bubbled" up my thread. 

While I'm here, I want to mention that I no longer use any wipers.  All my lighted Soho and Rivarossi cars are now riding on Walthers trucks, with 8 wheel electrical pickup (the dome obs looks great with the Walthers 41-CUDOs). Smile [:)]  Not only has the flicker been practically eliminated, but my throttle position as been reduced at least 30% due to the lack of wiper friction on the 4 cars that had the wipers.  I have also found a small, high capacity SMD capacitor that looks promising.  I will post a new thread on this when I get pics and the capacitor circuit finalized.

Sorry, Robert.  Sigh [sigh]    But, the "hippie pickups" are still king of the wipers, IMHO.

DC 

DCFixer,

Good to read of your success with the Walthers trucks.  To light up my Metroliner interiors, I'll have to go with your "hippie pickups" since the truck sideframes on them are unique in appearance and unfortunately no one else makes them (bummer Sigh [sigh]).

When I'm ready to install the LED lighting, I'll refer to this thread.  If I run into any "pickles" I'll post here or send you an email.  Appearance-wise your method looks promising.   

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Wednesday, April 2, 2008 8:52 AM
 AntonioFP45 wrote:
 dcfixer wrote:

I see that someone has "bubbled" up my thread. 

While I'm here, I want to mention that I no longer use any wipers.  All my lighted Soho and Rivarossi cars are now riding on Walthers trucks, with 8 wheel electrical pickup (the dome obs looks great with the Walthers 41-CUDOs). Smile [:)]  Not only has the flicker been practically eliminated, but my throttle position as been reduced at least 30% due to the lack of wiper friction on the 4 cars that had the wipers.  I have also found a small, high capacity SMD capacitor that looks promising.  I will post a new thread on this when I get pics and the capacitor circuit finalized.

Sorry, Robert.  Sigh [sigh]    But, the "hippie pickups" are still king of the wipers, IMHO.

DC 

DCFixer,

Good to read of your success with the Walthers trucks.  To light up my Metroliner interiors, I'll have to go with your "hippie pickups" since the truck sideframes on them are unique in appearance and unfortunately no one else makes them (bummer Sigh [sigh]).

When I'm ready to install the LED lighting, I'll refer to this thread.  If I run into any "pickles" I'll post here or send you an email.  Appearance-wise your method looks promising.   

Thanks for the kind thought, Antonio.  I'm going to write Walthers' product development, tell them what I did, and suggest they make more trucks.  I love them.

Just so there's no confusion, I'm only responsible for the "hippie pickups" name; the idea game from Robert. 

I'm glad that I can help, and please feel free to contact me in any way, any time.

Did you get my PM?

DC 

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 9:11 AM
 Charlie wrote:

I would recommend upgrading the trucks on the dome lounge obs with Train Station's 4 wheel outside swing hanger trucks. You can either file down the bolster by .10-.20 or shim the couplers by the same amount and add a set in interior lighting wipers to the trucks.

Charlie

For Charlie.  Baby's got new shoes!Big Smile [:D].

The Walthers trucks may not be as fancy as the CY trucks, but they are better at electrical pickup, and cost a whole lot less.

Thanks for the nudge, Charlie. 

DC 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Topeka, KS
  • 329 posts
Posted by Charlie on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:25 PM

DC, the car looks much better with the new trucks, Can you post photos of how you modified the bolsters on the truck/underframe?

Charlie

MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub

  • Member since
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  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Friday, April 18, 2008 9:07 AM
 Charlie wrote:

DC, the car looks much better with the new trucks, Can you post photos of how you modified the bolsters on the truck/underframe?

Charlie

No mods to the underframe were required.  All the original Soho truck mounting parts were used with 2 modifications.  I shortened the spring.  I think the Soho trucks are way too stiff to begin with, but it will definately need shortening for the Walthers trucks.  I turned down the black plastic spacer so it would fit on the top of the Walthers bolster/center plate.

I fashioned a .060 piece of styrene to add to the bolster height. To find the center of the hole for the shouldered Soho screw, I used a #4 nut that fit the Walthers bolster hole real nice.   The spring and screw fit real nice in that hole.

DC  http://uphonation.com

 

 

  • Member since
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  • From: College Station, TX
  • 675 posts
Posted by Arjay1969 on Friday, April 18, 2008 10:05 AM

DC,

Awesome job!  I do have a question about your power feeder wires on those trucks, though...

How are they attached to the trucks?  Are they soldered to the screws, or sandwiched in between the sideframe and bolster?  Your solution to that may have just saved me a bunch of headaches with lighting my Walthers cars. Smile [:)]

 

Oh, and I've had good luck adapting various manufacturers' trucks to 2-56 mounting screws (not applicable to your Soho cars, since they use a shouldered screw) by using the "top" plate (with the center post) from a Kadee #5 coupler box.  Had a couple of sets of Hallmark brass trucks that needed that in order to mount to ECW core kits. Smile [:)] 

Robert Beaty

The Laughing Hippie

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The CF-7...a waste of a perfectly good F-unit!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the

end of your tunnel, Was just a freight train coming

your way.          -Metallica, No Leaf Clover

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Friday, April 18, 2008 11:42 AM
 Arjay1969 wrote:

DC,

Awesome job!  I do have a question about your power feeder wires on those trucks, though...

How are they attached to the trucks?  Are they soldered to the screws, or sandwiched in between the sideframe and bolster?  Your solution to that may have just saved me a bunch of headaches with lighting my Walthers cars. Smile [:)]

 

Oh, and I've had good luck adapting various manufacturers' trucks to 2-56 mounting screws (not applicable to your Soho cars, since they use a shouldered screw) by using the "top" plate (with the center post) from a Kadee #5 coupler box.  Had a couple of sets of Hallmark brass trucks that needed that in order to mount to ECW core kits. Smile [:)] 

They are soldered to the screws.  I pulled the screw out of the truck (don't want to melt the plastic bolster), and put a little solder on the end  of the screw, then put the screw back in the truck. The wire is about 24g, 100 or more stranded wire - very flexible, and so far holding up.

DC 

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Friday, July 18, 2008 4:51 PM

To finish up the interior, I have been attempting to sculpt, mold and cast the various styles of chairs that were used in the lounges of this car.  Since this deals mostly with molding and casting plastic parts, I decided to start a new thread.  Please see "Molding and Casting Dome Obs Lounge Chairs".

Sorry for any inconvenience that this reply may cause to those not interested in the chairs.

DC 

  • Member since
    March 2006
  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 10:07 AM

This is my final part of this thread with photos of the finished, populated dome observation lounge.  Thanks to all for looking and participating.Smile [:)]

My next passenger car project is a UP COSF 1939-1940 12dup-5bd sleeper.  I will be remaking a Rivarossi 12-5, and plan to rivet it with the Archer rivet decals. 

 

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Posted by lvanhen on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 12:24 PM
Are you sure that they're not real passengers/cars?  Sure look real to me!! Thumbs Up [tup]Thumbs Up [tup]Bow [bow]
Lou V H Photo by John
  • Member since
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  • From: Visalia, California
  • 308 posts
Posted by dcfixer on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 6:13 PM

Thanks, Lou. I appreciate it.  From my limited experience with little plastic people, I have found the Preiser figures the best detailed, and they are the most expensive. 

So far the museum putty is holding them just fine.  The real test will be when I pack up the train in my transport case and take it down to the museum to run.

 DCSmile [:)]

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