"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
QUOTE: Originally posted by audreysThanks Antonio, I found the thread
Welcome Audreys
Just by coincidence, I was doing the very thing you were asking about yesterday. The basic problem with installling an IHC interior in an Athern coach is the Athern is 71' long and the IHC interior is designed for a longer car; 84' I believe. In addition, the Athern is narrower, so the interior width has to be shaved as well.
This photo is a stock IHC interior, next to the cut down one I worked on yesterday. The photo shows the major chunks of base I cut out to reduce the length. The best way to do this is with an X-Acto miter box, that way you will get cuts that are square and the pieces will fit together. You want your final length to be between the stairways on the Athern car base.
(Those with sharp eyes may notice the interior is for a lighweight coach, not a heavyweight - but that is what I had available.)
Once the length is sorted out, the best way to reduce the width is to cut away the plastic flange running down the sides of the base. Use a hobby knife with a new sharp blade. Place a piece of sandpaper, around 100 grit, on a flat surface, and sand the sides of the base to reduce the width. Test fit it into the Athern car base until it fits. The original base is on the right. (Sorry for the poor quality of the closeup photo, I forgot to go to macro mode on my camera.)
A final thing depends on just how picky you are on looks. The seats on the IHC base do not align with the Athern coach windows, which stands to reason since it was designed for an IHC passenger car. If you think this is important, then each seat will need to be cut from the IHC base and glued into the Athern car base to align with the windows. Personally, I think this is a lot of work for a small gain in looks, and I am not going to do it.
A final consideration is the weight of the car. In order to properly install the interior, you can not use the standard Athern car weights. A 70' car should weigh 5.8 oz to meet NMRA standards. I am going to install sheet lead in the recessed area of the car floor. If that does not meet the weight, I will add more lead into the bathroom areas of the car where it can not be seen.
Next stop is the paint shop and decals to complete a Maine Central coach. Also some figures to be painted and installing a lighting kit; then it will be ready to run!
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
any 1 know where i can get a dineing car interiour in 'N'
CHEERS
Gav
G Paine,
That is excellent craftsmanship.
You chose a blue color for your seats. Which railroad scheme is your passenger car in?
I use the Pikestuff seats for lightweight cars: a coat of paint of a suitable colour, then I cut them apart into separate seats. This way, they're easier to line-up with the windows of various makes of cars. I've used them in Athearn, and in Rivarossi cars, both lightweights and heavyweights. To make suitable partitions, .060" sheet styrene works fine, and it's also easy to use styrene to make interiors for dining cars, observation cars, and business cars. I use .010" styrene for window shades - I cement a narrow strip of the same material to the outside face of the shades, along the upper edge, then cement this to the inside of the "glass", above the top edge of the window opening. If your passenger business is booming, HO scale figures can be sawn-off at the waist (or so) and placed on the seats: viewed through the windows, the torsos look just fine.
Wayne
AntonioFP45 wrote: You chose a blue color for your seats. Which railroad scheme is your passenger car in?
That blue is the color that IHC molds the interior base. They seem to use strange colors for all their interior castings. I will be painting the interior, but am still looking into info on the MEC color scheme for heavyweight coaches. Lacking any information, I probably will use a generic brown for the seats and tan or buff for the walls.
I know what MEC & B&M used for their 1946 lightweight P-S coaches, and what B&M used for their "American Flyer" coaches bought in 1937. Info on the older heavyweights is harder to come by.
GPaine, that is strange!
That's the first time I've ever seen a stock blue interior. All of the IHC interiors that I've purchased over the past 20 years were molded in the familiar "Tan" color.
You're right. It's difficult enough finding interior colors for streamliners, but finding color photos of heavyweight car interiors is challenging. Have you contacted the historical societies in Maine and Massachusetts? They may have some detailed info about heavyweight passenger car decor used by those New England railroads.
A couple of days ago, I had mentioned that the weight supplied in the Athern coaches could not be used if you plan to install an interior. This photo shows an Athern base with the stock weight next to another base with sheet lead installed in the box at the center of the casting.
The one with the stock weight is for a baggage car that will not have an interior; the car with Athern weight is close to NMRA standards. It will be to standard when I install the lighting kit. I will spray the back of the windows with Dullcote.
The coach with the lead weight will be to NMRA standards when the interior and lighting kit is installed. I had to add a small amount additional of lead in the bathrooms of the interior to make the weight.
By comparison, this is an IHC P-S coach shell. It comes with no weights, but needed only a small amount of additional lead once the interior and kighting kits are added.
Lead sheet is available at hardware stores. It is used as flashing around chimneys and other areas of houses. It is soft and can be cut with scissors or lightweight tin snips. Cutting is better than sawing because you will not generate metal chips. If you use lead, just remember that it is a toxic heavy metal. Wash you hands thourghly after you handle it and vacuum the area where you cut it.
AntonioFP45 wrote: GPaine, that is strange! That's the first time I've ever seen a stock blue interior. All of the IHC interiors that I've purchased over the past 20 years were molded in the familiar "Tan" color.
The new IHC interiors are blue, pea green, pink, yellow and other strange colors. Check their site for lightweight cars:
http://www.ihc-hobby.com/cgi-bin/bsc.cgi?sn=1927S89518W773K46239H922L121Y9
The book "Passenger Trains of Northern New England in the Streamline Era" gives the interior colors of the MEC and B&M P-S lightweight cars - coach, combine and diner. It also gives the interior colors of the B&M 'American Flyer' streamlined cars from 1937. They may give some others, but I am concentrating on MEC and B&M. The book includes information on BAR, CN and other RR in VT and NH. It concentrates on the post WW II timeframe.
Another thing to consider with Athearn cars is the windows that come with the cars: unless you're installing lighting, you can't see an awful lot of detail through that thick "glass".
To avoid the problem altogether, this is what I do to my Athearn coaches, diners, and Pullmans:
Gary
I have installed "interiors" in a few passengers cars, like seats, lights, and people. I model HO, and because of the size of my layout I use 60' passenger cars. What would you like to know?
Richard
Interior colors for Heavyweights were very conservative. White or cream for the walls/ceilings and dark green or a dark burgandy red for the seats and sofas. Personally I prefer Red Cap line for my interiors
Charlie
MP 53 on the BNSF Topeka Sub
Thank you for your detailed article. I am doing exactly the same thing to my athern HW passenger cars. Can I ask what scale figures did you use for the ihc coach car. When I tried to use HO scale 1/87 figues, the seats seem to close to allow the figures legs and or feet to fit and the figures can't sit all the way down. Did you us 1/100 scale?
Thank you,
Brian
To repeat a suggestion I made in another thread re interior colors - while there really aren't color photos of most pre '50's lines and liveries, look for the railroad advertisements of the times. These were always printed in color, allowing the graphic artists of the day free rein in extolling the beauty and comfort of the line - and providing us with the sought after color schemes.