Advice on rounding the roof of heavyweight Pullman.

Sorry but a friend has my camera, so i can't post a photo; but i've added A/C ducts to WBB Madison cars. i found that a piece of 1/4" quarter round (found at your local lumber yard) carefully sanded to shape the ends works great. i then sand the whole thing very smooth, fill the grain with a thin coating of white glue, sand again and then prime and paint. Hope this helps.

jack

CEO of the Not-So-Great-Eastern R.R. aka the Never Done Lines

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...&feature=channel

You can get sheet styrene from Evergreen or Plastruct in a thickness that can easily be rounded to match the modified countours of the prototype.  It will be easier to match the finish than wood which will require heavy sealing to mask the wood grain.  You can use hot/cold water to soften the plastic for shaping and then setting the shape.

If you really want a display model, find the Walthers kit that best approximates your car.    They are quite accurate, and make excellent scale models.  Best of all, the strip for air conditioning is exactly like your photo, so no guesswork.  There were a number of other shapes, but yours is the most common.

Chuck, am not sure how many you've done using wood quarter round, but with the three i've done, sealing to mask the wood grain was NO problem with a GOOD sanding followed by a light coating of white glue, and then more sanding after thoroughly drying the glue. Then some rattle can Floquill primer followed by Floquill engine black (rattle can as well) and then Dullcoat.

Also i'd be interested in seeing how you attached the sheet styrene to both the side and roof of the car after curving it to fit; Also how would you form the tapered ends?

Bill, if i get a chance this weekend between our village wide yard sale and a major car show at the Saratoga Auto Museum, i'll try to get some pics of the finished product to you, and you can be the judge for yourself.

jack

CEO of the Not-So-Great-Eastern R.R. aka the Never Done Lines

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...&feature=channel

Bill,
Don't know if this will help but my MTH heavyweight madisons have that style roof.
I have the C&O version with a nicely detailed interior ,3 wheel trucks. You could search e bay for a pullman or get one and repaint it . then all you'd need is some rectangular styrene for the ducts.
Coarse you could just re-letter something like this and be done with it

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lionel...;hash=item3cc4110c90

Hope this helped
David

You could try a Micro Mark wood working tool that looks like a Harmonica. It has a million metal pins in both sides of the bar.

 

When  pressed against a curve the pins will be moved to replicate the exact curvature which is then transferred to your work.

 

I recognize that there are easier ways to do the goal you have in mind. My two cents.

Bill, Why not just buy one of the Golden Gate Depot heavyweight pullmans which are a close match for your car and not have to worry about rebuilding the roof.  They were released some months ago so are not readily available and you may have to search for a dealer that has one in the Pullman lettering.  But I see that AM Hobbies has a couple in stock, although not in Pullman green. I have a couple and they are beautifully done models.

 

Here is a link to the AM Hobbies site: http://www.amhobbiesonline.com...uemart&Itemid=62

A trick the modelers in the movie industry use is applying Bondo light to the area and making a rounded sanding block for fine sandpaper. it is surprising quick.

That would be my approach. Maybe you could get a replacement roof from MTH. It would be difficult to match the rivet detail with epoxy or wood. I doubt it would be a drop in fit but should be relatively easy to cut off the required section and fit it to the existing roof.

 

Pete

Walthers also used to sell the bit of molding for addng that air conditioning to a regular clerestory roof; you see it about at swap meets, etc. 

 

As for the Garland vents, those are available from Keil-line and PSC, and I probably have a Dixie cup of them that I cast in resin last year.

B&O Bill,  Have you seen the scale Lionel heavyweights from the 90's on E-bay.  I have some and think they're nice.

Memories...been there, done that, and the results were good, after a false start.
If you can get a car with a similar roof, spend the money and save yourself some
profanity. Roof swap is a good idea, if possible.

However, after modifying my car (Williams, maybe - I really forget; been a while) to
emulate Gulf, Mobile and Ohio business car #50, I can recommend that you NOT use
brass sheet for the roof mod. I wound up using styrene (thin-ish), adding styrene filler pieces at the open ends (depends on your particular prototypes bodywork), and gluing it all
down with Testors plastic cement. I did not have to remove much if any roof detail,
as the new piece is hollow and "hooked" under the existing roof ledge; this helped.

Filler was applied as needed (Bondo is something that I use a lot - though I used Squadron Green putty here; Bondo is stronger/more stable and is all I use now). After a couple of
gray primer/fill/sand/prime again procedures to show the flaws, I painted/lettered the
car and I'm proud of it. I even flared-in a red roof taillight.

The dowel sounds promising, but may require more existing-detail removal. The brass
sheet kinked, plus left me bleeding - and I work with brass occasionally.

Thank you everyone for a fantastic group of ideas and suggestions! I will explore them all. I had wanted a shorter heavyweight, since all my other streamlined cars are the 60' versions, to better mix when I model an AAPRCO train. I have the shorter Williams and MTH superliners as well, so when the new O gauge Dover Harbor is trailing, it will be similar in size.  I'll periodically post photos as the layout comes together. As I write this (from New York State, near West Point) the basement back home (MD) is drying after painting. Hopefully I will have trains runninng on at least the lower level of the module soon.  the centerpiece of the layout will be my three 4' modules that I use on the National Capital Tracker modular layout, easily removable for shows. I'll then put more permanent turn-around loops at each end. Photo of the module included, as a reminder for those who may not have seen Tracker show postings.

 

But, again, thanks everyone. this is truly a fantastic forum!

 

B&OBill