Custom Polar Express Cars

Great Polar Express trains and cars.  I did not know about PE diesels.  Your pictures make me want to winterize my layout at Christmas.

Charlie

@Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Great Polar Express trains and cars.  I did not know about PE diesels.  Your pictures make me want to winterize my layout at Christmas.

Charlie

Thanks, Choo Choo Charlie. I modded both of these with the lionchief plus Erie AA units from Lionel. Each diesel was originally transformer controlled. Lionel doesn’t make these anymore, but Gryzboski’s has one for sale on eBay.

How did you do the campfire on the hobo car?or P.E. Cars?Looks Great!- Also do they make L.E.D. replacement bulbs for P.E. cars?

That is fantastic work and results.

I agree, I think we "adults" enjoy this stuff as much if not more than the kids.

@Paul Kallus posted:

That is fantastic work and results.

I agree, I think we "adults" enjoy this stuff as much if not more than the kids.

 

 I cant agree more. Just let your imagination run away with you.

@Former Member posted:

How did you do the campfire on the hobo car?or P.E. Cars?Looks Great!- Also do they make L.E.D. replacement bulbs for P.E. cars?

 

Thanks Sal, the campfire is on there with double sided tape. The original flip top is hollow inside and the top pivots on two hollow plastic pins, that are molded into the top. So I removed the original fire and drilled holes in the end of the pivot pins. And fished small braided wire through the top then out through the pin holes. And then wired it to the existing power wires. The fire is Lionels hobo campfire that I bought from dans l.e.depot from eBay. I used a hole saw to make it a little smaller. Then mounted it on top, and there you go!  To answer your question about the LEDs, Dans L.E.depot on eBay also makes a plug in led to replace your old incandescent bulbs. No extra wiring needed.

Those diesels look fantastic! 

I made tinplate Polar Express cars and changed the name to Ryder Express for my Grandson. I also put all is relatives pictures in the windows.

Those look great Gene. I was admiring those when you originally posted them. What color paint did you use?

I used Dupli-Color Engine enamel #1608 G.M. Blue and Krylon Burgandy...They are a pretty good match.

Rsturtzjr  and gene maag, all your cars look great!!  Very innovative use of common items.

Here’s another custom job on the freight caboose.

In the first group of shots, there is this small locomotive and some cars behind it, does that run and where did you get them, I have a little guy that would be thrilled to death to have a set like that.  I already have the track for him and a transformer, would you mind giving me some information on it?  I'd love to pick up a set for him so he can have a train running around his Christmas tree this year.  You've done some really nice work and this is a great subject.  I don't have a PE yet but i'm on the lookout for one.

Great work!  Really love the FT diesels.  

Gene, live the template.  Family photos in the windows is brilliant!

Thank you both for sharing

I didn’t know there was a custom PE thread, ....here’s some cars I made for a fella on the forum, full repaints, custom interiors, LED lighting, ...these were made from a set of Southern Heavyweights....

Pat

Pat, those custom PE cars look great! Can you share the colors and paint brands, and details on making the decals?

I really like the lighted fire on top of the car.  Thought about that and how to do it more than a few times.  Looks great!

@Paul Kallus posted:

Pat, those custom PE cars look great! Can you share the colors and paint brands, and details on making the decals?

Paul, I don’t mind sharing at all, but be prepared for sticker shock......fella wanted as much accuracy to the movie & to the book as possible...so we completely ignored all the PE offerings made by the various manufacturers....I live in the automotive refinishing business, so access to proper materials is a no brainer for me......the paint is actually DuPont Master Tint Vinyl, which is a product solely intended for use on plastics....this product is shot from a small HVLP gun, it will not pass through an air brush....,color names are spectra master blue #BS437, spectra master rosemary red # BS919, and BS101black...decals are custom from my incredible vinyl graphics vendor who is such a talented artist....decals are razor thin, and apply like they’re welded on......after decals are applied, DuPont vinyl sealer is applied to lock everything in.....unfortunately, without specialized equipment, my range of products are out of reach for most DIY guys....for the interiors, however, I just used SEM’s Napa red vinyl dye from a rattle can...then simply brushed painted some craft browns on the sides of the benches to replicate the wood sides ......easy peasy for me...😉

Pat

Here’s the locomotive we built for him....this started out as a scale NKP Berk, repainted, and reworked smoke box door to better authenticate the story book...Chris had bought the PE pilot assembly from Lionel, which was just about but not quite a bolt in piece...the smoke box door is all custom one off, with slightly exaggerated bell......the repaint again, is shot from a gun, not a can...SEM’s hot rod satin black urethane, “cocktailed “ to a thinner consistency does the job....tough, durable, and matches Lionel’s factory sheen to a tee....at the time this locomotive was built, I had always shot from a gun for locomotive black, but I have found two rattle can products since then, that I like for basic black, ...one is no longer available and was also made by DuPont # A0599S, bumper and trim black....the current product I like for black is SEM 39143 satin trim black....both are true urethane products....not cheap, but you get what you pay for....some fellas like that PJ1 ( something like that) which is a motorcycle paint I believe??....don’t quote me on that...anyways, here’s some more shots of the build...

Pat

Pat,

Dont know if your finished with the loco, but I have a complete PE boiler front I scabbed together from Legacy Berk engines I'd be willing to part with, if your interested. Its all wired, just need the header for the plug.

Chris

@Jayhawk500 posted:

Pat,

Dont know if your finished with the loco, but I have a complete PE boiler front I scabbed together from Legacy Berk engines I'd be will to part with, if your interested.

Chris

Thanks Chris, I actually finished that job up about a year ago....appreciate the offer....I’ll take them off your hands....shoot me a PM whenever you have a moment....thanks a bunch!..

Pat

Pat, email sent.

@harmonyards posted:

 here’s some more shots of the build...

Pat

First off, the custom PE loco and cars look fabulous Pat! The owner must be thrilled with the one of a kind "accurate" scale piece.

 Any tips regarding adding a real coal load?

While the cast one is fairly well done on my hudson. I'd like to add real coal to match the rest of my collection.

I was considering brushing full strength white glue onto the cast load and sprinkling on the real coal load. Then after it sets up I was going to use drip diluted white glue in the same manner as ballasting. What say you?

I don't want to screw up a beautiful model

For those into a bit of soldering, there is a way to set up a simple picaxe to run a flickering fire smaller than the one off the hobo camp, it can run off track power, using a simple 5v power supply. I use this method to put campfires, burn barrels and even a forest fire on the layout at the club and my own at home.

@RickO posted:

First off, the custom PE loco and cars look fabulous Pat! The owner must be thrilled with the one of a kind "accurate" scale piece.

 Any tips regarding adding a real coal load?

While the cast one is fairly well done on my hudson. I'd like to add real coal to match the rest of my collection.

I was considering brushing full strength white glue onto the cast load and sprinkling on the real coal load. Then after it sets up I was going to use drip diluted white glue in the same manner as ballasting. What say you?

I don't want to screw up a beautiful model

Rick, the method I used above is the standard method I’ve been using to “fix” the cast in coal loads on Lionels.....I’ll post up a thread on a “how to” this evening...how about that?...I’ll find the pics from the 28072’s coal load improvements, which is the same tender shell as your 38041.....it’s simple, and actually fun, ...I’ll provide the products and the glues I use....

Pat

@J. Motts posted:

In the first group of shots, there is this small locomotive and some cars behind it, does that run and where did you get them, I have a little guy that would be thrilled to death to have a set like that.  I already have the track for him and a transformer, would you mind giving me some information on it?  I'd love to pick up a set for him so he can have a train running around his Christmas tree this year.  You've done some really nice work and this is a great subject.  I don't have a PE yet but i'm on the lookout for one.

Thanks for the like. The engine is a K-line Plymouth Christmas Diesel from a set I bought years ago. The other cars are Lionels disconnect cars from a couple years ago. Lionel is offering a disconnect set in their 2020 catalog, which is soon to be released. But obviously it won’t come with the Plymouth locomotive.

@harmonyards posted:

Here’s the locomotive we built for him....this started out as a scale NKP Berk, repainted, and reworked smoke box door to better authenticate the story book...Chris had bought the PE pilot assembly from Lionel, which was just about but not quite a bolt in piece...the smoke box door is all custom one off, with slightly exaggerated bell......the repaint again, is shot from a gun, not a can...SEM’s hot rod satin black urethane, “cocktailed “ to a thinner consistency does the job....tough, durable, and matches Lionel’s factory sheen to a tee....at the time this locomotive was built, I had always shot from a gun for locomotive black, but I have found two rattle can products since then, that I like for basic black, ...one is no longer available and was also made by DuPont # A0599S, bumper and trim black....the current product I like for black is SEM 39143 satin trim black....both are true urethane products....not cheap, but you get what you pay for....some fellas like that PJ1 ( something like that) which is a motorcycle paint I believe??....don’t quote me on that...anyways, here’s some more shots of the build...

Pat

Pat, Your work looks awesome. Amazing job! If I had 25% of your talent I would be happy.

@Rsturtzjr posted:

Pat, Your work looks awesome. Amazing job! If I had 25% of your talent I would be happy.

Your work looks top shelf quality ...very factory looking....I wouldn’t post up along your thread if I thought otherwise.....great work on your projects...

Pat

@Jayhawk500 posted:

Pat,

Dont know if your finished with the loco, but I have a complete PE boiler front I scabbed together from Legacy Berk engines I'd be willing to part with, if your interested. Its all wired, just need the header for the plug.

Chris

Jay do you have any more of these? if yes would it fit on my Polar Express 10th Anniversary Berk set # 6-81101?

@Former Member posted:

Jay do you have any more of these? if yes would it fit on my Polar Express 10th Anniversary Berk set # 6-81101?

No, that front will not fit the O27 outfit. The part Chris has is for a scale engine....

Pat

Really like all the custom work on this thread. 

@Former Member posted:

Jay do you have any more of these? if yes would it fit on my Polar Express 10th Anniversary Berk set # 6-81101?

Sorry, Its the only one, and no sadly it wont fit the 10th anniversary. Its a Legacy Scale item. I like you was hoping that it would fit my baby berk, but its too big. I piece parted everything from the Lionel parts website. As you can see the one part of the boiler front came from a different engine. I think it was the Nickle Plate Road. But that door its self is hard to come by. I search a bunch of Scale Berks to find it. Everything else was plentiful.

@harmonyards posted:

No, that front will not fit the O27 outfit. The part Chris has is for a scale engine....

Pat

Pat,

You get your email. Havent heard from you.

Here’s the new Polar Express 2.0 customized. Added 3 axle trucks to the tender. Applied a lamp shade to the cab light. And applied a filter to block the firebox glow from shining on the track beside it.

@Rsturtzjr, that’s some very cool upgrades to your Pol-Ex ....hope you don’t mind, but I raised the bar in the mechanical field, ....I run the dog snot out of my semi-scale Pol-Ex during the holidays, ( now till Jan) ....I was so tired of burning up locomotive after locomotive.....I’d consider my Christmas layout extreme duty, from Nov-Dec. it can see anywheres from 12-16 hours a day ....non stop.....I got really tired of rebuilding those set locos, so first I went and switched to a Railking Berk...that one lasted about 200 hours before it popped a motor, and burnt up a driver....really badly!..( see pic) ...last year, I finished out the season with the pol-ex being pulled by a semi scale NYC Hudson, again with a Mubachi wonder motor.....it croaked on New Year’s Day....so enough was enough....I set out to build the most bulletproof, longest lasting semi-scale Pol-Ex Berk I could dream of.....I took down off the shelf the blown up Railking Berk, and examined the failures....the motor ( obviously) and the burnt up driver...the chassis, the gearing, and everything else looked ok and reusable.....so the first order of business, what drivers would stand up to the test of abuse??.enter in Lionel’s postwar 736 solid steel drivers,...and wouldn’t you know it???.....exact same size and dimensions as the Railking!...a direct press on swap!..even used the postwar 736 rod bolts, with the Railking rods and eccentrics...before pressing the drivers on, I found ball bearing inserts to replace the bronze axle bushings, with a smooth slip fit for the axles....I did have to file down the swedging on one side to get past the bearing, then re-spline the ends...now I have the ultimate rolling chassis.....ball bearing axles, and solid steel drivers.....next chore was to dump the worthless Mubachi in the land fill file...and in went a 8000 series Pittman motor....beings this is just a circle looper, I just fired it up with a rectifier and a headlight, no need for fancy electronics in this engine....it’s built to do one thing ....run for 12-16 hours a day every day until I say stop!...😁...oh and I added 6 wheel trucks to the tender as well....and when I set my gear mesh up, I achieved back drive, un-heard of with MTH stuff....this thing runs like a champ now, draws super low amps, and has already logged close to 50 hours...( I’ve already begun setting up my Christmas layout!..

Pat

Changed the walking brakeman to skiing hobo. Thinking about doing this to the original skiing observation.

rsturtzjr, finally was able to do it. Found an Erie Lionchief 2.0 FT A/A and powered B-unit. Did the shell swap on the A and my custom painted B unit. Looks awesome with both units smoking and both powered now. Maybe eventually I can figure out how to do the paint scheme on the other dummy A unit, but for now, I like the looks of just the A/B running together though. Also found a PE remote in our junk pile here at the store, so I'm going to swap the guts from the Erie remote into the PE case.