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A year ago I notified Atlas O that the 10/6 Sleepers 6 Stateroom wall edges showed through the windows on their first two runs of the 10/6 Sleepers.

I was detailing all of my Atlas O California Zephyr and Amtrak cars with painted seats and Preiser people.  They chose to cover four of the rooms with blinds on the Commemorative 10/6 Sleepers, rather than re-make the mold for the half floor piece.

Wanting a solution that suited my attention to detail, I began moving the 6 stateroom section, to the center of the car by 1/4".  Below are the pictures of cuts I made using a Dremel tool with right-angle saw blade. I also used a rechargeable Dremel tool with a sanding drum.

The over-extended center hall has a mark in the top of the wall I cut. (As if telling me where the cut should be made.) I sliced the wall and sanded it.

Then I began to remove underfloor bracing that got in the way of the joining piece of plastic I used to secure the two sections together. Then sanded the underside of the floor smoothly to allow the plastic joint/tongue to be glued securely.

Along the edges of the floor section, I sanded clearance for any obstructions poking up through the floor from the underside of the passenger car detail parts. 

The last step was to sand out a clearance for the two light switches on the end of the car.

I used the end post that is fastened by a screw up through the bottom of the car, to re-glue it 1/4" toward the car end. When it dried, I screwed the post lightly down to the floor. (Not to tight)

See pictures in the order of steps followed.

Note: The first two run of the 10/6 Sleeper need no changes to the Window Blinds.  The Commemorative 10/6 Sleepers only need four full blinds removed.

Atlas O #00007 Replacement window sets work perfectly for doing this. I used one 00007 set for three 10/6 cars by cutting and pasting individual blinds from the set. I trimmed 1/16" clear plastic from the top of the shades that rest against the plastic guide stops above the windows inside the car.  Good luck.

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Images (12)
  • DSCN2887: Make first cut down wall, then forward. Lift blade over wall and pull back .
  • DSCN2889: Remember: Cutting blade removed more plastic than pice in picture.
  • DSCN2891: Trim floor brace to allow plastic joining/tongue to connect two floor sections.
  • DSCN2892: Cut post near middle of car and discard. Not used.
  • DSCN2894: Carefully cut screwed post from floor end. This gets screwed back through the bottom of the car. Kepp this.
  • DSCN2898: Sand floor side rails to clear protrusions up from bottom details.
  • DSCN2903: Grind at 45-degree angle, open spot for switches in rear.
  • DSCN2904: Rear of car clears switches. It has moved 1/4" in from end.
  • DSCN2908: Plastic sheet/tongue joins two sections of floor.
  • DSCN2909: Original Post screwed through floor gets glued to floor bottom.
  • DSCN2911: Turn car over, pushing glued post securely agains floor bottom. Let dry before lightly screwing down.
  • DSCN2912: Finished car with painted seats awaits passengers.
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Santa Fe Jim, 

Does your WP "Silver Canyon" have the correct placards on both sides?

My WP "Silver Canyon" has the correct placard on the left side, but says "Silver Range" on the right.  Atlas O does not have "Silver Canyon" name placards, so I just bought a second 3007019C set, hoping to get a properly made "Silver Canyon" car.  I will list the duplicate 10/6 Sleepers "Silver Palisade" and "Silver Range" along with the "Silver Planet" Observation on Ebay in a week.  My 3007019B Dome Chair cars are on the way to me. I have to paint the interiors and add Preiser 65602 people when they arrive. 

I have painted 1,512 Preiser #65602 Seated People so far, with six more boxes of 24 left to paint. Many of the figures are in my Lionel 21" passenger cars.  It takes a day to paint 24 people and do an excellent job.  Dome cars use an additional 10-12 figures for the dome.

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John Rowlen posted:
I have painted 1,512 Preiser #65602 Seated People so far, with six more boxes of 24 left to paint. Many of the figures are in my Lionel 21" passenger cars.  It takes a day to paint 24 people and do an excellent job.  Dome cars use an additional 10-12 figures for the dome.

That is a lot of painted people! I have one question about them.

The Preiser #65602 figures are at least nominally 1/45th scale. I have found that true O scale i.e. 1/48th scale figures are too big for my Lionel 21" cars and the Preiser figures are a larger scale. Do you have to cut them down to fit?

The Lionel passenger car interiors and the figures that they provide for them are actually smaller than O scale - more like S scale. I don't have any of the Atlas CZ cars but from your photos they appear to be bigger inside than what Lionel produce. P.S. One consequence of the size of Lionel's interiors is that larger figures are too "tall" to be seen in full profile in the car windows; that does not seem to be the same with the Atlas cars - even in the confined space of the dome.

Last edited by Hancock52

Hancock,

I grind off one-half of the rear ends of the figures to lower them on the seats, especially for the CZ Dome Cars.  I use a Dremmel Tool with sanding drum.  Wear some glasses to prevent hot plastic from hitting you in the eye.  Grinding the figures rear end allows the figure to lean back in bigger seats like the Lionel 21" Coach car and the upper dome of the Lionel Wabash and Atlas O Domes.

The Lionel 21" passenger cars are about the same interior size as the Atlas O California Zephyr and Amtrak cars.  When I install people in the dome, I rest the dome floor on the top edge of the window glass. This lowers the Dome Floor about 1/16", giving a little more clearance for the figures.  (Do not screw the dome Floor back in place.)  I have to separate the stairway inside the car at the halfway point and grind 1/4" off the bottom of the upper stairs. Then I glue the upper stairs section to the Dome Floor.  (This makes reassembling the Dome Car easier.  I also trim the right angle pieces around the floor holes to allow the car to go back together with greater ease. 

1/48 figures are too large. 1/45 figures work well. The Preiser 68209 1/50 Seated Figures are perfect for the dining cars. They fit with less grinding.  (Currently the Preiser 68209 six seated figures are out of production.)

With 1/48 Waiters, I cut them at the ankle. I have also cut off the shoes and re-glued them to the bottom of the apron after shortening the legs.

Have fun arranging people in the cars. I like the Preiser 65602 24-Unpainted Seated Figures. I use five pastels for women: Blue, pink, yellow, green, and violet. The men have suits in brown, tan, gray, blue. I paint an entire box in one color group to make painting faster. After five boxes, I start the color sequence again.

I recently finished my 66th box of 65602 Preiser figures and ordered a dozen more boxes. I average a box of 24 a night, taking an occasional night off for sanity.

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Images (8)
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  • DSCN1304
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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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