Kitbashing K-line baggage car 9-2-20 update

  Can’t remember the name of the company. You can buy rivet decals. Basically a decal with raised bumps that simulate rivets. 

Thanks Dave. BTW, because the Insert is styrene and the car is ABS what would be the appropriate glue given that weight is not a factor.

  Plastruct Plastic Weld advertises it bonds dissimilar plastics. Try Micromark for the rivet decals.

Thanks again Dave.

These are not the K-Line "Heavyweights", but for those l got non-offered combines by cutting one each unlettered Heavyweight coach and baggage down the middle, exactly, carefully, and accurately, and got two combines, but probably with no prototype.  However, they are lettered with my fictitious road decals,

What adhesive did you use? And have you ever closed off a window opening. If so, I may be doing that on my next project. Hope to see a photo of your combine. Thanks

It'll probably be much easier to repaint and reletter the entire car than match touch-up paint and have it look good. That also eliminated your problem with "Pennsylvania" not being centered.

A little progress today. 

I found a craft acrylic color paint at Hoby lobby to try, antique marroon. The car has a pattern of rivets on the sides. I wanted to maintain the consistencey. After a few failed experiments, I decided to rummage through my work bench and saw some velcro. I cut slivers and stuck them on the pieces I added to shorten then the large door width. Not great but on my layout it's fine. So, now I have a representation of a 70 foot PRR baggage car. The styrene pieces that I added work OK I guess but are too obvious because of the color variation. Maybe I will try to find a compatable chalk. This project was too tedious for me. I have a lot of respect for the real accomplished kitbashers. FWIW, here are some pics. I am posting both side views.

I was ready to "live" with my k-line baggage as modified but the sides of the car appear so different from the actual b70 cars. So I have decided to try to do more modifications to get closer to the real car.

Today I removed the rows of rivets from the sides. It took a while to remove the the top horizontal line as well. I am going to try making rivet borders. 

Pennsynut: If asking me about Heavyweight combine glue, l used two part epoxy. If filling a window, l'd do a trial and error shaping of thicker styrene to exactly fill hole, then model filler, fine sanding, prime,  check window for needed resending, apply the rivet material,  paint and decal.

Thanks Colorado. I pondered how to do the 3 row rivet detail for the panel borders of the on this car. Read the recommendations on relevant forum posts. Archer rivet decals are a thought but expensive. I got a rivet tool but the thinest  styrene I could find was still too thick to reveal the rivet detail. I experimented with aluminum foil and that is better but cutting it exactly is beyond my ability. Model filler. I will ask my LHS if they have that. If I get reasonable results on this car I have 2 other projects in mind that involve filling in windows. Appreciate your advice. 

Spent several hours but made just a little more progress today. On the roof over  the large doorways there is a lip that diverts water. It extends the width of the opening. I filed off a bit to match the reduced width of the opening. Then I glued back supports in the top of each doorways to support a side panel that is positioned just below the roof edge and extends end to end of the car. Finally tried making rivets on the narrow panels above the doorways. Next task is to make and glue rivet panels on the sides. My rivets are not good but getting better as I gain experience using the rivet tool. 

A little more progress. Difficult to be precise. Good lighting is a must. The photo includes two colors to compare with the K-line color. I have Weaver b-60 baggage express cars that are in the orange brown range and MTH and K- line in the maroon range.  I think the red orange test picturedi in the red Tuscan range.

Today more work on the sides, ends and doors. Tedious work I must say and a more than a few cosmetic things to weather. If I made a mistake on bashing a building I could always put a sign over it. I hope the red primer (see the small doors) hides some of poor body work. That being said, it is an experiment and I need the experience if I want to do more kitbashing. 

The top photo is obviously an RPO but I'm posting it because its the same as the stock baggage car except for the windows and some lettering to compare the before after and obvious different colors, K-line PRR vs. flat Rusto red primer . The second photo is my kitbash to something like a PRR B70. The third is my bash w/o flash. The fourth is a Weaver B60 to compare colors. I have to touch up here and there. Letting the paint cure over night before I assemble everything and see how it looks with the other cars. I will eventually get some decals after I research for the correct display for this car.  

Two 6  oz. cans of scalecoat II PRR Tuscan Red arrived today. First coat on. Curing for two days then final coat. Will post phots later.

Well done, the injection molded K-Line PVC is really tough stuff to cut and fit.

Looks great and you'll have a unique model to boot!

@atlpete posted:

Well done, the injection molded K-Line PVC is really tough stuff to cut and fit.

Looks great and you'll have a unique model to boot!

Thanks atlpete. This kitbash involved adding a piece of styrene to each large door. That was a first for me. But the real challenge was removing the high rivet ridge line. ABS is tough to remove and sand to an acceptable smooth paintable surface. But the paint looks dark enough to hide some of my mistakes. I am also working on another bash to modify a K-line RPO/baggage to resemble a PRR BM70. (Filling in windows and part of a door opening without the seems show through primer is nearly impossible.)  

Here are a few pics of scalecoat Tuscan Red on the car. Very glossy paint waiting for decals, then matte to dull the sheen.