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Does anyone know where I can get red teardrop marker lights similar to the attached?   The first photo is of a K-Line K4690-31575 observation car but I'm willing to look for replacement parts from MTH, Lionel or other manufactures if the part looks good.   I tried searching for the parts catalog on the Brasseur Trains website but was unable to find these K-Line lenses.

marker lights K-Line 1575

 

The reason I'm asking is I need to add marker lights to a UP dome observation lounge project car.

marker lights K-Line

 

I already removed a set of red marker lights off the top cap from a Lionel 2531 passenger car.    But it turned out the 2531 marker lights were way to oversized for my application.

2531

 

If you have a suggestion or part number that would be great. 

Thanks,

 

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I've been down this road once before and found that although there's no end of separate marker light assemblies (from the likes of Tomar and Precision Scale), none of them are for observation cars. However, in terms of what you can find in Lionel parts, many of their boat tail observation cars had rear roof pieces with marker lights moulded in, such as this one:

3775716209114009

This part is still available at Lionel. At a stretch, I suppose you could cut out the markers but a better course might be to scratchbuild something similar using either Plastruct red acrylic rod or model car components. The latter are not hard to find on eBay, like this one:

IMG_0437

It's not the bezels themselves that are useful but the red plastic sprue that can be sanded to shape, polished and clear coated so that it resembles the part you are seeking to duplicate. Acrylic rod is slightly harder to work with but holds a sanded shape better.

K-Line generally used a part like yours such as on this SP observation car but I have never seen it available as a separate piece, probably because it was part of the body shell:

IMG_8535

Maybe more scale accurate, and simpler to make from scratch, is this 3rd Rail/GGD observation marker on one of their SP Daylight cars:

IMG_8536

This is simply a ring mounted on a base that is roughly oval in shape. On my car there's a small red LED mounted inside the ring. The ring is actually open at both ends so the light is seen from back and front. This piece could be fabricated out of plastic tube and sheet.

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  • 3775716209114009
  • IMG_0437
  • IMG_8535
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grfd59 posted:

http://scalecitydesigns.com/48...rdrop-dummy-o-scale/

You would need to contact them, but I would think they could be drilled out and insert an LED.  They may also have lighted ones, these are the first ones I found.

Gene Anstine

Nice find - if the OP contacts Marty at Scale City he might be able to send an illustration. There isn't one in the old Keil Line catalog, from which this item derives (SKU 48-155), and I can't find a product image elsewhere, including fleaBay. 

Most Keil Line and now Scale City detail products are solid white metal and it's trial and error trying to drill them. However, the old Keil Line catalog listed as item 48-154 an illuminated (12V) set of teardrop markers although it was shown as discontinued. Possibly Scale City got the moulds for this. 

The former Keil Line streamlined teardrop marker was originally a Kasiner part. I got a pair of them when restoring a Kasiner Kit No. 8 observation car in 2006.  I tried to get the illuminated set, but Mr. Keil wrote back to say that he discontinued making them as too many castings were being broken in the drilling process.

Attached are two photo of the Kasiner I rebuilt from a $10 E-bay 'junker" bought in 2002. The markers from Keil Line (and now, Scale City Designs) were and exact match for the original Kasiner markers.

In the last photo of the finished car you can see the outline of how the marker lenses are done on the casting. To make them illuminated, the "tear drop" ends are cut off, leaving part of the base and middle collar intact.  A hole for wires is drilled through the mounting pin into the casting base.

OR  the mounting pin is cut off at the base which is drilled for a short piece of brass tubing  ACC'ed in place for a hollow mounting pin.  Another hole for the bulb is then drilled through the collar.  Red tinted bulbs or LEDs may need some clear or red tinted silicone applied over the ends to reproduce the tear drop shape. 

A few steps too far for me,  I opted instead to paint the markers with Testors red gloss enamel with silver trim.

S. Islander

 

 

 

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Images (2)
  • 11: Kasiner No. 8 observation undergoing a rebuild.
  • 21: Completed Kasiner as B&O '"Genesee River".
Last edited by S. Islander

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