Possibility of kitbashing O27 Passenger cars with passenger silhouettes

It could be done. The price would depend if you scratch built the seats or other details or bought sets. Styrene to make seats and tables would only be a few bucks / car.

Pete

They are just empty inside, so adding an interior shouldn't be difficult. The windows are glued in and removing them should be easy. Get some clear styrene sheet, cut into strips and glue them where the silouette's were and you'll be all set. I scratch built an upper deck for a Williams 70' dome car a few years ago. It was time consuming but worth the effort. I made mine out of balsa, but styrene should work as well.

Or just buy K-Line 027's. Most of them already have interiors (I have the New Haven set with interiors, but actually prefer the silhouettes).

Your most expense would probably buying the sitting figures.

Charlie

Which silouett passenger cars are you talking about? The postwar streamliner remakes? The Madison type cars? Or the mpc Madison car sets?

As on O27 operator, I'd recommend the O27 passenger cars from MTH. They can be bought on the used market for very fair prices as demand has dropped with more and more people going scale. The Madisons and streamliners are very high quality and are just waiting for passenger figures to be added. Getting the roofs off to do that? That's another story in frustration unless you read the instructions.

The cars in question are the North Pole Central "reindeer" named passenger cares, and PRR passenger cars that came out the same year.

Sounds like a great idea, with some styrene or wood you should be able to do a nice job. Keep us "posted" on the work.

For the specialty cars like the North Pole ones, I'd consider the interior mods and passenger figures.  For the PRR cars, I'd probably just sell those and buy replacements with interiors, a whole lot less work.  You can add passengers to those in a jiffy.

Bwanabob, one thing no one has mentioned is that the light fixtures in these cars are held in place by a clip that is molded into the body on the bottom of the interior. So to put interiors into these cars, would require cutting those off and using some sort of overhead lighting, like what K-Line used in their 13-1/2 inch long streamliner cars... later also produced by Lionel under the K-Line By Lionel banner and then by RMT (Ready Made Trains).

 I think I've seen mention here of circuit boards with this overhead passenger car lighting via LED's being available from someone, but it sounds to me like - unless you want the satisfaction of the project - the K-Line/K-L by Lionel/RMT type of cars might fit your bill as they have interiors and though a little longer than the Lionel streamline car you have, they are the same width and height. The recently tooled Lionel and then the MTH Railking streamlined cars are a little bigger in size, but that depends on your tastes.

Actually I should note, not all of the K-Line steamliners had interiors. That was a feature K-Line added later on to these cars. Make sure the description states interior detail.

Also if you're using 027 track and switches, I've heard a few observations, that these cars can potentially rub against the 027 switch box housing. But then others seem to not have that issue. But since tubular track does have some play in it as far as trying to make something fit by bending the curve a little tighter - this could be the source of that issue.

Another idea for you: I had a friend, who from someplace, found color photos done of passenger car interiors shot from the outside through the window. He took those, scanned them into his computer, and then resized them to fit into the Lionel 027 passenger cars you describe. He put clear window glazing into the cars, the printed window inserts next with a piece of thin plexiglass behind that to help distribute the light more evenly though the windows. So that's a possible approach.

BobbyD posted:

Sounds like a great idea, with some styrene or wood you should be able to do a nice job. Keep us "posted" on the work.

I like the wood idea. You could cut out a profile using a table saw and or router then just cut the seats off to length. Easy peasy.

Pete

Lights are a non-issue, at least IMO.  If you're going to all the trouble of adding interiors and people, spend a few bucks and do LED lighting upgrades as well!

You would probably be best served by buying "S" scale interiors and people, since the 027 style passenger cars are about 1/64th scale.  I think full-grown 0-scale people will be uncomfortable in those cars.

"Is it remotely possible to transform a typical Lionel O27 type passenger car (one with silhouetted passengers) into one with an actual interior with seated figures?"

Certainly - anything can be done - it's just stuff. Parts and screws and things. Remember that even the most complex items in our little RR world are, compared to things in the real world - pretty simple-stupid. (Look under your automobile's hood.)  Have a good time - these cars are good starting points - if you're not happy with it, try another. The cost is small compared with a $100 1:48 fancy-schmancy passenger car. 

I thought the smallness (scale wise) of those cars was strictly length.  I assumed that any passengers would still be "normal" O scale figures.

It's been my experience that normal O-scale figures are too big for most cars.  The ideal size appears to be around S-scale, but those are scarce as hen's teeth.

The Lionel 21" Passenger Car figures or the Golden Gate Little People are the closest things I've found recently that are readily available.  Not cheap, the GG figures are slightly cheaper per person.

"I thought the smallness (scale wise) of those cars was strictly length.  I assumed that any passengers would still be "normal" O scale figures."

You can take a few measurements of your 027 cars (length, width, height) and compare those measurements to those of real passenger cars.  If finding dimensions of real cars is too difficult, you can get the dimensions of true 0-scale passenger cars from their manufacturers' advertising.

Lionel F unit Diesels are approximately full scale. Take a look at an 027 passenger car in comparison with one of them. You will see that the height and width are smaller.

Here are the dimensions for standard Pullman cars:

In 0 scale, they would translate to approx 21 inches long, 2 3/8 inches wide, and 3 3/8 inches high.