You could make the roof profile out of cardboard first, just to get a feel for what the roof will look like, After your satisfied with that you can always trace that pattern onto some styrene. For the profile pieces you can get away with a thicker plastic than what you use for the roof.
This may be a better source.
http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/Sheets.htm#White%20Sheets
That looks very promising! Those windows really make the model.
I’m not a big fan of carving wood; but that may be because I can’t do it very well. It’s easier for me to carve support beams. I get them to be symmetrical by sanding them together and then reversing the other and sanding again. I also don’t like gluing styrene to wood as I’ve had separation issues in the past.
There’s a number of places you can get thin styrene from locally. Trains ETC down in Lorton, Hobby Works over in Fairfax. I’ve been happy with Evergreen, but Plastruct makes the stuff as well.
Bruce what do you make the support beams out of?
Thank you all–I just downloaded the plastruct catalog, should be a real help. And thanks Bruce for the local tips–I have browsed the styrene rack at Hobby Works, but forgot about trains Etc.
I’m going very slow with this, thinking before acting, which I don’t usually do!
Here’s the roof of my boxcab. Its made entirely of .060 styrene, except the 3/16 square long supports. I cut the roof ribs first (after making one symmetrical ‘master’), and then warmed the main roof bit with a blow drier to get it to flex a bit more. Lots of glue and clamps later, this is the result:
Like Bob, I use styrene for the beams. That way the roof is guaranteed to stay attached. Since you’re 1/29 and these are small pieces, you may want to think about .040. Or a couple sheets of .020. Trains Etc is closed on Mondays if I recall. If they don’t have what you want, I can probably find a few pieces you can have. Now if you REALLY get into this, I’d recommend ordering from Hobbylinc - they have all sorts of good stuff - including styrene.
I second (and third) Hobbylinc. Bart, Bruce and myself found them a few years ago. They generally always have everything in stock. I’ve routinely ordered $100 worth of styrene shapes and get it all in about a week. Remember, order for future projects!
Mike, that looks very good. You have the hard part behind you. Courage, my man!
That’s gonna be kewl! 
Later,
K
Kevin Strong said:
That's gonna be kewl! :)Later,
K
Hand rails should not be that difficult. Just get yourself a 100 watt soldering iron (the Weller pistol type, $20 at the home depot), some brass rod, a bit of flux and silver solder -
(http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n214/altterrain/boxcab/boxcabcon8.jpg)
-Brian
To do round windows. Find a dowel/rod the size of the inside of the window. Wrap around a piece of solder that is about the right size for the frame, cut it andt hen touch your soldering iron to it and you have a nice round ring. Jerry
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. It’s a great help. I’m going to stop by the hobby shop on my way home from work today and see if i can’t pick up some more styrene stock. Maybe I can get he roof to look a little like Bob’s example!
For the windows I’m thinking PVC pipe might work if I can cut it thin enough.
Brian, that looks great. I’ve never done any silver soldering–I have a honking big 250 watt soldering iron, as well as a 20 watt pencil , but even though I’ve done a LOT of soldering it’s an art that I haven’t come close to mastering. Plastruct makes pipe and fittings in various sizes and I might go with that, since the prototype used what looks like standard plumbing pipe and fittings.
Jerry Barnes said:Oh man - so simple, so elegant!
To do round windows. Find a dowel/rod the size of the inside of the window. Wrap around a piece of solder that is about the right size for the frame, cut it andt hen touch your soldering iron to it and you have a nice round ring. Jerry
On the Subject of HLW and spare Parts…seems they are only selling parts from IN now…if you call the office number, they’ll refer you over to parts only avail 2 days/week…not that big of a deal, but just to make you aware! They are some of the nicest folks I’ve dealt with in LS Trains!
cale
For Parts and Service, Please contact our Parts and Service Department at: 402-571-2933 or fax. 402-573-7274.
Call for hours.
I found a photo of my 1.5 scale Baldwin Electric that Mike was asking about.
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/garyarmitstead/thomasmeelectric%20[].jpg
I haven’t given up–made a little bit of progress this weekend
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/lownote/_forumfiles/rooftrim.jpg)
(http://www.lscdata.com/users/lownote/_forumfiles/rooftrim2.jpg)
I’m very slow at this, and it’s taking me a long time to figure out how to trim it all out. I need to trim out the other curved roof, cut the brown roof back on the edges, and then trim back those braces under the curved roofs and add a fascia board to the front. Te top of the curved roof I’ll cover with something that looks like roll roofing–masking tape or maybe metal duct tape, a la Kevin Strong I’ve got some 1 inch PVC pipe that I think I can cut on the chop saw to be the window frames. At this rate, it’ll be spring before I’m done!
That’s OK, take your time and do it right!
Looks real good. Slow and steady is the way to build things you’re not sure of! And even things you ARE sure of!
Mike,
It is looking good so far. Slow? No, I’m slow. You are doing just fine.
Ralph
Looks great so far Mike. Thanks for posting.
