Large Scale Central

Building Coach 64

Modeling
#41

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/sash_test_1.jpg)

I started on the sash early this morning. I made some mock ups from Styrene, and then assembled one bottom sash from some 5/64" koa a ripped up. Koa, is very brittle, and the rabits I tried to machine in broke off. To add to my frustration, when I test fitted the piece, the butt joints failed. I scratched my behind for a little bit and came up with the solution you see above. I took my styrene mock ups and some super glued some koa veneer to them. Using a razor knife, I cut out the edges and then cut around the inside of the sash at an angle to form my rabit. Wa la, vynol clad sash! I don’t think that was available in the 1930s so the purest in me is screaming “abomination!”, But the pragmatist is saying, “This works” :slight_smile:

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/sash_test_2.jpg)

The inside view isn’t pretty though. since this is a test window, I will just scap it and on the finished ones, I will run the koa veneers along the stiles and rails so that they are going in the right direction and look right. One thing is for sure, they are sturdy, and the glide smoothly up and down with just a snug enough fit to hold them in place when they are open. The two images above are just pressure fitted in place.

#42

I finished laying up all the bottom sashes today and decided to check the photos I got from Tom to see how the windows were glazed, before I get much further or commit to something that isn’t prototypical.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/closeup_protowindow.jpg)

This is the best image I have of the sash, and as you can see it looks like they used glazing putty. I would have thought that a bad idea. Glazing putty, no matter how well prep’d the sash is, tends to dry out after a while and get brittle. I would also thinking that all that moving around the glass would tend to work itself out, but I guess not. I decided to reproduce this affect on my model. Its not a good idea to use real glazing putty though. Its too stiff and you need to paint the inside of the sash and then spread some thinned out linseed oil in the rabbitts to make it stick. I chose grey plasticine instead. It has a similar texture, is paintable and unlike glazing putty, it don’t dry out ever.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/glasing_test.jpg)

Here is a shot of the windows before and after painting. To prep it, I sealed the koa first with some clear flat acrylic. The glass is just acetate. It takes about 1/4 of the time to glaze this window as it would to glaze the full scale window. Once glazed it cleans up with a little rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab.

#43

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/finished_sash.jpg)

Took me a while, but I finally finished glazing, painting, sealing and fitting the 28 pieces of sash for the bottom part of coach 64! Only 14 more left for the clerestory!

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/testing_ends.jpg)

I decided to move on to the ends instead of the interior paneling right now, as I’m getting a little burnt out on the small fussy stuff. So, I decided to test fit sides as seen in the image above to a cut out of the ends so as to make sure the dimensions are still on course within the previously mentioned tolerances. The outside of the side walls are practically finished, the window casings are glued in as is the bottom portion of the letter board. Just need to apply the trim and then primer it, then move on to the the end pieces.

#44

Wow, that’s looking great!

#45

I am just amazed. What nice work!

#46

Thanks Bruce, I admire your work as well, it inspires me to do the best job I can.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/mockup_with_trim.jpg)

Decided to do the trim instead of the ends this morning. Note that I used koa for 2 reasons. 1. I already milled a bunch of it up at 1/32" earlier this week 2. I wanted to use a dark wood for the trim so it would be easier to line up the trim. Question; Has anyone ever used photo active liquid on a painted surface before? If so, did it come off the paint easy once you were done?

#47

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/lampbracket_sm.jpg)

I got this great shot of the lamp brackets from Jeff a few months ago. This week has been a real pain for me. My original roof design did not work, and I had to go back to the drawing board, so before I revisited something that went wrong, I took an intermission and made up some negatives so I could etch the lamp brackets.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/lamp_bracket_1.JPG)

They turned out pretty good, but its hard to see the screws. I can live with that though. I mortised the brackets on to two front corners (same as the prototype) and moved back to the roof. This time, I think I got it right.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/roof_test_1.jpg)

I used some walnut a friend and I milled up from an old walnut tree about 20 years ago. I thought air drying for 20 years would make it extremely stable, and for the most part it is, but after sitting in the shop over night 4 out of the six walnut sills warped and tweaked. luckily 2 of them were usable.

#48

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/front_end_layup.jpg)

This projects moving like molasseses in January, in Juno Alaska. I finally got the one end laid up. I used the koa, since I’m not using it for the inside paneling. The only thing holding me back on the ends now is some of the hard ware.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/drawing_of_end.jpg)

See where that red arrow is pointing? Whats thing called? Anyway, I need a bunch of those. Does anyone know a supplier, or am I going to have to fabricated them myself from scratch? I scoured all the parts on the sites I know of and haven’t found anything closely resembling them.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/frontdeckcloseup.jpg)

You can see the top of one on this image.

#49

Hard to tell from the drawing. Could it be a poling pocket? Or maybe a corner brace?

#50

Richard,
is that not the end of the outer truss rod bolt head (should be one on the other side as well)? Ozark make round ended truss rod nuts. The sectioned drawing is hiding the end bolt on the other side.

#51

Thanks for the terminology Tim. I went back to Ozark miniatures armed with that knowledge and found one in the 1:20 scale parts but the washer is different, and has the wrong profile. The one I need is a plate, with a raised circle parameter in the center of it and a nut in the center of that circle. The Ozark one is on a big round washer

#52

Richard,
to date I have not seen a truss rod bolt with a square washer in model form. No doubt it could be easily formed from some square styrene rod. However, Hartford make a range of NBW (nut, bolt, washer) combinations and may have what you want. Hartford part numbers of NBW - H04-004, H04-006, H04-007, H04-023. I think these all have round washers.

#53

Thanks Tim, I’ll give Hartford a try. I’m thinking I’m probably going to end up fabricating this one though.

#54

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/closeuptruss.jpg)

Not a good shot, but it shows the truss rod plate I made.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/frontshot_fin_walls.jpg)

I pre-painted and lettered the sides, and glued them up to the ends. I decided to add the interior after I complete the substructure and the roof, so I have a better understanding of the dimensions of the interior. I found that I could not trust the drawings I have to be accurate after discovering a 1/32" descripency on the ends.

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/rear_fin_walls.jpg)

I used blue tape to hold the ends to the sides while the glue set. Unfortunately when I removed the tape, I also removed some of the paint and wood on the corners of the reat as you can see in the above images.

#55

The tie rod plate looks great. Too bad about the paint getting blemished, but I’m sure you fix it.

#56

Thanks Ray. Its nothing a little sanding and paint can’t cure, but I did learn a good lesson for the next car and that is pad the corners so that the adhessive doesn’t touch them. The corners get the most pressure applied to them so the adhesive to surface contact is greater and more likely to cause the paint to get pulled off when it is removed.

#57

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/substructure.jpg)

Finally completed the substructure. Only took 2 days. Most of the time was in laying it out. Coach 64 is slightly different from the other OR&L coaches because of the observation deck and because it is only 36 feet long. I didn’t have any plans what so ever, so what I did was to rely partially on the layout given in the Master Class article about building a Carter Brothers Coach, and partly from what I can see if the under carriage on some photos Jeff sent of coach 2 s trucks. From those two items, I was able to come up with something, that while not being strictly prototypical, is probably pretty close or it least convincing and at least functional. Some of the difference between the M.C. article plans can be seen in the thickness of the lumber I used, and the center 2 stringers which are 3/4" apart (same as the plans) but go straight through to the other end of the substructure (which is the way they appear to do on the coach 2 images). I used walnut because of its stability and strength. To join the pieces I used tight bond wood glue and regular lap joints. I reversed the joing on the middle stringers to which is what I think the coach builders might have done. That notch in the upper left hand corner of the image is for the steps on the observation deck. You are looking at the top of the substructure from the front of the car. The front platform is not present, because from what I can tell from the images I have, it cantilevers off the substructure, underneath the end wall. I will add the cantilevers, the front deck, and the bolsters and then finally the subfloor, an overlay of black construction paper and then the koa flooring on top of that.

#58

(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rkapuaala/coach64/undercarriage.jpg)

Got this image from Jeff yesterday. It appears that coach 64 had an additional layer of sound proofing installed on the under carriage. Jeff tells me that currently it runs in between the bolsters, but there is evidence of nail holes on the exposed substructure that would indicate it had once run from one end of the coach to the other. I almost immediately made plans to plane my substructure down 1/32" and attached the flooring same as the prototypes but as I was sitting up the piece to be planed I had second thoughts. I really like the work I did on the substructure. The thought that went into its construction and the cleanness of the joinery. It would be a shame to hide it under planking, which no one will ever really see excepting those that read this thread and me. So I decided to leave it bare for this model. If someone every commissions another one (I decided against building 3) then I will do the planking to keep in step with the prototype.

#59

I agree. Why cover it up? It may be that they didn’t cover it up until the customers complained about the noise. You’re just building the earlier version. :wink:

#60

Yep, probably Mrs. Dillingham didn’t like the sound of the wheels clacking on the track. :slight_smile: