on the right is my “theater Gel” that i used on my models. it is pretty close, a bit darker and oranger.
One of my coaches had complex stained glass clerestory windows. I playrd with some images on my computer and printed them on clear Avery labels. The labels were then cut and stuck on clear plastic strips.
Eric: a photo of your orange original glass could be printed on the labels to get the texture.
I spent a few hours working on doors for the baggage car. I wanted doors that would look right from the inside as well as out. I wanted them fairly rugged. the prototype doors were Oak, raised panel doors…I’ll do the same in scale ( gotta love 7/8th scale! )
I used my table saws…Large small and micro to do the work. the large saw to make 1/8" and 3/32" planks. the small saw to cut them to width and to start the raised panels. the micro cut grooves for glass and the raised panels, cut the stock to length and finished carving the raised panels. The thinned sections of the raised panels fit into the grooves in the stiles of the door. I would have used wider grooves but i wanted to use the same grooves for the glass and panels. a little work with a needle file was needed to make the panels fit.
this door looks short…well that is how they were! you would have to duck under the door frame to step though them!
Wow, nice work!
Absitively, posilutely, fantabulous…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
So we have Eric the Wood miser and Ray the great plastic trickster…
How do they do it…(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
Impressive!
I made enough progress on the challenge project to continue with the coach project…
Today I tackled seats.
As you know coaches tend to have quite a few seats. making one is easy enough making 28 for each of two coaches is more of a project and will require some mass production. Jay Kovak to the rescue. he had laser cut seat side frames in 7/8th scale originally made by Steve King. they are pretty nice, a decent representation of the real deal.
Now these frames were cut from flat sheet material as you would expect, however the real seat frames are quite curved. How to make 56 seat frames curved AND all alike? I made a simple die from scrap oak. I cut a block in half with the shape of the seat frame using my band saw. drilled some holes for alignment pins and reinforced one edge with a block of metal.
I inserted each frame into the die, two pins line up with holes in the seat frame and two large pins align the other half of the die. Then I squeezed the die in my vise which bent the frames into the correct shape. the final step was to use a hammer to fold the feet over the brass block. Lather, rinse, repeat…and repeat…and repeat…and oh boy but it beats doing each by hand with pliers and they are all alike! Yey!!!
What material are the seat sides made from?
Burl…the seat frames are laser cut steel. I havent measured but i think they are avout 0.030 thick. The steel is quite maluable so it bends easily with almost no spring back.
I needed to paint the seat frames. I haven’t really figured out the color(s) they were when installed in 1894 so I made something up… My idea is that they were two tone, the interior photo suggested this to me. And, it will highlight the fancy knot pattern. So how to accomplish this on a bazillion little seat frames? My idea was to make a little brass mask that keyed into holes in the knot pattern.
insert the mask and give it a spray, repeat… then make a wooden frame for the seat itself to rest on. if I made the seat solid and one peice i would have had a difficult time mounting the seat frame solidly to the floor. I probably should screw or otherwise pin them down so they stay put I suppose epoxy would work for a while but not for ever especially if this car takes a tumble (nah, that would never happen!) So this open frame leaves access to the holes in the little feet of the frame.
oh, how did i get all those big brass nails into the end of that little bit of wood frame? I set up a holder in the tail stock of my lathe, put a bitty drill into the chuck and went at it…remember I have 48 seat for the two cars and there are two frame peices per seat, I needed a bunch of them. this worked out pretty good.
Ok, how do they look? will this work out? I had a seat leftover from earlier coaches and set them up in place inside coach #2
That’s working. At some point in the past I learned metal masks were/are how model trains, in that case HO scale, were factory painted.
I sawed a slot in an 1/8(ish) square stick of mahogany for the arm rests. these slot over the steel frame. a dab of varnish brings out the color. of course there are a bunch of them!
I made the seat proper from spruce. I mass produced them by milling long shaped sticks of wood to a profile that resembles a seat with cushions.
I then sliced up the milled stick into individual seats and sanded them to shape.
and painted them green
Mass Production!
Pretty darn impressive… I’d be seeing double by now…
Greg
Those are really neat. My eyes go cross-eyed looking at them!
this is insane!!!
fantastic work.
Wish I had your patience
Mike Wlez said:
Wish I had your patience
I wish I had his metal and woodworking skills, not to mention Eric must have really good eyes for close-up work!
I installed the seat frames into the coach with my pin nailer and small nails through the foot of the metal side frames. I really don’t want these things coming loose.
I used a really small drill, forced into a 1/16" brass tube to drill the floor to accept nails through the feet of the side frames. the photo shows one nail in and the other foot ready to drill.
24 seats…the seat cushions were glued onto the frames.
the written accounts of these cars states that they had heaters not stoves. the 1895 carbuilders dictionary shows the Baker Mighty Midget heater and the Sandy River’s lounge car Rangely has one:
I like working with wood and I have a lathe that is great fun…hard maple from my “valuble scrap” barrel turned to a dowel of suitable size…
care was taken to make all three heaters the same or nearly so…
a spray of metallic black finishes the look, here installed in the car…
