Triple O Gloss -- Passenger Car & Parlor Car

[Eric_Mueller]

Update:

I managed to get the undercarriage and trucks to the Palm of Spray Painting in a few moments between cloudbursts.

I masked off the journals to make sure no paint got in there. I also removed the couplers hook-and-loop since these are high wear areas and do occasionally break. Also, past projects have shown not amount of work makes them look better.

The Rustoleum 2X seemed to hold well, even despite a cloud burst, and, as the following photos show, did a pretty decent job of taking the shine off the LGB components.

I don’t plan to paint the wheels. Again, other projects have shown this is a dubious proposition, and, like the roof, consistency with the fleet is it’s own realism.

I understand from various threads over the years that patience in letting the paint cure is imperative, so I plan to let this sit for a week to see how well the paint bonds. If it does, I will give voice to the long dormant military modeler in me and apply some light rusting on the truck springs and pick off a few other details. I will also take it is a sign to proceed to the carbody and clean and prime it.

Have a Great Week!

Eric

[Dave_Meashey (David Meashey)]

Eric;

Not painting RR wheels is very prototypical. Paint can hide metal fatigue and other numerous defects, so there is a mandate to NOT paint wheels. The same is true for 1:1 couplers. It’s really bad when a knuckle (Not on your hand; on the coupler!) breaks during RR operations. Real coupler knuckles weigh 90+ pounds. Carrying them and lifting them into place is a real “bear” (think Kodiak).

Keep on trackin’, David Meashey

[Eric_Mueller]

Update:

Rain, disease, and other activities diverted most of the 1:1 crew this weekend. Still, we evaluated last weekend’s paint job. That’ll do, so we can proceed using Rustoleum 2X on our LGB items. Kid-zilla also disassembled and cleaned the B’mann trucks we will use on the parlor car and coach. Rain prevented a trip to the Palm of Spray painting, however. We’ll fix that later.

I have to get the box car door made before we prime that car, which gives me time to ask the following:

What color should I paint the bottom of these cars? Both the LGB box car and B’mann coaches have “metal” bits molded to their undercarriage. Part of me says to paint it all flat black then dry brush with gray and some light rust. Another part of me says paint the bottom primer grey and pick these parts out with a brush and black paint.

Thanks!

Eric

[Joe_Zullo]

I vote for flat black spray. Spray it on - done.

[Rooster]

@Eric_Mueller

Rain prevented a trip to the Palm of Spray painting, however. We’ll fix that later.

Eric

Your darn right you will fix that but not later… NOW!

Ya’ name every other dag gone thing and this poor sacrificial tattooed tree which has been in the family for MANY YEARS HAS NO NAME ?? You need to call an emergency family meeting with the “clan” and AT LEAST give him/her /it a NAME !!!

It’s Tax day and I’m taxing you so I’ll give you an extension till the 30th to come up with a NAME and give that poor palm the respect and dignity it deserves with a name!

[Korm (Korm Kormsen)]

@Eric_Mueller

Palm of Spray painting

but, but, but that tree has a name!
it is the “Palm of Spray painting” ! that name lets it stand out from every other palm on the island.

[PeterT]

@Joe_Zullo

flat black spray.

Me too. Can’t see it anyway.

[Eric_Mueller]

@Rooster ,

@Korm is correct! Palm of Spray Painting is the tree’s formal name!

@Joe_Zullo and @PeterT , black it is. Too easy!

Eric

[smcgill (Sean McGillicuddy)]

It’s not a Rainbow eucalyptus Plant That I have seen on Kauai ?

[Eric_Mueller]

Update:

I cut the door for the boxcar Saturday. I almost forgot basswood bends “wonderful good” if you get one side wet, so the new door spent time weighted down to make it dry flat. It will require some filing to make it fit, then I will scribe it and prep the car for paint!

Speaking of paint, the underside of the box car and all the trucks from the coaches made a trip to the Palm of Spray Painting. Kid-zilla also washed the chassis of both coaches. Scribed wood got a new color, chestnut, I think, as did the seating area of the coach that will remain in revenue service. I will see if I can persuade Oldest Daughter to paint the passenger seats. We will paint the undersides black later.

Two quick questions:

1. What color should I paint the interior of the box car? Primer grey? I anticipate one door will be open to show the grain load.
2. Same question for the coach and combine? Maybe just flat white?

Sorry, no pictures. Internet troubles!

Have a great week!

Eric

[Korm (Korm Kormsen)]

@Eric_Mueller

What color should I paint the interior of the box car? Primer grey? I anticipate one door will be open to show the grain load.

a “dirty” grey, or a dark brown, i think. (i did black matte on some, but that is too dark)

@Eric_Mueller

Same question for the coach and combine? Maybe just flat white?

i have two painted in a dark beige, or is it light tobacco brown?
light enough, not to swallow all light, and to set off the darker seats, but not light enough to see the sloppy work.

[PeterT]

@Eric_Mueller

Same question for the coach and combine?

Some were white - my 7/8ths wooden combine got a white interior. The other color that seems prevalent inside coaches is that light green, same as in the cabs of dismals. I used light brown in some coaches. This is the shortie that I think resides on Jim’s RR.

Here’s the green - this is Kevin’s #18 EBT combine, I think.

You can just about tell the interior of this 7/8ths combine is white above the waist.

[Eric_Mueller]

Thanks, guys! Our photos showed a light brown floor (done!) and white walls. The ceiling had white framing holding up the varnished wood top. As these models will only ever be viewed while in service, I don’t think I will worry too much about the ceiling. I would imagine white would help to reflect the light, however.

As for the box car, I have a dark grey primer laying around from a rocket project. I guess I’ll use it up on the box car’s interior, then dirty it up with some heavy washes. That should do the trick. It’ll have to wait, though, as I cut my door opposite the wood grain!

That would make this pretty “unscribeable!” At least I know that this will work in concept. Cheap mistake, in all events, and it sort of validates my decision to take these projects in a serial fashion before I start cutting into that second coach!

Since yesterday’s photos wouldn’t upload, here is proof of progress…

Passenger trucks and box car after getting black paint:

This brings an industrial color back to the Palm of Spray Painting!

Also, the interior we will reuse got its basic brown coat, as did the exposed planks on the platform.

I masked those planks today, and both coaches’ undersides will get black paint some time this week. I will see if I can outsource the seats, but O.D. is pretty busy. I may buckle down and paint those by hand. That will put us in position to determine which coach body goes back on the rails in new paint but otherwise stock and which gets the saw and transformation into the parlor car!

These projects are actually progresing more smoothly than anticipated. Somethign must be wrong…

Eric

[PeterT]

@Eric_Mueller

These projects are actually progresing more smoothly than anticipated.

Nothing teaches like experience?

[Eric_Mueller]

@PeterT

Nothing teaches like experience?

Not to mention lots of help and a few mistakes along the way! All the same, thanks, Pete!

[Hines (Bill)]

@Eric_Mueller

This brings an industrial color back to the Palm of Spray Painting!

Maui Grove!

Eric,

I’m also closely following your build your own Eucalyptus deglupta project and am a bit jealous that you’ve got a prototypical grove in Hawaii🤪

We’re going to want to see a before and after picture of the tree once you’ve finished painting it. Ha!

[Eric_Mueller]

Update:

Finally getting around to last weekend’s progress…Given that rushing caused me to misalign my door, I deployed my secret weapons: the 1:24 “train men.” Posing these little guys slows me down and, frankly, is a lot of fun for me and for whomever joins me from the 1:1 crew, which, alas were all busy.

The 1:24 gang helped me to make sure the door was aligned WITH the grain of the wood this time.

As before, I traced, cut, glued, and pressed the door together. I let the TiteBond III dry as I attended to other projects on the lanai and around the house, then the gang and I test fitted, sanded…

…and repeated until we had a functioning door!

I only have to mark and scribe it, then we can proceed to painting. That, alas, will have to wait a couple weeks.

The coaches are moving along a little more slowly. Kid-zilla and I reassembled the trucks. I also dragged out the car bodies to see which will undergo surgery to become our parlor car. Both are in good shape, and both lack a mullion on one side.

So, do I remove the mullion from the opposite side or try to repair the broken ones with styrene? Let the prototype choose (it might as well for something on this project!).

Snip, sand, and shape it will be!

Kid-zilla and I have been discussing the interiors. We will paint the stock chairs for the coach to give the impression of the padded benches we observed at the railroad. We are not in agreement on the parlor car. He wants to simply remove a few of the chairs to make it look more open; I am for removing all of them, installing a new floor, and using PLAYMOBIL furniture. The fact we have to fashion some interior walls will probably tilt this decision in my favor. Kid-zilla has also, as of a minute ago, announced he might use the unused seats for a scratchbuilt AMTRAK coach he is contemplating for a summer project (Good…goooood…goooooooooddddddd…my young…apprentice!). We have time to work this out.

Anyway, as I’ve noted elsewhere, I have a busy two weeks coming up. I’ve asked Kid-zilla to wash the coach components preparatory to painting. We’ll see if he does it!

Updates as progress merits!

Eric

[David_Marconi_FOGCH (David Marconi CHHNNG)]

@Eric_Mueller

Kid-zilla has also, as of a minute ago, announced he might use the unused seats for a scratchbuilt AMTRAK coach he is contemplating for a summer project (Good…goooood…goooooooooddddddd…my young…apprentice!)

I for one will look forward to this new endeavor K-Z

[Eric_Mueller]

Update:

Progress across all fronts at multiple points across the weekend. Starting with the box car, I took it out to Palm of Spray Painting where the interior and exterior got a coat of grey primer.

I was somewhat surprised to find that the primer remained tacky for most of the day, especially since teh same brand feels dry to the touch when applied to our rockets. The latter are mostly paper and balsa, so I expected some difference, but I am glad I “practiced” on this box car and have read enough about disasters from not letting paint cure elsewhere before proceeding the coaches! I figure by next week, this should be ready for masking and painting. The trick will be getting a good seal in the “seams” between the simulated wood planks of the box car’s walls.

Coach update to follow.

Eric

P.S. I forgot to mention that there was something satisfying about seeing this in primer. There is no going back. Whatever comes out at the end of this process will be unique to the Triple O.

[Eric_Mueller]

Update:

The coach inched towards return to service across the weekend. The 1:24 lads and I cut out the broken window bits with a coping saw blade…

…and we later filled and filed some rough areas.

Along the way, it was all hands to prepare for painting. We wanted to keep the yellow trim around the windows, so I masked the clerestory windows.

What a pain! If this is unsatisfactory, I will mask that whole strip and get a paint pen when we proceed to the parlor car. I will get the rest of the roof masked this weekend.

Not wanting to proceed, I turned to the 1:24 crew. O frabjous joy! The main windows are the same width as the tape!

I didn’t want to pay the lads holiday pay, but Oldest Son volunteered - UNBIDDEN - for masking duty. He claimed he likes “tedious stuff,” so he had at it.

Along the way, Kid-zill began to work on the interior, paint the seat frames.

We plan to use flocking to give them some texture. Even as is, they are far cry better that what they were last Friday!

With luck, we will proceed to painting the interior and priming the exterior this weekend. Based on the relatively slow curing time on our box car, that means we should have this in paint in a couple weeks! We will put the box car in paint first, however, to see how well and quickly the paint cures over the primer. No point in screwing things up now!

Updates as progress merits!

Eric