Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 3) - Mechanical Upgrades

In my previous post, Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 2), I covered "More Body Work and Paint". 

SFE 1458 Right Side

 In this post, I'll be finishing up the body detail work and get the basic mechanicals sorted out on the car.

SFE 1458 Left Side

So let's get working on mounting the trucks!

Coupler Box Mounts (Part 1)

Styrene frame filling block 0.250" x 0.060" and 1.175" long (max) will fit between the end of the car and the bolster pad area.  The actual distance between the frames is more like 0.245", so I'll need to scrape, file or sand a little bit of plastic off the side of the styrene block.

A-End frame filler block fitted.

I flowed in several brush-loads of Tamyia Liquid Glue to weld the styrene blocks into the ends of the frame, between the centersill members.  The exact height of the coupler pads will be added on after the truck-right height at the bolsters and the Walthers trucks is worked out.  Drilling of #50 holes for the Kadee coupler boxes will also be done near the end of assembly, when Diaphragms are fitted and the position on the length of these frame filling strips are determined and marked for the mounting holes.

B-End frame filler block fitted.

The Frames over-all width is 0.353", so I set my calipers to 0.176" and scribe a new centerline on the new plastic filler block, which will become the centerline for the new coupler box installation.  I ran a mechanical pencil along the scribed line, and wiped off the extra carbon, to highlight the scribe.

Weight Fitting

My usual plan for weighting Rivarossi cars is to put a couple of lead bars cut from roof-flashing material.  In this case a couple of 1/8" sections were salvaged from a kitbashed and scrapped Diner that I had from about 25 years ago.

Test fitting the salvaged underframe weight into the SFE 1458.

Some minor 'black-smithing' with an anvil and small hammer is required to straighten the weight after pulling it out of the scrapped body of the old diner.

SFE 1458 with test fitting of weights.

I ended up cutting a 1/16" or so off the end of the weight after reshaping it.  Combined with the metal Walthers trucks, I don't think I'll need to fill the ends of the centersill with weight on the SFE 1458 model.

Filling Centersill Cutaway

The tight radius designed underframe for the Rivarossi car required their cutting away of the ends of the fishbelly centersill shape, which overlap the truck's sideframes and inboard wheelsets.  Obviously, modern Walthers and other RTR cars are not expecting to be operated on 18" Radius curves, so likewise my kitbash is planned for operation on greater than 30" Radius curves.  Thus I'm planning to replace the prototypical sloped center sill shape.

The rough filler pieces cut from 0.250" x 0.060" styrene strip.

These rough pieces ended up being WAY taller than needed, so I could have made them from much narrower strips and saved on the material removal later.

Filler glued in place, waiting final shaping.

I tried to keep as much of the rivets on the bottom of the Rivarossi underframe, but didn't feel too bad about loosing a few.  This is all not really going to be visible, outside of a profile shape seen hanging below the body of the car, so I'm not really making a huge deal about getting the proper I-beam shape and flanges, etc modeled.

Fillers after shaped down to size with flush cutters, then mill file.

The Walthers trucks that I plan to use also have depressed truck frame ends, which allow for the prototypical centersill shape.

Trucks & Bolster Changes

Looking at the prototype photo from Stan Kistler collection, from Colin Kikawa's article in SF Warbonnet, shows the trucks to be most similar to the Pullman 2411 style truck, although the prototype was probably a Santa Fe-Pullman variant of this type of truck. 

Walthers Pullman 2411 Truck

Walthers #920-2204, 2411 6-Wheel Heavyweight Passenger Truck (Note that Walthers liked to change part numbers for these truck series multiple times over the years.  You may have to look up the same name truck, but under current SKU number.

Walther's only other options are the W106 plain-bearing truck (which has the corner steel straps from the truck frame ends down to the outer journals of the truck) or a Pullman 242 truck, which are also very unique looking and obviously not what the Santa Fe diner has under SFE 1458 in 1948.

New Truck Bolster Hole

Trucks with the ejector pin marked for drilling the new bolster hole.

Truck bolster is 0.397" wide, so again, dividing that in half, 0.1985".  However this time I decided to go with the back-to-back distance between the sideframes, 0.860", half is 0.430", what can I say, sometimes you have to change your plan when you're working out these dimensions and trying to get an accurate scribe in.

Truck bolster holes drilled, I enlarged them after this to full clearance size for 2-56 screws.

I then flipped the trucks over and scribed a line across the truck at 0.315" in from the end of the bolster that doesn't have the larger hole.  There's an ejector pin witness mark there, and I then mark the center of the hole along the centerline of that with a chisel-blade X-acto.  I could have also used my carbide scribe for this, but the blade worked.

Painting the Trucks Aluminum

Walthers Pullman 2411 6-Wheel Truck, shown under my SFE 1458 and painted Aluminum.

I painted the 2411s for my SFE 1458 with the same Tamyia Gloss Aluminum as the rest of the car.  I did more of a dusting, not a 100% coverage, as the prototype's trucks were dirty aluminum, so this paint just needs to provide the base color, primarily on the journal lids and the parts of the truck that stick out from the shadows under the car.

Body Bolster Mechanical Changes

Truck screw location marked.

Not really needed, but I marked where I expected to drill the bolster screw hole.  This location will be covered by the bolster block.  I suppose I could have cut down the Rivarossi bolster boss, but decided the new bolster would structurally clear the original center bolster.

A-end body bolster block

I built the basic bolster from a piece of 0.250" x 0.125" styrene.

B-end body bolster block

Perspective view of the block added to form the bolster for the Walthers truck.

The 0.250" x 0.125" styrene block and marked for center hole.  I used a No.50 to drill the bolster hole and tapped the hole for the 2-56 bolster screw. 

SFE 1458 with 2-56 tapped threads.

After checking the ride height of the car against other completed models (my Walthers Santa Fe Chair cars), I added pair of 0.015" Kadee (Red) Washers to each bolster to bring the car up to a good height comparing the top of the bodies.  The coupler installation will come quite a bit later, after I have installed the diaphragms, which will set the coupling distance of the car.

Final Body Changes

Looking at larger zoomed in views of the SFE 1458 at San Diego, shows that there were two splice plates for each of the lower car-sides.

Spice Plates

Left side placement of the splice plates.

I scrapped away the rivets below the belt for about 3-4", which will receive a plate of 0.060" x 0.010" styrene and then a double-row of rivet decals.

Right side placement of the splice plates.

  The final coat of Aluminum paint will have to wait until these splice plates and rivets are done.

Here's the styrene strips glued to carside with the Archer Rivets applied.

These splice plates will be covered completely by the shadowline stripes, so they don't have to be 'perfect', but to cause some breaking up of the shadowlines and casting some different shadows of their own.

Detail view of the new splice plate with rivets.

Here's a detail view of one of the splice plates after I had put on the last coat of Gloss Aluminum.

Replacing Rivets

Right side vent with vertical Archer Rivet replacements.

I also need to put two vertical rivet rows to replace the rows on each side of the blind-end of the car's vents that I covered and sanded aggressively last post. 

Left side vent with vertical Archer Rivet replacements.

These Archer Rivets that I received for "Pullmans" didn't really have the right spacing for this application, so I went with the wider spacing, just to put "something" back onto the side of the car.  The upper portions of this area will be covered with Shadowline stripes, so I'm not bothering to replace the horizontal rivets on the vent patch.

In Closing

SFE 1458 Left side's ready for decals!

Generally this wraps up the mechanical and finish detail work on the sides of the car.

SFE 1458 Right side's also ready for decals.

In the next blog post I'll be covering applying the 'much feared in the hobby' Shadowline decals!

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 1) with a Rivarossi Model and Opening Thoughts - My Part 1 of this kitbash.

Kitbashing SFE 1456-class HW Diner (Part 2) - More Body Work and Paint - My Part 2 of this kitbash.

Articles from Other Authors:

SFE 1456-class Diner kitbash by Colin Kikawa, along with multiple other interesting kitbashes - Enjoy!

Tom Casey's ATSF_hwt_Diner.pdf - SFE 1404 Kitbashed Diner