Modeling UP Gondola (Part 2) - Re-sanding & Painting

I left off on this project in 2021, when I had filled in the board grooves on the side of the car around the ribs to replicate the replacement steel siding.

UP Steel Gondola - Owenyo Trestle - SG side - unknown calender photo, circa 1951 - Ronald Grau collection (cropped to show only foreign gondolas)

Here's a new photo from 1951, with a freshly resheathed UP ex-composite gondola.  Oddly this photo also shows a D&RGW steel gondola, I'm not sure why there's a Rio Grande car at Owenyo.  One thought is that they were shipping in coal from UP and D&RGW, but then they probably would have had to be unloaded by hand across into the NG cars.  Another thought would be if they were empties from somewhere else, like Monolith or LA, and then planned to be reloaded for movement towards home.

Continuing Work on Red Caboose Model

See my previous post: UP Steel Resheath Gondola (Part 1).  I also sanded the interior walls to remove the board details.  The next step is to shoot some primer color over the body and see how the new side finish looks.

Steel sheathing of UP ex-composite GS gondola

I "witness coat" of light FCR StarBrand paint used to check how the fill has been done on the body.

Other side of Steel Sheathing of UP ex-composite GS gondola

This sanding work is done with the tip of a narrow sanding stick over the Squadron White putty.  Since these photos, 

Sanded & Primed Interior Steel Sheathing

I've picked up some Tamiya liquid putty, which I look forward to using on projects like this in the future.

Other side - Sanded & Primed Interior Steel Sheathing

One of the challenges of this new car, is that these cars I believe should have flat-plate drop doors, which I'll have to deal with making.  I probably won't modify the bottom of the doors, as it will not be seen on my layout when it's completed.

Underframe primed with lightened SP/UP FCR

I went ahead and primed/painted the underside of the main body at this point.  

Second Round of Sanding

Left side of UP Steel Sheathed Gondola

At this point I went through a exhaustive round of detail sanding to get the 'steel' sides heet sections smoother than the 1st time.Some sections still show brown pain in the lines between the old boards.

Right Side of UP Steel Sheathed Gondola

By this point, I've sanded down to the tops of the original board level and even into that slightly.  The goal is to get everything smoothed out.  I don't mind a few 'wrinkles', as the prototype steel sheathing can have some ripples and dings from various loads being dropped into the car over the years, although I'm modeling in the period of only a couple of years after the steel sides were installed.

What's the Final Coat of Paint Going to Be?

Now it's time to give the body another try at a witness coat, and if it's good it will also become the body paint for the finished car.  This UP car will get special 3d printed ends, so I'm not too worried about building the body up at this point.  Also some weight materials are on their way to me.  So soon I'll be able to assemble the body and put the extra weights into the floor.  The floor with plate doors may need to be 3d printed as well. 

 
The other UP cars I have are a lighter orange-ish shade of FCR than the stock SP/UP FCR from StarBrand.  As I'm also working on some PRR X29s right now as well, which need paint I'll probably mix SP/UP FCR with some Daylight Orange and see if I can get a 3/4 match towards the lighter color to give some variety in my fleet.

Standard Steel UP G-50-13, built 1951 showing the lighter orange-ish FCR from Red Caboose.

We'll see how that goes.  Until I get around to really super-kitbashing the composite side UP gondola, I may just build up one of the UP steel gondola kits that I have as a stand-in model.

In Closing

Here's the photo from the original post that sucked me in.  I believe this may actually be the same day, as both photos have lineage back to the collection of Ronald Grau.  I'm looking forward to pushing this car forward a bit more as I get back to building the Transfer Trestle over this winter.

SP 3203 at Owenyo with UP steel-sheathed composite gondola. Eddie Sims collection

After looking at the prototype photo again, I might stay a bit closer to the original UP/SP FCR StarBrand color, and plan to do light dust weathering, with maybe only a small amount of orange in the mix.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

UP Steel Re-sheath Gondola (Part 1) - Blanking Composite Sides on RC gondola. (My first post on this series)

Utahrails net Info on UP G-50-11 Gondolas - Researched by Dick Harley circa 2017
Built Feb-March 1943

UP 64000-64999 composite, LT WT 49300 lbs

July 1947 UP Lettering from White to Yellow.

1950-1951 convert to steel sheathing, LT WT 51800 lbs

One-Inch reporting mark bars removed Nov 1952.

"Be Careful" Slogan added in June 1953

Notes: My model should be Yellow lettering, with bars and without slogan for as-rebuilt version.  The new photo near the Trestle shows that the car in question still has the bars over and under the lettering.

UPHS org Info on Lettering Drawings for UP cars - G-50-11, and others 

Dick Harley's UP Smugmug page has some useful information as well.

Decals by National Scale Car 
https://nationalscalecar.com/product/d160-union-pacific-g-50-11-13-14-gs-gondolas/ - Probably better than the Tichy set I bought so far... I'm probably going to get a set of the NSC decals soon to actually finish this car with.

Chalk Marks - A New Method

I really want to draw attention to the human details that we so often forget on our models.  No, I don't mean modeling a brakemen riding a car exactly, or a clerk walking the paths in a yard, 'mud hopping' the string.  No, I mean the notes that the crews left for themselves and others to understand various needs of the car's status, routing, servicing, or maybe even to set the car out in the middle of a blizzard at night when the trainman doesn't feel like trying to read a car number.

Gel-Pen with 0.5mm tip and strong white covering gel-ink which makes great chalk-marks!

So I wasn't planning to circle back to the NC&StL 15337 so fast, but I went by Michael's craft store today and found a great little white gel-pen from GELLYROLL 0.5mm tipped pen.  It doesn't work so well on glossy surfaces, but works great on dullcoated surfaces.  I found that I needed to clean the tip on some paper or ideally wood (tie material works great) to get fresh gel on the ball to present it onto the model surface.

Let's look at a few examples of chalk marks by Gel Pen...

NC&StL 15337

NC&StL 15337 - Fowler -TRRA photo, East St Louis, July 1948, Illinois, Joe Collias coll, Bobs Photo - Ted Culotta collection - with permission

Cross check the work against the prototype photo.  Not bad!  Looks like there's a #9 on the left end of the car.  Could be a track number or maybe a train symbol.  Hard to tell.  Several old chalk marks at the left stirrup which have been wiped out with someone's rag or a sleeve.  There's an old mark below the light weight.  I'm guessing there's a AB bleed-valve arrow and the letters "Rod" under door.  The door has some rough math of some sort being worked out, along with to the right of the door.  A random "P" appears to be next to the Internal Dimension data block, and some other marks under the lower ladder rungs.

A little work with the new gel-pen toy on the left side of NC&StL 15337 to match prototype photograph.

I like this white gel, as it dries flat and looks good as chalk marks.  I'm also planning to get some gray and other colors, like yellow, red, green, etc which carmen and clerks used if it was at hand.  The colors I'm looking for aren't going to be neon or super bright, but more realistically colored chalks that would have been available in the 1940s-1950s.

Right side of NC&StL 15337 with an assortment of chalk markings with the gel-pen.

The other side of the car is pretty basic, with OK marks, some other cryptic scribbles, some door math again to round it out the model.  I have some other plans in the work to do the final detailing on this model, which will make up last of the series on the NC&StL 15337 (Part 4).

SP 15203

SP 15203 with "Shorts" chalk mark.

The left side of Rapido B-50-15 includes the arrow for trainmen to quickly find the bleed valve lever in the dark of night when walking the string of cars.  As my Jawbone Branch is connected directly to traffic flow between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, usually using the freight symbol "Mojave Shorts", or often just called the "Shorts" for the division, direction implied by which end of the division the car is starting on.  Shorts West from Los Angeles  and Shorts East from Bakersfield.  The combination of the station number "1511" indicates the car's heading for Mojave.

The other side of SP 15203 just has the crypic instruction "Hold".

One of the common chalk marks was "Hold", this can be used in dozens of places and is a great mark to put on cars.  Is the car empty and the agent wants to keep it in the yard?  Well, 'Hold' it here.  Which cars are we pulling from this industry?  Oh, someone marked this as a hold, to remind us the loading crews aren't done with their work.  Maybe the car's on three-day demurrage agreement unload still, and there's a weekend, so the car's not having to be unloaded until Tuesday, so we're holding the car until it's released by the customer.

SP 15564

Looks like the last trip of SP 15564 wasn't kind, time for a "Clean out"!

The left side of SP 15564 I went with the basic bleed arrow and a carmen's instruction to get the car cleaned out, which usually involved a set-over to a track on the edge of the yard for a day and a visit from a worker with a broom.

The other side has an "OK" and the bleed arrow for this side.

For now the other side is very basic generic marks.  When I get a couple of other colors I may add some more.

NP 11661

NP 11661 with a few basic marks.

I haven't put much on this Rapido Double-sheath NP boxcar with simple marks for "4th St" and "S/O 2".  Sounds like the car recently was routed to something on 4th Street of somewhere and setout 2, which is another cryptic message for some Conductor to himself.

SP 37821 "Overnight" B-50-16

SP 37821 chalk mark "Freight House" and station code "3429".

I decided not to obviously assign the routing for this B-50-16 Overnight car to Los Angeles Freight House, but instead have hidden that exact message on the car by using the SP's Los Angeles station number, 3429.  The PMT 'Overnight' loading at the SP freight house was the usual loading/unloading point.  As I may be using the car in general freight service, which may focus on Freight Forwarders, which for the Jawbone Branch, often would mean coming from the LA Freight House also!  So win-win situation.

SP 37821 with "Team 3" chalk mark.

The other side of the Overnight car I went with a more generic chalk mark of "Team 3" which would probably be a spot or door number at the local Team track.

UTLX 72176

UTLX 72176 with "Clean out" note.

The tank cars get in on the fun too.  This Tangent GA Type 17 8k car has been marked with a carmen's order to "Clean out" the car, which was then struck out with a line and 'OK' marked, to show the car's clean and ready to go for the next trip.

I'll do more with the Tangent and Rapido tankcar models at some point, covering weathering and other little bits to improve the models.

In Closing

A parting view of NC&StL 15337... for now.

One other point to mention on the NC&StL 15337 which many cars will also show, I noticed that the prototype photo shows scuff marks and mud from the trainmen's boots as they climbed up to handle the brake and retaining valve.  Also one of the chalk marks on the prototype went behind the 2nd from the bottom ladder grab.  Lots of little details of marks to include on this car and others in my fleet.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

NC&StL 15337 (Part 1) - Accurail Kitbash

NC&StL 15337 (Part 2) - Details & Decalling

NC&StL 15337 (Part 3) - Wrapping Up & Weathering

SP 15469 (Part 1) - Lettering Changes & Backdating Rapido B-50-15

Weathering NP 11661 - A Rapido Double-Sheath Boxcar

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 2) - Tangent GA Type-17 8k Tankcar Review

SP 60-C-5s, (Part 2) T&NO 777 Coach

In the second part of this series, I'll be focusing on the T&NO 777, also a 60-C-5, the same as in 60-C-5 (Part 1), SP 1005.   Because this is basically showing an alternate car of the same class, I will only be touching on the points that differ in this build than on the SP 1005.

Prototype Car History

SP and T&NO owned 556 60-C-series coaches and chair cars, built between 1908 and 1924, these cars lived on until the last 4 were retired in 1968.  In this post we will look at a "modernized" 60-C-5 of the Texas & New Orleans subsidiary of the SP.

T&NO 777 with trucks installed.

SP's Texas & Louisiana subsidiary, the Texas & New Orleans handled all SP's connections east of El Paso on the "Sunset" route to New Orleans to comply with a Texas law that stated any railroad operating in Texas had to be based in Texas, got to love Texan politics!

As such the T&NO absorbed many other smaller railroads and consolidated then in 1931 under the T&NO reporting marks.  T&NO 777 was built specifically for the T&NO and remained on the T&NO until retirement.  Many T&NO coaches were transferred to the SP in 1924 and 1931 probably as the T&NO absorbed and then annulled passenger runs in various areas.  Also 1931 would have been about the time that the SP and T&NO took delievery of the 73-C-1 and 74-CC-1 coaches and chair cars.  The last batches of 60-C-series cars came over to the SP in the early 1950s with the annulment of many passenger trains on the T&NO.  The odd thing about T&NO 777 was photographed in Oakland in 1954, but wasn't one of the cars transferred officially to the SP during that time.

Modeling the T&NO 777

In many ways this build follows the same basic pattern as my build of SP 1005 (Part 1), in which I'd painted the body, decalled, and put the glass in the windows.  Leaving the changing of the roof vents to the standard "globe" type of the 60-C-5s for later.  I should point out the major difference in the starting point between this car and the one used on the SP 1005, is the T&NO 777 is a car that had the transom windows with stained glass windows plated over by 1950.

For comparison, SP 1005 with the as-built green transom windows.

On SP 1005 I used an underframe built by John Ruehle.  On the T&NO 777 I will be building my own simpler floor and underframe made from scratch in styrene.

Underframe Construction

The basic underframe is pretty simple for the T&NO 777, as with all the underframes that I build for the Soho cars that I work on.  I follow the general idea that detailing of parts of the car that will either never be seen or interfere with the operations of the car will be eliminated or modified in a way to allow unrestricted operations.

The under bodies of SP 1804, TNO 777, & SP 2178.

The new floor is made from a piece of 0.030" sheet styrene which is cut to 7.922" long and 1.120" wide.  A center sill beam is made from a piece of 0.250" x 0.125" styrene bar stock, which is cut to 8.035" long.  The center sill has to be cut to fit between the coupler box pads.  The floor sheet is mounted with up to six small screws.  I match drill these to the bodies so that the floor will be fixed to the body for the next step.

I usually mark center marks on the underframe or coupler box pads and the center line of the center sill.  Once the center sill is lined up, I use Tamiya liquid styrene cement to weld the two parts of the new floor together.

The new underframe with scribed center marks for the truck bolster.

The bolster holes, for the trucks, are drilled in the center sill on the centerline of the car.  I measure 1/2 the distance between the inside edges of the bodies side sheets.  I came up with a measurement of 0.668" which I set on my calipers and used the inside points of the calipers to scribe a centerline on the center sill.  If these scribe marks don't match, mark the center point with the scribe between the existing lines.

I always measure the truck centers in from the endsills to be sure there's enough room around the ends of the car and the steps.  The Soho models are slightly too short, so it's a good practice to use.  Drill the center marks on the center sill with a No.50 drill.

Truck Modifications

The Walthers 8ft Pullman 4-wheel trucks need some modifications as well.  I chose to use 0.030" sheet styrene pads on the top of the truck bolster and cut out two 0.333" wide, 0.360" long square.

A pair of Walthers 920-2124 trucks with the 0.030" sheet styrene marked for cutting.

The truck bolster shims are ACC (superglued) to the top of the Walthers truck bolster.  I hold off on marking and drilling out the new bolster holes on the trucks until the new shims are dried and secured in place.

Modified truck bolsters.

I use the carbine scribe to press a center mark into the bottom of the truck bolster ship, in the center of the original bolster hole.  I then drill out the center marks with a 2-56 clearance drill (No.46).

Making the Body Bolsters

I prefer to build up a body bolster as it is certainly easier to add material than to bolster than to remove it.  So I do this by adding a reasonable height of shim styrene. I cut two pieces from 0.060" styrene sheet, which actually only measure 0.055" thick.  These body bolster plates are 0.250" wide x 0.350" long.  I again mark a center point and drill with my 2-56 clearance drill (No.46).  If you feel that you will not have enough thread in the center sills to hold the trucks alone, you can make this hole with a No.50 drill and then plan to tap it.

Here's the body bolster plates after they are cut out.

With the holes drilled in the bolster plate, I align the bolster plates to the bolster center holes in the center sills.  Again Tamyia liquid glue is used to weld the plates to the center sills.

Bolster plates instaled to raise body to correct level for couplers.

At this point I noticed that I'd not tapped the holes in the bolsters yet.  Be sure to make these holes square to the body.

Tapping the holes in the bolsters.

I picked out two 0.015" (Red) Kadee shims and placed them on the bolster plates.  If these are not thick enough, I will get a better idea after the car has the couplers mounted how much more I need to raise the body by.

Underframe and all parts to put the car on its trucks.

I prefer to keep the shims as the actual bearing surface between the trucks and the body of the car, so if I have to add more shims, they will take the form of sheet styrene, as the original bolster plates.

Here's the car as it looks with the trucks installed.

I mounted the trucks with 3/8" 2-56 screws.  I'm tending to use Phillips head screws now, which are a bit quicker and easier to keep the screw driver from slipping off of.

Right side of T&NO 777

Left side of T&NO 777, the body took some scratches, and I covered those with rust, the prototype photo I 

The prototype car photo I am working from showed some damage and weathering to the car's finish.  This was advantageous because the decals didn't go on perfectly and there was some damage to the finish under the decals.

Hand Tools

I'll take a moment to show a photo of some of my hand tools that I regularly use.

The various hand tools that I use in most of my builds.  Calibers, top, various drills, 2-56 tap, No.11 blade, scribe, etc.

Left to right;
Digital Calipers (12")
NMRA Standards Gauge (Mark IVb)
Pinvice with No.46 2-56 Tap Clearance Drill
Pinvice with No.50 2-56 Tap Drill
Pinvice with 2-56 Tap
Standard Screwdriver (red) - from driver set -
Phillips Screwdriver (yellow)
Mechanical Pencil - 0.25mm leads & extra eraser
No.11 Xacto Blade & Handle
Carbide Scribe (also used for center marks)
Self-closing Tweezer
Needle File (again from a set which has many shapes)

Interior Layout

The interior on this car is different, as T&NO 777 remained a 72-seat coach, while the SP 1005 after 1943 was fitted as a 60-seat chair car.  I used second hand Walthers bench seats from my various 73-C-1 coach upgrading projects - Another story for another time! -

Walthers coach seats glued to strips of styrene.

I'll be showing the installation of the interior seats in the next part of this series after the interior lighting is installed.  I also plan to cover the detailing of the underbody as well.

Jason Hill

Related Links:

SP 60-C-5 (Part 1) SP 1005

Modeling 60-CC-1, SP 2701 from Model Power Coach (Parts 1 & Part 2)

Modeling Index SP HW Passenger Cars

Modeling Mail Trains, Nos 55 & 56, the Tehachapi Mail.
Modeling the Owl, Nos. 57 & 58, (Part 1) WW2 to 1950.

Pre-thoughts of New Golden Gate Depot "Harriman" cars

SP 2701 (Part 2), 60-CC-1 from a Model Power Coach

Well, some progress has been made on the SP 2701 since Part 1 of the build.  I will also mention that I've done some improvements to my SP HW Passenger Car Index page with new example photos and a few new car classes represented now.

Interior & Walls

Leading this update is the construction, painting, and installation of the chairs and some partitions around the toilets, and painting of the interior.

Interior added to SP 2701 - Note the dark green window shades.

I should first mention that I used dark green manila filing folder material for the dark green window shades on this model.  Some SP coaches, All-Day-Lunches, and News Agent cars had this.  Best to look at photos to see which cars had it, and which had a light tan shade.

Similar strips of PSC seats prepared for SP 1005.

The seats are Prescision Scale Co. 33312.1 (Chair Car) seats, they are injection molded in pairs with small legs on them.  I started with the uncolored gray seats, and painted the floor strip of .400" x 0.020" strip styrene a nice shade of "Seafoam" green from StarBrand, which is actually a pretty good match for the interior color used on Athearn's Streamlined 77-C-3 chair cars.

I then masked the floor and painted the seats with a mix of Freight Car Red (FCR) also StarBrand.  This again was a pretty close match for the colors used on the MTH and Athearn Genesis Daylight chair cars.

The seats were glued to the styrene strip 0.460" apart.  At the front end of the car there will be a set of seats looking back, however I did not install those at this time.  The lighting bar-strip was not glued in and I removed it for this part.  Checking the drawings I glued the seating strips in to get a good location compared to the windows of where they line up.  This is really a matter of choice, as the Model Power is missing one large window.  So in the middle of the car you can either let the seats not line up with the windows and have the right number of seats, or you can have the wrong number of seats, but line up with the windows.  I chose to have the right number of seats, and oh well about the windows.  I might have decided to go the other route in hindsight... but it's too late now! - (More on my thoughts of changing models after the fact).  At this point it's not reached a high enough mark on the "Really Annoying" Meter to worry about.

Photo from before the interior was installed - Notice the major hole... WATCH YOUR STEP!

Styrene sheet was added down the middle of the car as well to cover the major holes that were left in the Model Power body tooling.  This will help hide the holes as seen in the photo below.

SP 2701 with interior mounted and partitions around the ends of the seating area.

The partitions are 0.02" sheet styrene cut 36" wide and even with the top of the carside.  Notches are cut in the edge nearest the carside for the roof flange to clear.  Extra scrap squares of sheet styrene are glued over the "end windows" in the car interior.  I am not sure why both MDC and Model Power (copied) have these end windows into the toilets... Not kosher for 1910 certainly!  Probably they did one set of tooling for the end windows in the end wall of the observation car and put them in all their models as a general endsill wall.

The left end window (bottom left in the photo above) is also is covered with non-"Magic" Scotch Tape, which causes the "fogged" look, usually associated with the toilet windows on coaches and chair cars not fitted with expensive "etched" glass or prismed windows.  This can also be seen below.

Another view of the interior, also we can see a bit of the roof with the vents painted.

The soldering tabs can be seen above at the end of the LED strip.  The wires from the trucks and markers will attach there.

I'll end this update with a photo of the car showing what the car looks like without installed marker lights.

Non-marker end of the SP 2701

In some ways installing the markers after the HiTech Diaphragms are installed is more of a pain, but on this model it will need to be done.

That does it for now for Part 2 of the SP 2701 build.  In Part 3 I'll be showing the installed OwlMtModels marker kit and finishing the underbody frame and installing assorted detail parts.

Jason Hill

SP 60-C-5s, (Part 1) SP 1005

In this series of posts, I'm working on some Soho 60-C-5 coaches.  The first two are both the same class, yet quite different cars as examples of what happened to SP and T&NO's large fleet of 60 foot coaches over the years.  Both the SP 1005 and the T&NO 777 are based on the Soho model of a 60-C-10.

SP 1005, 60-C-5 Chair

SP 1005 with window shades and replaced roof vents.

SP 1005 started life as Northwestern Pacific (NWP) 401 and was fitted as a "smoker" coach with a partition mid-car.  The NWP 401 spend her early carrier working north of San Fransisco Bay until 1935, when it was transferred to the SP and renumbered 1005.  Like all 60-C-5s it was built with transom windows of colored glass and end windows.

Here's the SP 1005, before I changed the roof vents.  The end-window can be made out in this photo as well.

In 1940, the SP was short of cabooses, so SP 1005 was reassigned and numbered into the caboose series as SP 998.  Mid-war it was decided that the SP needed more coaches to deal with the crush of the troop movements and was short passenger capacity.  SP regained her status as a revenue passenger car in 1943 by having 60-seats worth of second hand chair seats installed.  Only a handful of the SP 60ft coaches were equipped as chair cars instead of coaches, but didn't go all the way and get air conditioning.

SP 1005 lasted through the war and was one of the few cars that still retained its gas lighting in 1945.  I've not really tracked down any more data on the 1005 as it kicked around between various unknown assignments until it was photographed in Oakland in 1947 by E.R. Mohr, Pg 120 in SP Passenger Cars Vol1., by the SPH&TS.  The green glass of the transom windows were still intact in the photo, by 1950 most SP coaches and chair cars had these plated over.  The last being covered in 1952.  This was mostly because of problems with leaking in the transom windows.  The 1947 photo was only 6 months to a year after the SP changed to "Southern Pacific" lettering above the windows, so it's very understandable that this car wasn't a priority to repaint.

In 1952, the SP 1005 was retired.  A year later, it was reactivated as a caboose for the second time as SP 953.  Another car had taken over the Caboose SP 998 number.  By 1954 the 953 was retired again and what happened after that is unknown, it was probably scrapped at that point.

Modeling the SP 1005

Here's a Soho 60-C Coach in similar starting point to where the SP 1005 started

I started this project with a Soho 60-C-10 with transom windows.  My problem is by 1948-1952, when I model most of my equipment, these transom windows were becoming VERY rare.  I chose the 1005 because of it's somewhat unique history.  It would also fit well into my Tehachapi Mail (Nos.55/56) consist to mix up the regular 60-C-coaches, or in other mixed assignments typical of the "wandering" SP non-A/C coach after WW2.

Soho SP 1005, 60-C-5 in-process - Note the green glass in the transom windows.

I'm modeling the SP 1005 after its 1943 conversion to a 60-seat Chair Car, this means I do have to make some modifications to the "early" Soho Coach.  The car is painted Dark Olive Green and my standard mix of off-black gray for the roof and underframe.  "SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES" decals are used on the car to show another car that hasn't been repainted since 1946.  Also, remember this car is pretty clearly not in the best condition.  It's been retired once already, and but for the needs of WW2, it would have stayed as a caboose.

Here's a photo to show off the Tamiya Clear Green painted glass transom windows

Windows were installed using clear sheets of styrene.  I masked off everything except the top 18" of the windows.  This leaves what will be the transom windows exposed.  I used Tamiya Clear Green to tint the upper glass a lovely green color.  Be sure to tint the inside of the windows!  This will help prevent scratches to the tint and also keep the mounting glue from de-bonding the tint as well.  Once dry, I installed the window sets with Testors Canopy Cement.  Be extremely careful to have the green glass and clear glass change fall behind the narrow header of the main windows.

The diaphragms are again from HiTech.

Underframe

Basic Underframe

John Ruehle made me a new underframe for the car.  John used a piece of 0.040" sheet for the main floor.  Then C-channel 0.185"x 0.150" was used for the main centersill.  Crossbeams of .070"x 0.050" I-beam were glued on to represent the floor supports.  This underframe doesn't have any of the diagonal bracing that the 69-BP-30 (SP 5199) or the rest of the SC&F kits have.

John mounted passenger brake "UC" type gear on the bottom of the car.

Electrical Generator was already fitted to the underframe

Looking at the SP 1005, with its "rare" gas lighting by 1947, certainly rare by 1952, I will be adding the gas tanks.  However, I will probably add a battery box, because I'll be adding the OwlMtModels 10002 Gyralite Marker Light.

Styrene shims added to bolster of Walthers 920-2124 on SP 1005.

I shimmed the bolsters and installed a sheet of 0.02" styrene across the top bolster of the Walthers 8ft Pullman 4-wheel trucks to result in the right coupler height.  I plan to fit the car (in Part 2) with my standard LED lighting strip and OwlMtModels Pyle Gyralite marker and tailgate kit for end-of-train service.

Window Shades

Completed window shades installed in the SP 1005

Window shades for the 1005 are made from manila card stock file folders.  One folder will do about 30-50 sets of window shades.  I don't use normal 3-5lb paper because, unless painted, it is too translucent for use with the LED lighting installed, even at lower settings.

Cut a strip of card stock a scale 24"x 50'6" and make pencil markers where the window columns are across the full shade.  I then mark where I want the window shades to be cut off at.  This will be on average, make the shade 12" high, however I like to make somewhat random cross cuts with a Xacto to show passengers using the shades and moving them to where they want to be.  These horizontal cuts are then connected with small vertical cuts to make a prepared window shade.

Abbreviated shades to keep the green transom windows clear. Tamiya tape used to mount the shades.

Remember that cars freshly out of the coach yard should have all their shades nicely trimmed 1-3" below the top edge of the window, or whatever the railroad considered "standard dress" starting position.  A car ending its trip will be all over the map, some shades high, some low, some in the middle, some unused if the seats were empty the whole trip.

Once trimmed to length (This time I was also making standard longer ones for my SP 1050's window shades) I used 1/16" wide by about 1/4-3/8" long strips of Tamiya Masking Tape to hold the shades in place.  The tinting on the windows was actually thick enough, once the mask was removed to make a nice stopping ledge for the shade material to catch on.  The tape was then applied with the end of a knife blade vertically where the window columns are.

Bathroom window covered with Scotch Tape

The toilet annexes will have etched glass or prism glass, I use standard Scotch Tape (not the magic clear stuff), so that when I apply it to the clear plastic windows it will remain foggy.

"Globe" Roof Vents

Here's the 1005 with new MDC "Globe" vents

I removed the Soho stock Utility Vents over the main seating area.  I still need to remove the vents over the car ends.  There was a slight mishap and I scratched the roof paint pretty badly there in the center of the car.  When I do the additional end vents I'll touch up any other scratches.  The square holes left from the old vents were roughly in the right place on the roof, so I used my ~0.085" drill bit in a pin vise.  As always drilling through brass sheet, be careful when 'breaking through' with the tip as the drill will tend to catch.

The MDC vent pieces were easily glued into the holes with ACC.  Make sure not to put the car floor back on for a day or so after gluing.  This will allow the glue to "gas-off" and not fog the windows.

Interior

Here's the SP 1005 with the seating strips of PSC 33312.2 Chair Seats

Because the SP 1005 was pulled back into service as a chair car, she lost her original 72-seat coach configuration.  Instead a 60-seat chair plan was used, probably from second hand chairs from other 60-CC-1s upgraded in 1941-42.  Trying to find exactly the right seats is a bit challenging.  For this car I'm using Precision Scale Co. #33312.2 chair seats were used and mounted to a strip of 0.03"x 0.188" strip styrene was used to space the seat pairs apart.  The inside of the car sides have flanges, which add strength, however they do make the installation of interiors a bit tricky.  Once glued up, these strips of seats will be able to be easily mounted to the inner ledge of the car side.

The 15 rows of seats are evenly spaced every 3.28 ft over the 50'4" length of windows.  In laying this out I come to find out that the car is about 2 feet too short, all in the toilet windows section of the car.  That doesn't really effect the modeling of the interior though, just interesting to note.  The last pair of seats are showing in the floor plan reversed.  These would have been the walk-over type seats, possibly from the A/C'd 60-CC-1s, which new seats in 1942.  SP had a way of reusing second hand seats on older cars.

The center isle will be purposely left open for access to the lighting strip in the roof.

LED Lighting

An example of a car I installed this type of lighting in

I don't plan to mount the interior seats strips until I have the LED strip installed and lead wires for the trucks and marker light are installed.  As a sneak peek, here's the light strips that I make myself.  I use 0.100" x 0.250" styrene strips as a backing support for the LED light strip.  The leads are easily soldered onto the ends of each 3" section of LED strip.

LED lighting components

In the center of the LED coil, is a 3" strip for the SP 5199 project I'm working on, and above that are two 6" strips for the 60 and 70 foot coaches I'm working on at the same time.

Beauty shot in closing here

That does it for this part of the SP 1005 Build.  In SP 60-C-5s, Part 2 T&NO 777 I cover building a car without the green transom glass windows and more detail of the underframe construction.  Please follow to be notified when I post the next blog update!

Jason Hill

Related Links:
Of some interest is Sunset Import's new announcement of plastic 60-C-5s coming to HO, follow this link to my blog post with my thoughts on it. GoldenGateModels Harriman Cars in HO

Or you can follow this link to my blog on building the SP 2701, a 60-CC-1 (Part 1) from a Model Power Coach