I'm working on getting a set of either Pullman or Overton passenger cars from MDC. I'd like to install some interiors, but MDC doesn't have any suggestions of where to go. I also plan on adding some lights, but I'll make my own pickups from 0.005" brass and grain-of-wheat bulbs stuck to the top of the cabins. Any suggestions inexpensive on the interiors? I could cut down some IHC interiors, but that wouldn't be the greatest. Any other suggestions? Mark
Mark, There are a few avenues to go here. Do you want to go the cheapest route, or can you spend a bit of money? *Pike Stuff makes some pretty decent coach seats in a variety of colors. *Q-car Company Inc. makes cast metal Rattan seats single and double. *Red Cap Line makes a injection molded interior wall kit for sleepers and lounge cars. Walthers used to make a interior kit which consisted of cardstock walls and milled wood seat shapes and blocks for various cabinets and such. They can still be found, (try a search on ebay). I think with a little imagination you could duplicate the stuff in the Walthers kit for much less $$. 2slim
Hi Mark, Grandt Line makes a coach seat that looks like it has wood ends that would look very good in those old cars. They come in unpainted grey and you have to glue the ends to the seat, but they aren't too expensive. I think there are 12 in a pack. I'll be building some interiors with them this winter. Precision Scale makes a variety of seats that look good. The seats in the packs with 40 double seats in them look more modern than the Grandt Line seats, but are inexpensive. The seats that appear to come in 6-packs look very nice, but if there are only 6 in a pack, they're quite expensive at almost $1 per seat! Ian
<font color="336633">Welcome to TrainBoard Ian Those are some expensive seats, I thourght about making a pattern and casting my own in white metal once......... but then i realised how much they would weigh </font>
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by StickyMonk: <font color="336633">Welcome to TrainBoard Ian Those are some expensive seats, I thourght about making a pattern and casting my own in white metal once......... but then i realised how much they would weigh </font><hr></blockquote> Thank you. One really good use for those expensive Precision Scale seats would be on the rear of an old-time or heavyweight observation car. They look really good and you'd only need 1 or 2 for the platform. The old Walthers interior for the La Belle 60' parlor car consists of a bunch of metal swivel chairs. That pack weighs quite a bit even though the chairs are quite small and there aren't very many of them. They don't seem that heavy until you group them all together! Ian
Since you obviously are quite flexible if you don't care if they are 80' or 55' you should consider the open platform, dual four wheeled truck' open platform Spanish rail coaches from Electrotren. They were in the Walthers catalog a few years ago(last one I have) and sell for less than list at large mail order dealers in U.S. They have finished interiors and Electrotren sells; model specific lighting kits cheaply, as well. You will probably want to change couplers and take off buffers , but other than that will pass muster as late 19th-early 20th century North American equipment. I have seen some converted to specific Frisco rolling stock at some expense by addition of lots of expensive parts. However, the parts would have cost just as much to scratchbuild or try to convert any other kit to the specific prototype involved. Don't get me wrong, these are not Westwood or LaBelle appearing models out of the box, but neither is anything made by MDC,Rivarossi,Athearn, et al. Good-Luck, Peter
I've got some MDC 34' Overton D&RG cars coming as well as some Athearn smoothside ATSF on the way. I'll first be putting some lights in and then go on from there depending on time and enthusiasm. The Overtons along with my 2-8-2 Mikado will be running around our tree guarding the presents from the kids. I was tempted to try and put together a large military train to better protect the presents, but I decided that wasn't tradiional enough. Mark
I have had various and sundry HO engines, both diesel and steam, plus a variety of freight and passenger cars sitting in storage in my basement for.........maybe 25 years. Tomorrow I will be visiting Home Depot to purchase the lumber for a new train table and we'll go from there. Step 1 will be to build the table and get some track down. Step 2 will be deciding which DCC system I want.......and installing it and finally I will buy an engine that will be DCC compatible. But in the meantime......we need trains under the Christmas Tree. Well.........I used a lot of emery cloth on the wheels and track....and this evening I got a few of those old timers rolling again. What a great feeling to see them creep along......then gradually increase speed as the motors loosen up. We're back in business if only for a few weeks.
I just got the lights all installed and working on the Overon cars and running around our Christmas tree. The track came in the mail yesterday, but at least we still had the tree set up. It turns out that the roof on the MDC cars is a bit translucent, looks kind of poor with a bright light in it. I ended up making a tent our of thin white paper to difuse the light. That helped a lot with the glare and brightness. The pickups I built are working well, and not causing too much drag on the cars. I tried some Intermountain wheelsets fo the first time, and I love them, more so than Kadees. $50/100 is a competetive price, and the wheels are top notch. When I start on the Athearn smoothside cars, I'll probably install two lights per car on the ceiling, along with a cardstock liner on the ceiling to prevent the light from bleeding through, and then add a thin paper diffuser to mellow out the light. I'm tempted to add resistors to lower the brightness of the lights, but I'm afraid that if I do the light will be more yellow than white. I may do that anyway simply to extend the life of the bulbs. I know a 5% drop in the voltage will quadruple the life of a standard incandescent bulb. BTW Watash, I just picked up a 25 pound bag of #9 lead shot for $13.99 for adding weight to my cars and stuff. Rather inexpensive and will be handy for molding some weight into those tight spaces with a little glue. Mark
