The car is coming together!

Cutting through the top of the windows:

 
 
 

All the tops cut off!

this is another example of where my new mini powersaw was indispensable..
there is NO way I could have made all those cuts straight, even, and *identical*
if cutting by hand!
 
 

I got 1.5 x 1.5mm square stryene rod, cut it into 10mm lengths, and glued the pieces into
the remaining openings of the "small upper windows"

(once the styrene strips were glued in place, I then ran the sides through the saw
again to even up the posts..they were slightly higher than the styrene rod,
needed to be sliced smooth.)
 
 

The coach bodies are cut into smaller pieces, to make one coach that is
"16 windows" long..this makes the coach just slightly shorter than the
prototype coach #22. The difference in length cant even be seen.
I used the "score and snap" method for these cuts, cutting through one
of the grooves in the wood siding with an x-acto blade, then snapping.

The two new sides are glued together! 
(im impatient...I like to paint things *before* the final model is put together! 
in this case, I painted the glue joint to see how well it was "hidden" and blended in with the rest of the coach side wall..I had to add a little bit of squadron green putty, let it dry, then sand smooth..I also had to carve back in some of the "joints" between the wood slats in the area of the glued connection..so then I painted over everything to check to see that it all blends nice and smooth..
and that the glued joint "disappears"..that is why the sides are semi-painted in the following photo..)

I was thinking of scratchbuilding new ends..with windows.
but in the end I decided to simply narrow the existing Bachmann end pieces.

the 4 new walls are put together!
a return to 3 dimensions..
I bought a piece of granite tile from Home Depot, because my desk surface isnt perfectly flat.
I lined up the pieces with a square, so all walls are vertical, and all walls are square to each other.
the jars of paint and clamps kept it all together while the glue dries.

It's looking like a coach again! 

Roof cut!
The roof took quite a bit of work to hide the glue joint..
some fiddly work with green putty and sanding/scraping..but in the end
it came together nice and smooth..

A brand new "road name strip" was scratch built from .080 X .250 styrene.
(I dont know the proper name for that strip! the smooth bit the railroad name is written across..
if anyone knows, please let me know!)

Those 4 styrene spacers inside the coach body are just there to keep the sides from
"bowing in" while the strip is glued to the coach body.
the roof will take care of that problem later on.
 

Test fit for the roof..it looks good!

and again..I just had to go and paint the bare white styrene! 
I need to see how it looks overall..I need things "blended" together..

On to Page 4! 
 
 
 
 

sscotsman@yahoo.com

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