Thanks @Hancock52
Q. I know you have a complete photo record of all of these cars but are you making any sort of digital or hard copy album out of them? A. I don't have a photo album but that's a great idea. It also could be made into a fun game when my little nephews come over. I could show them a photo of a passenger and then tell them to find the chef (they would have to learn which is the dining car with kitchen) or find the bartender John T. Ruh (they would have to know where The Little Nugget was in the train) or find the suitcase of money. 💰
Q. Any preview of what's next? A. I have a lot of projects I want to get done but Fall is here and temperatures are dropping into the 30's at night. I had to pack away the air brush and paints for the winter. But there has been something bothering me since I first got my K-Line dome car. K-Line did not use the correct ACF dome. Here's drawing of a 9000 series observation lounge with a correct sized dome. This dome structure should stretch about 1/3rd length of the car, should not have any crossbars through the windows and should have a large top center section. The front of the dome should start just behind the front side window and the rear of the dome goes all the way to the first side window.
Below is the incorrect Budd dome structure that came with my K-Line car. Its about 1/4th the length of the car. I have had this Budd dome structure off the car before. It just snaps on/off. That means I can work on this project inside the house during the winter were its warm. The front of this dome seems to be placed correctly. But this dome needs to be longer and go farther back.
On the plus side for this ACF dome structure project I have found that Tru-Color's Harbor Mist Gray paint is an exact match for the existing gray K-Line roofs. Check out this photo of five sleeping cars all lined up. Four of these cars have the factory gray roofs and one car I painted with Tru-Color. The Tru-Color gray roof blends in great with the other cars. That means my newly built dome structure will blend in well with the existing roof color on a K-Line dome car.
On the downside for this project I will have to fabricate a lot of items out of Brass or Styrene. @Pingman has been trying to replace domes structures on some of his cars for a while and has been a big help to me so far.
I was going to reach out to your for some dome window measurements on your 21" Lionel Excursion car. Do you think you can assist with these measurements?
