I am getting old, and have started selling some of my detailed Lionel and Atlas O 21" passenger cars. Here is a collection of photos and painting tips that I have found very useful. Like the 15 years I have been painting Preiser 65602 Unpainted Seated People Blanks for my passenger cars, writing this thread will take time. It will continue to grow and maybe even grow on you.
My first Atlas O 21" California Zephyr cars were started in the spring and may have influenced the pastel colors I chose for the women: blue, pink, yellow, green and lavender. The men are in a variety of blue, brown, gray and tan suits and jackets. I modeled my painting after the high-quality, Preiser factory-painted figures that now are often unavailable and out-of-production. Preiser offered only two color differences and I was tired of seeing the same people repeated one passenger car after another. Using five color choices helped create a variety that aided in disguising the limited 24 figures that were repeating in my passenger cars.
I love the Preiser 65602 figures because they can be posed in family and conversation groups that create a realistic story inside the passenger cars. The "depth-of-field" for my railroad does not stop at the outside surface of the passenger car, but enters the interior of the car. There is always more to see, the closer you look. It is no wonder that I am a fan of the O-gauge Woodland Scenics buildings with detailed. interiors. I have detailed several building kits with interiors to extend the "Depth-of-Field" on my train layout.
Starting with a few pictures of the Lionel Rio Grande Ski Train that I just recently sold on Ebay, I will give tips of detail changes I made to the cars.
SNACK CAR: I built a custom snack bar in the snack bar car by cutting out five seats on one side near the rear bathroom and scratch building a bar. I added a pop machine for after hours and a few youngsters from the Woodland Scenics "Bicycle Buddies". There are no Preiser people in this car because of visual differences between the Woodland Scenics youngsters who are drinking pop/soda.
BUSINESS CAR/Observation: I cut the conference table section of the car and rotated it 180 degrees because as manufactured, the chairs on one side of the conference table stick into the main walkway down the side of the interior. I used 1/4 " strips as rails to reconnect the sections on the bottom of the interior floor. (I have done this on my George HW Bush Funeral Train and a Union Pacific Business Car.) The people around the conference table needed aggressive grinding with my hand-held, battery rechargeable Dremel Tool. (I do not know how I worked early on without the Dremel sanding drum.) (Grinding the butts off the figures is necessary to adjust the correct height, so the people are looking out the window.) (It also allows a figure to lean forward in an intense conversation, or tilt back and relax and enjoy the view.)
DOME/LOUNGE: I lowered the seats in the Dome by grinding down the seat support post and "carefully gluing the seat directly to the Dome Floor. I used a spacer I made to ensure the seats were equal-distant from each other and facing straight forward. With the seats lowered, the Preiser 65602 figures fit more easily under the Dome Glass.
BAGGAGE/LOUNGE: I used a dry-brush mixturing technique of four colors to create the wooden baggage area floor: sand, yellow for highlights, a lighter brown and darker brown. I carefully brushed the paint straight across the floor creating the effect of wooden boards (or so I hoped).
COACH CAR: I used a mixture of brown and white paint to create the tan I painted all seats with. It takes two or three coats to get rid of the bleed through that the releasing oil used in the molding process can leave on the plastic. LET THE PAINT DRY or you will be re-softening the first coat of paint and create a skinning effect that will make the seats ugly.
LOOK AT the PICTURES. I hope they are worth "1,000 words". I will go over my painting order or process in another installment. Until then have a good week and enjoy the creative process that is model railroading.
Sincerely, John Rowlen
OOPS! I made my picture files too big. I will correct that soon. I am using my I phone and chose too large a file size. It is taking a long time to load pictures tonight.
