@Hancock52 posted:More super-fine work, @T.Albers - BUT now you have gone and done it, in terms of suggesting a way to deal with a passenger car detailing issue that has always really bugged me.
This is the fact that no matter how much work you do on interior furnishings, passengers etc., what someone looking through the windows is going to see is the background of window inserts and mostly unfinished car body side walls behind details built on to the car's floor. Not such a great problem on K-Line and Lionel aluminum cars of the past where the side walls are flat (and were mostly painted passenger interior beige or green). However, at the moment I have two projects going on Lionel 21" ABS UP Excursion cars. In these the windows are individual plastic inserts, which are large and stick out like a sore thumb. Here are a couple of examples, one from the City of San Fran observation compartment and the other the full length of the Lone Star Business car:
What I originally wanted to do with each of these was mock up the wood panelling that I know was installed in the real cars some years back. This is anything but easy because the panels are pretty ornate and contoured, one example being the Lone Star observation compartment that looked like this after a 2001 refit:
They didn't use Venetian blinds in this but cloth Roman blinds - although as you have illustrated you can mock up cloth by high-res inkjet printing. I used that to try and replicate parts of this compartment's fittings, which include the absolutely gigantic Serpentine sofa - although that and the dining chairs got a flocking/fake felt spray-on treatment. The wood panelling is in fact printed on peel and stick vinyl inkjet paper:
I think that so far as the interior side walls of these cars are concerned I will try doing something like your treatment. It won't be prototypical - none of my efforts are - but it could address the through-the-window view issue. More work, of course!
@Hancock52 The flocking on the miniature sofa turned out great. I sure hope your visitors can see it when looking in through the side windows. It would be a loss if their view was blocked by a wall. You did not mention the carpet, is that a printed cloth material or ink jet?
This forum is great resource for seeing what other members are doing to upgrade passenger car interiors. I have gathered many ideas from your creative interiors and found new vendors for 1/48 scale parts. That being said, Union Pacific specifically had that sofa made for the Lone Star observation car. Where did you ever find a 1/48 scale serpentine sofa like that to apply the flocking too?
Also, after looking at my photos posted yesterday I realized I forgot to change the drumhead. K-Line put a generic Union Pacific Overland shield on rear of this car... and all historical photos show this Sun Valley has a City of Los Angeles Streamliner drumhead. I printed up a few different sizes on a clear plastic sheet. One of these sizes should fit.
Oh well, back on the work bench it goes.
