Actually I did - is called "A Steam Train for the 1970s and its on about page 184. The project has taken a back seat to layout construction during the last year or two and I haven't worked on it since April 2009. I only mentioned it because the two projects have some distinct similarities. Good luck on yours. Tim
Finally got the time to order and install the JnJ roofs. They look great, and it is a huge improvement over the stock roofs. Still need to paint the roofs and the car ends and bottoms. This was right after the test fitting.
Press car. Still have detailing to add to the roofs and this car has alot more to add at the observation end.
I special ordered these awhile back, and they were finally done a couple weeks ago. I would email JnJ and ask about them and if he has any left.
Jerry, for trucks and couplers on those Bachmanns, I did things different on some cars. On some I clipped the truck mounted couplers off and body mounted MT 1015s. On some I trimmed the back corners of the 1015 coupler pockets so the truck could rotate better. On others I just trimmed the crossbar and center portion of the truck off on one end to better clear the coupler pocket. I replaced the wheels with Intermountain 36" wheels. To add electrical pickup to the car in the second photo, I used Kato trucks that I had shaved the side frames almost off completely. I laminated the side frames off of the Bachmann trucks onto these and used the Kato wheels. I just soldered wires to the Kato side frames to transfer power up to my marker lights.
I installed a Z scale coupler on the rear for looks. It will never be switched or interchanged as this will be a complete train that will always run in the same consist. Going to have to order some 1015's...I dont have any on hand right now. Photos to come soon....
What have you modelers used for curtains in the windows? Paper, cloth, paint? I was thinking of cutting paper with the curtain curve, and then adding some depth with colored pencils. These last three cars had shades and curtains throughout. Any thoughts/ideas? Thanks! http://www.freedomtrain.org/images/aft/john-hill-photos/american-freedom-train-consist-203-bar-car-01-800x.jpg
Have you considered taking photos (maybe even that photo) and shrinking and printing on an inkjet printer? Are there any side-on shots on freedomtrain.org? Would probably look pretty good inside a tiny window like that.
Can you get me a good, flat, side-on shot of one of your cars? If so, I can take that photo into an image editor and adjust the perspective until the windows are the correct shape. Then, if you can get me the side dimensions of that car, I'll resize the image to the correct size, crop the curtains and make copies so you can print out a sheet of enough to use on a whole train.
