Santa Fe Sleeper Pine Grove

[Erik Zwaan]

Thanks again Southwestforests, Diderick and Becky. Luckily I have more time at hand now for modeling and can make better progress.

Now the roof to each of the sections can be added, starting with the roomette section. I don't like large areas to be glued and positioned properly at once. Too risky. For this reason I chose to cut the roof into two halves and to install each half at a time. This makes it possible to accurately glue the edges of the roof to the upper side of the walls. And there is enough "body" to join the two halves midway the central corridor.

After gluing both halves I turned the sleeper upside down and put weights on it to press the roof properly onto the forming walls and corridor. After some half an hour I places the roof formers one by one. I used 1.4mm thick cardboard to laminate the former parts, which makes it easier to glue the formers and to keep the roof in the right shape. It only takes painful fingers for a while to cut them out from the thick cardboard (14 in total for the entire sleeper).

I'm talking about the roof but of course the "real" roof is the outside sheeting that yet needs to wrapped around the entire build-up. This here is only the cabin ceiling, but before that, first the same process for the bedroom section.

I hope you agree that adding the lights to this model is a true bonus.

Regards,
Erik

[Kevin WS]

The lights are a definite bonus Erik - they really make the model look good!

Strunning work on this coach - every little bit worthwhile!

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Becoming better and better! By the way - now that we know from Jamoldover's pictures what the couchettes looked like, designer Cor is also adding that detail to the model. We hope to be publishing in a few weeks' time - reservations are very welcome, especially of you want a printed copy! Please send me a pm?

[kriszme]

Would you show us as detailed as possible how you install the LEDs the wiring and the el. source . It is really magnificent.

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Originally Posted by kriszme

Would you show us as detailed as possible how you install the LEDs the wiring and the el. source . It is really magnificent.

We (myself as publisher Paper Trade / Zeist Bouwplaten, and designer Cor) will include an extra page on this in our building instructions. A 50 cms self adhesive strip, battery fed (6x AA, clip included), will become available via my website - with pictures, to help you find something similar from US providers if postage to USA works out too expensive.

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi guys, thanks again for your much valued responses. The process of building in the previous contributions to this blog shows how the lights are installed. As the design for this test-build has not been catered for this, it's a relatively slow process and you learn as you go.

The other thing is your contributions, which certainly inspire this builder and the designer. I had intended to install the ceiling of the bedroom section of the sleeper last weekend but because Cor added the foldaway beds and sent the files just before I wanted to install the ceiling, the plot of the story slightly changed.

So herewith the beds installed, and based on the Joshua's pictures I added the foldaway beds in the other bedrooms as well, using the latest added parts to the model by Cor.
Because of the advanced state of completion, installing the beds was a bit tricky, and some trimming appeared to be required as well; already sorted out for the final version of the model, so no worries.

Also done at this stage are the corrections to the walls where the light strip runs, another example of the trial and error process, and the areas where light masking is required (the bathrooms in the bedrooms). I laminated the respective parts with blackened paper (parts 43/44).

Cutting across the walls of these parts is required because I wanted a straight run for the LED lights over the entire length, which makes it easier to install. Hope this can be clearly seen from the attached pictures.

Erik

[Kevin WS]

Great job Erik!

Actually a labour of love!

[beckychestney]

It never ceases to amaze me how amazing paper models can be!

[romanmodels]

Great work adding the lights, and the beds.this is a bit late for your build I am planning to build answer passenger wagon 111a and got these little led strip lights with dimmers to light the compartments they all so sell these mico connecters.
I got them from express models Welcome to Express Models - the home of model railways.

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi Kevin, Becky and David, thank you so much again . Thanks David for the info on the lights, those connectors look interesting. The alternative would be soldering with loudspeaker wire to connect different sections of the LED lights.

Finally the interior is done, in between beating the heat and laying tiles in the backyard. An odd combination but regarding the tiles that's how I planned my first week of the summer holidays, not expecting it would become so hot. Coming Monday off for a two weeks vacation to one of our "Wadden Islands", away from everything, just peace and nature.

Anyway, herewith the latest proceedings. The ceiling of the bedroom section (couchettes), the formers of the roof and I added black paper to mask the lights. Maybe a bit overdone but in this case better be safe than sorry. No corrections possible anymore once the outside sheeting is in place. Also you can see how the wiring runs from the ceiling, via the locker room to the outside, just next to where the coupling block will be located.

Then the front and rear ends. I used 0.9mm thick cardboard to reinforce the end plates. The bottom "skirts" have also been laminated with paper, altogether a sandwich of 4 layers. In between there's a small gutter, which nicely fits the protruding end of each of the bottom plates, as you can see in one of the pictures.
I didn't bother to cut out the white sections in between the spokes of the hand wheels, as this is a lot of work with great chance of failure and it will hardly be visible.
The one with the hand railing (0.75mm dia plastic rod) is the rear end.

Designer Cor sent me a picture of Indian art used in the Santa Fe trains, and I pasted it to the vestibule walls as a welcome to the O-scale passengers of the fifties.

Finally the prelude to the most critical parts of the model: The outside skin sections. These are almost A4-size parts which eventually need to be precisely glued in place, with the window panes as reference. I don't like large surface areas to be glued - too risky. Something to ponder during the holidays!
A trial fit with a spare section learns that it is going to be a tight fit and I'll likely have to sandpaper the roof formers to create a bit more space.

When building the F7A engine I experimented a lot with adding relief to the outside skin, and that sort of obliges me to do the same here. Especially the corrugated surface below the windows is very inviting to alter. It's difficult to see on the pictures but you may see the difference if you compare the pictures and details to the "bare" section that still has to be done. Also the names "Santa Fe" and "Pine Grove" will be glued on to the sides separately. I will request the designer to add these nameplates as separate parts, without dividing line as this looks much nicer.

Well, that's it for the coming few weeks. Enjoy your summer and I'll be back in a few weeks time.

Cheers,
Erik