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This is a continuation of my construction thread started before the new format, which can be found here:
http://archive.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=39319
In a quick summary, I'm taking one of Fletch's Carter Brothers kits and turning it into the EBT's "Orbisonia," a business car which began life as a standard Billmeyer & Smalls 13-window board-and-batten coach. Since the Carter Brothers car is also a 13-window board-and-batten coach, it seemed a natural candidate.
The Prototype:
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I'll refer you to the above link for construction of the exterior. What's new with this thread is the construction of the interior--a necessity when the car has such large picture windows.
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Because the roof of the original kit is not removable, I decided to build the interior as a separate "shoebox," over which the exterior slides. This allows me to easily work with all the intricate woodwork and wall sections without worrying about what would get in the way when accessing the interior for display, repairs, etc.
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The car is essentially two identical parlors joined by a short hallway. The room in the middle is a rather spacious water closet. I believe the small closet is where the main water tank is stored. This may have been heated with steam for hot and cold water. Other than that, there's a toilet and a sink and a small water tank to the right of the door for the water faucet in the hallway.
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The faucet (which I have yet to build/acquire) will hang out from the hole drilled in the middle of the aluminum panel. There's also a small catch basin that needs to be built yet. Those details will go in after the wood is stained. The moulding comes from the local dollhouse store, but is also readily available on line. Cool stuff! A bit pricy, at around 90 cents per stick, but--hey--it's a president's car. Those things don't come cheap.
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The bathroom interior (sans facilities). I cheated on this one--the door does not open. I thought about it, but since the interior won't be all that accessible anyway, I figured it made just as much sense (and a stronger wall) fake the door. The closet is large enough to hold a 9-volt battery which will power the car's interior lights.
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The panels below the windows are built on 1/64" plywood, then glued to the main walls. Had I had my wits about me, I would have done the detailing on each wall first, then assembled the interior box, as that would have allowed me a bit more precision and creative flexibility in the matter. Ah well, next business car.
The mirrored panels are from some old engraving plates or somethign like that I've had lying around for years. Essentially, it's plated .025" brass sheet. Had I not had that handy, I would have headed back to the dollhouse store to see what they had. My other thought was to get a Mylar balloon and cut squares from that.
The next step is to stain the interior. Currently the interior of the prototype is painted brown, but my gut tells me that's not original, as a railroad wouldn't use something as ordinary as brown paint for the interior of a president's car. Once it's stained, I'll build the steam-heat boxes that go along the edges of the floors, and finish adding the brass coat hooks and luggage rack. Then it's--again--off to the dollhouse store for suitable floor coverings and build a day bed for one end. (The other gets wicker chairs. Yeah, not very suiting for a president's car, but it's what was in it...)
Further updates as events warrant.
Later,
K
http://archive.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=39319
In a quick summary, I'm taking one of Fletch's Carter Brothers kits and turning it into the EBT's "Orbisonia," a business car which began life as a standard Billmeyer & Smalls 13-window board-and-batten coach. Since the Carter Brothers car is also a 13-window board-and-batten coach, it seemed a natural candidate.
The Prototype:
I'll refer you to the above link for construction of the exterior. What's new with this thread is the construction of the interior--a necessity when the car has such large picture windows.
Because the roof of the original kit is not removable, I decided to build the interior as a separate "shoebox," over which the exterior slides. This allows me to easily work with all the intricate woodwork and wall sections without worrying about what would get in the way when accessing the interior for display, repairs, etc.
The car is essentially two identical parlors joined by a short hallway. The room in the middle is a rather spacious water closet. I believe the small closet is where the main water tank is stored. This may have been heated with steam for hot and cold water. Other than that, there's a toilet and a sink and a small water tank to the right of the door for the water faucet in the hallway.
The faucet (which I have yet to build/acquire) will hang out from the hole drilled in the middle of the aluminum panel. There's also a small catch basin that needs to be built yet. Those details will go in after the wood is stained. The moulding comes from the local dollhouse store, but is also readily available on line. Cool stuff! A bit pricy, at around 90 cents per stick, but--hey--it's a president's car. Those things don't come cheap.
The bathroom interior (sans facilities). I cheated on this one--the door does not open. I thought about it, but since the interior won't be all that accessible anyway, I figured it made just as much sense (and a stronger wall) fake the door. The closet is large enough to hold a 9-volt battery which will power the car's interior lights.
The panels below the windows are built on 1/64" plywood, then glued to the main walls. Had I had my wits about me, I would have done the detailing on each wall first, then assembled the interior box, as that would have allowed me a bit more precision and creative flexibility in the matter. Ah well, next business car.
The mirrored panels are from some old engraving plates or somethign like that I've had lying around for years. Essentially, it's plated .025" brass sheet. Had I not had that handy, I would have headed back to the dollhouse store to see what they had. My other thought was to get a Mylar balloon and cut squares from that.
The next step is to stain the interior. Currently the interior of the prototype is painted brown, but my gut tells me that's not original, as a railroad wouldn't use something as ordinary as brown paint for the interior of a president's car. Once it's stained, I'll build the steam-heat boxes that go along the edges of the floors, and finish adding the brass coat hooks and luggage rack. Then it's--again--off to the dollhouse store for suitable floor coverings and build a day bed for one end. (The other gets wicker chairs. Yeah, not very suiting for a president's car, but it's what was in it...)
Further updates as events warrant.
Later,
K
