Niles Project ~ Yellow and Brown Paint for #109

After its last paint job was deemed unacceptable, the Point Loma car was stripped of its paint and is now ready for a new paint job.

While the Pine-Sol did a splendid job removing the paint, it left gooey, sticky boogerballs behind that where a real pain to remove. Scrubbing the model with Dawn dish soap on an old toothbrush helped a lot, but in the process I managed to loose a hand rail. So a new one had to be fashioned with brass wire.

Repaired, Cleaned, Sterilized, and Ready for painting.

Primed (Floquil Primer)

Interior painted with my Mahogany mix. (50/50 mix of Floquil Roof Brown with So. Freight Car Brown)

Masked

Exterior Paint (10 parts Floquil Railbox Yellow with 1 part So. Freight Car Brown)

Masked for Roof paint (Floquil Mud).

Detail painting (window sashes and bumpers(?)) with my Mahogany mix.


The Point Loma car is on the bottom. Compare this photo with the above photo and you can see that the new color is much more reasonable. Now it is the SD&SE car (center) that looks too yellow! Also compare with the photo of the original paint and I think I've pretty much nailed SDERy Yellow. Yes sir! Pretty much nailed it!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Continuing Quest for Golden Yellow

Knowing the color is one thing. Replicating the color, that's another thing!

Splitting hairs at this point. The color slide of the SDERy work truck reveals a more brownish yellow. So I'm experimenting with mixing Floquils Southern Freight Car Brown with Railbox Yellow and CNW Yellow. The mix on the lower left (above) really caught my eye. Lets try that.

Hmm! Might be too yellow. At top is the Birney painted with Scalecoat colors. Next is #105 combine in Floquils CSX New Image Gold. Third is #107 sporting a 50/50 mix of New Image Gold and Railbox Yellow. But the Point Loma car on the bottom... It might be too yellow. Its a gorgeous shade of yellow though. But its more yellow than the Birney which is too yellow. But I tell ya... Its a very pleasing mustard yellow. But it needs to be a more of a golden yellow. You know... No matter how much I like it... its just the wrong color. Yeah, I don't think its quite right. Well... I really hate to do this, but...

... into the Pine Sol it goes. Its heart breaking. Such a beautiful paint job. But its just the wrong color, no doubt about it. Its gotta go. Damn. A lot of work down the drain. No wonder it takes me forever to accomplish something. Yes sir, It's no wonder.

Dandy

SDERy Yellow Caught on Color Film!

For the first time ever, I have come across the infamous yellow in a color photograph.

The San Diego Electric Railway streetcars wore their golden yellow and mahogany paint scheme from the companies inception (1892) to about 1931. Kodachrome wouldn't come out on the market until 1936. So as a result, nothing exists in the way of color photographs of the old paint scheme.

While looking around on eBay I came across this photo of SDERy 408 in the experimental orange paint scheme SDERy was trying out in the 1940s. I almost dismissed the photograph until I noticed that curved white line in the street. It warns of the overhang of the cars while making a turn. Ah, there is a turnout there. Going where? Oh hey, that's the car barn on the right. And whats that parked out front? The company truck!...

...still painted in the original company colors! There it is folks! Photographic evidence of SDERy "Mission Yellow" and "Mahogany Brown". Oh I'm so going to nail this color. Yes sir! Nail it!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Yellow and Brown Paint for #107

Trying a 3rd mix of paints to replicate SDERy Yellow.

Floquils "CSX New Image Gold" looks pretty good on #105, but I want to saturated it a little more and push it more towards yellow. The "Roof Brown" used for the trim is just too dark.

After experimenting a bit (above), I settled on a 50-50 mix of "Railbox Yellow" and "CSX New Image Gold" for the yellow, and a 50-50 mix of "Southern Freight Car Brown" and "Roof Brown" for the Mahogany trim color (outlined above).

Ooh! Not bad. Not bad at all. Compare to this poorly lit photo of old actual SDERy yellow. After letting this dry for a day, I'll hand paint the trim with the Mahogany brown mix.

After letting the trim paint dry for a day, its time to paint the roof. Some precision masking is required for the clerestory windows. I laid out a length of masking tape onto a piece of glass a tad longer than the length of the windows. After carefully measuring the width and length as well as where the curves start, I cut the mask to size with a sharp Xacto knife.

The mask is carefully worked into place. Then the rest of the car is masked off. This time I'll paint the roof Floquil "Mud". Its a little warmer than "Earth".

Well... my digital camera seems to be "rounding off". The yellows almost look to be the same here. But the differences are more discernible in person. But not that much more. On the other hand, the difference between "Earth" on #105 (right) and "Mud" on #107 (center) is more discernible in the photo than they are in person! As for the yellows, I'm so close. I'm probably splitting hairs at this point. Yes sir. Splitting hairs!

Dandy

I Have Seen the Golden Yellow!

I have finally seen San Diego Electric Railway "Mission Yellow" in person!

Over the Fathers Day weekend, the Southern California Traction Club (of which I am a member) set up the modular layout at the Orange Empire Railway Museum.
I have always known that an old San Diego car that was rebuilt into a cabin at some point in its history is stored there. I saw it years ago. Its covered in shingles and is painted a blue/gray color. Not much to see really.

But a fellow I met at the museum there mentioned that the car is an old Exposition car. That really piqued my interest so I made my way over to the car barn that its stored in to take a second look at it.

In a dark back corner of the carbarn there it stands. Still covered in blue/gray shingles, covered in dust, patiently waiting for someone to take an interest in it. I looked closer. I could make out the curved top of the windows. The rounded front end. Its definitely a SDERy Class 2 Pay-As-You-Enter car.

I also noticed that some of its original yellow paint was showing through here and there. But its faded and grimy. I wondered what the chances were of finding the yellow in its original saturated condition. Somewhere where it would have been out of the UV rays of the sun. Somewhere where it would have been out of the rain. Somewhere where it wouldn't get dirty or dusty. Somewhere like... the stairwell!!! Yes! Up underneath a stair! I scraped away some of the house paint (and spider webs) and sure enough, nice, relatively saturated, relatively clean, golden yellow. I ran back and grabbed my Birney car and, with much difficulty, snapped this picture:

Well... I'm within the ballpark. Hard to tell. Still have to make some educated guesses about what that paint looked like when it was shiny. Was it brighter? Or does my car need to be darker? The digital camera is also changing the color. Next time I'm at the OERM, I'm going to have to bring a color matching chart. I am determined to nail this color. Yes sir! I'm determined to nail SDERy Yellow!!!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Interior Paint

I notice that a lot of folks don't take the time to paint the interior of their models. But really, it doesn't take that much extra effort to do.

 The interior of the Niles cars are described as being finished in selected mahogany. For that I used a 50/50 mix of Floquil Southern Freight Car Brown and Roof Brown. After letting that dry for a day, I masked off the windows and the open bottom. Don't forget to mask the clerestory windows too!:

If I was to paint the interior last, the the masking would have be on the outside. Which would mean the side of the window posts would also be the mahogany color. Which in some cases may be desirable. It all depends on what the end result requires.

So in the end, it only cost me an extra day and a half to paint and mask the interior. But if you ask me, I'd say its worth it, yes sir! I'd say its worth it!

Dandy

Niles Project ~ Primed and Ready

Getting ready for a nice coat of SDERy "Mission Yellow". Whatever color that is!

All right. With the Birney project once again wrapping up, I can now turn my attention back to the Niles cars. Here is where I'm at with that:

The new Sightseeing Car (far right) is awaiting its "De-PEing" while the other three have gotten a nice coat of primer. This time I'm using Floquil paint since I have come across a recipe for SDERy "Mission Yellow" utilizing that brand.

 On combine #105 though, I wanted to try out Floquil F110358 CSX New Image Gold. On paint swatches and in the bottle, it looks really close to being the right color for SDERy Mission Yellow. But on the car it looks very desaturated. And there is no way of saturating paint. You can desaturate paint by adding gray, but you just can't re-saturate a color. For the roof and under body details I'm trying out F110081 Earth. It looks good on the roof, even better when it gets weathered, but for the underbody details I might try Mud instead. The trim is painted in Roof Brown, but that's entirely too dark. I'm going to have to try mixing it with one of the Tuscan colors.

As you can see in this photo, SD&SE #101 has had a hard life. It started out as a passenger car, converted to an interurban, then involved in an accident and so rebuilt into a combine. I want to try to capture this flavor with my model of #105. So I just might leave it the faded color it is and just weather the heck out of it. Yes sir! Just weather the heck out of it!

~Dandy

Worlds Largest Model Tram Show ~ Bremen, Gemany

Small tram - VERY LARGE

Werner Jurkowski, a very fine tram modeler from Berlin, Germany brought this show to my attention. The Kleine Bahn Ganz Gross (Small Tram Very Large) attracts tram modelers from Austria, Belgium,  the Czech

Republic, Germany, Great Britain and Switzerland. The show is held annually and this year it was held in the carhouse for the Bremen-Sebaldsbrück tram lines in Bremen Germany (next to the Mercedes-Benz auto plant!). I wanted to share the following video taken at the show with you. The modeling is fantastic!:

The video starts out with shots of the carhouse and prototype tram equipment, but then it gets into the modules. I just love the model of the carhouse, the smooth running tram models running in the streets with tight overhead and clean streets. A clip of Werner's layout starts around the 7:20 mark.

Traction modeling seems like it might be starting to take off here in the USA. I hope we start seeing shows  like this real soon here. Yes sir! I hope we start seeing shows like that here!

Dandy

Valence Project ~ Light Fixtures

Hey! You know what this lighting valence needs? How about some lights!

I have been puzzling for some time now with how exactly I was going to install lights into this thing. I mean, lights are one of the major reasons for building this lighting valence in the first place after all.

One major stumbling block is that I'm not a certified electrician. The highest voltages I have ever dealt with is about 15VDC, you know, model railroad motors and whatnot. So its with some intrepidation that I design and build a 110V layout lighting system.

I'm interested in using the round bulbs that were popular with the old wooden streetcars and carousels during the early 20th century. But my walls and ceiling don't have space for wiring inside because, well, there isn't any inside. Just 1/2" plywood at best. I looked into using white, round bulbed Christmas lights. Just attach them to the ceiling and plug them in. Easy enough. But it just lacks that elegance I'm looking for. So I looked at how they were constructed and then headed off to the store to see what I could find.

 After MacGyvering my way through various home improvement stores, this is what I have come up with.

 I found a plastic candelabra cleat and the round bulbs that come in the candelabra size which is about the right size for this project. But the wiring is exposed, which doesn't seem like a good idea to me. So mounting the cleat directly to the valence out. I need some sort of housing for the cleat.

 A brass doorknob back plate! Looks like the stem of the cleat will slip right through the hole. But it didn't. I had to grind off about 1/16" with the Dremel tool. Then to close off the bottom... a sliding wardrobe door  brass pull! And here is how it all went together all nice and neat:

1. Wardrobe door pull. 2. Candelabra cleat. 3. Doorknob Back Plate. 4. Bulb.

The base is constructed of 2.5"x.25" trim wood and .75"x.75" angle trim from the moulding dept.

Then a hole was drilled to accommodate the light fixture.

Here is the completed lighting assemblies. The spacing of the bulbs coincide with the clerestory windows. Now all that's needed is wood treatment, staining and varnishing. And...

Wow! You would think I knew what I was doing or something. Now all that"s left is somehow wiring all this up in a safe and appealing way. But so far its looking just fine. Sure beats Christmas lights. Yes sir! Sure beats Christmas lights!

Dandy

Valence Project ~ Staining and Varnishing

You know, its funny. I started the Birney Project as a diversion from the ongoing lighting and anti-dust (and anti-cat) valence project. But that was so long ago now, and the Birney project has been so ongoing that working on the valence is now a divergence from working on the Birney!

So this is where I left off. With the major woodworking done, its now time to stain and varnish the inside.

Remember that this blog is not a "how-to" but rather a "how-I-did-it". Which isn't necessarily the best way. As it turns out, since I'm using a two-tone color scheme, the wood should have been stained ahead of construction. Masking doesn't work when it comes to staining. The masking tape will actually draw in the stain underneath it. And as you can see, I have quite a few spots where that happened. But overall it looks all right, doesn't it?

For the stain I used an oil based. Oils are harder to work with, but the results are so much nicer. For the main color I used "Natural", a stain that brings out the natural color of the wood. And for the trim I used "Golden Mahogany". Mainly because Mahogany was used as the trim for the old San Diego streetcars. Over all I'm pleased with the results. This valence is getting that elegant look I'm looking for. Yes sir! Quite elegant indeed!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ Window Glass II

Cutting, shaping, and installing widow glazing.

In part one of installing window glass, some of the brass sills were filed away so that I could model some of the windows open. Now that the car is detailed and painted, the "glass" can be installed.

Really the glass is .015 clear styrene. Cut to approximate size, I held it against the window openings and marked the location of the sills with a sharp blade.

Then I scribed in the location of the openings in the styrene (bottom), checked it against the model, and then cut out the openings (top).

A reader of this blog suggested using Micro Kristal Klear for gluing in the windows. Its a water soluble product, so it doesn't craze (fog) the plastic the way petroleum based glue would. I found this to be really easy to use.

Finally, strip styrene matching the dimensions of the brass window sills was painted the trim color, cut to size and glued into place.

And there we have it! The open windows add a lot of character and realism helping to make this car a real one-of-a-kind model. Yes sir! A real one-of-a-kind model!

Dandy

Birney Project ~ A Weighty Situation

Adding Weight to the Birney Car 

The weights I used are those kind that you see that come in a long strip with double sided sticky tape on one side. They are usually divided into sections that can be broken off anywhere at 1/4oz increments. They are usually available at your local model train shop for weighting freight and passenger cars to NMRA standards. I was able to fit 4 of these 1/4oz weights for a total of 1oz added weight.

Location of weights

1. Cut and fitted to clear the motor frame and filed to conform to the curve of the end of the car. Then epoxied into place under the floor.
2. Trimmed to fit under the roof in the sub roof cutout.
3. Filed to conform to the curve of the end of the car. Then epoxied into place under the floor.

Weights 1 & 3 had their double sided sticky tape removed so that they can be slid under the pilot. There they were epoxied in place. Here you can see where weight #1 was trimmed to clear the motor mount.

Weight #4 had to be fitted inside the front of the car. Yes, the car has a "front and rear" now. Originally it was designed to be double ended, but I ran into this problem. As you can see, Birney the motorman has been removed from the seat assemblies and is now fitted into the front of the car.

Weight #4 was notched to fit around Birney the motorman's seat.

The top of the weight had to be ground out to clear the headlight bulb and wires. Then it was painted black and glued into place.

After all that effort I was able to add an additional 1oz to the car bringing it to a total of just over 5oz. Doesn't sound like much but that is another 25% added to its weight. And the car is suprisingly heavy when you pick it up. Yes sir! Quiet heavy.

Dandy