Sunset NSL Silverliners #5 – Bulkheads & Cabs

If anyone needs the Silverliner corrugated striping, Greg King from Australia has decals. Contact Greg directly via email transitclassics@netspace.net.au . He has a very limited supply. Therefore, contact him immediately if you are interested. To date Sunset has not responded to my 2 request for replacement decals for my Silverliners.

You need to read the prior post "What the Glue?" to under stand something in the post.

Back to the Sunset Silverliners, when the 4 bulkheads are removed, you'll notice one from each coach has a small "entryway" built into the bulkhead itself. I tried to flatten out the bulkheads. No matter what was tried including soldering 1/16" square brass to the top and bottom, this bulkheads would not flatten out. Two new bulkheads were fashioned from 0.025" brass. In the photo you'll notice the holes drilled into the brass for the windows. Don't forget the "raIlfan" windows in the bulkheads of the coaches.

You should have noticed the bulkheads do not reach the ceilings which brings us to an offbeat discussion. Most models don't have the bulkheads or partitions reach the ceilings of the cars. Making bulkheads and partitions fit to the contours of the ceiling of a model can be difficult but not impossible. A beneficial effect of not having the bulkheads and partitions fit to the ceiling is the spilling of the interior lighting over the top of the bulkheads and partitions into the lavatory and other "walled" off areas within the model.

The same is true for the vestibules of the model. For the bulkhead leading to the motorman's area of the lead car, as much as possible, interior lighting must be excluded. You'll notice in the photo of the partitions, the one on the right has had a piece of brass soldered to it. Using a piece of card stock the curve of the ceiling was found. This curve was transferred to the piece of 0.025" brass soldered to the original bulkhead.

When finished the interior of the bulkheads were painted Floquil PolyScale Aged White. The side to face the ends of the cars was painted with an equal mixture of PolyScale Refrigerator White and NYC Jade Green. I know this is a lighter green than in the models but as long as all these parts are the same color no one should notice. Set the bulkheads aside for installation at a later time.

Next is the removal of all the interior lighting except for the lead car's headlight. The electric for the headlight is a separate module easily removed from the main light stick. The module works off of track voltage to provide a constant voltage. It will be rewired into the car's lighting later. In the photo note the use of a terry cloth towel and heavy duty hand towel to protect the exterior finish of the model. This photo shows the module and the wiring for the trolley poles. The piece of white plastic in the right end will be explained when we reach the topic of couplers.

This shows the light stick with the headlight module attached. Undo the screw holding the two together and break the connections of 2 wires to remove the headlight module. Leave the headlight module wired up to the headlight. The rear car's headlight will be taken out later.

Now remove the balance of the wiring. I didn't like the pole base screw mounting. The screw mounting consisted of a hex head "2-56" screw (In one coach it was a nut soldered to the screw while the other was a hex head screw.) inserted through a brass soldering tab, a smaller red fiber washer, a larger red fiber washer, and finally inserted into the plastic insulating bushing in the roof. All this was held in place with some form of ACC.

On one of my models one of the trolley screws had already come loose. There is no protection against side (back and forth) movement against the trolley base. In my parts bin were small pieces of a "phenolic" board once used for making electronic boards. It's an insulating material used 40-50 years ago. Since I like to place a screw through the roof to hold the trolley pole, small strips of the "phenolic” board were cut, drilled, and tapped 2-56. The old soldering tab was cleaned up and screwed to the "phenolic" board with a 2-56 screw.

You can use any type of trolley pole attachment method with which you are comfortable.

After removing any material protruding through the roof, the insulated trolley screw was secured to the roof. Once the adhesive is dry and wiring completed, ACC will be used to hold the screw and soldering tab in place. The clear material you see is "Kwik Seal" bath tub caulk. This assembly is secure enough to prevent and side movement of the trolley base.

One screw holds the representation of the motorman's closed compartment along with the controller and air brake equipment. Greg King took a look at these and decided to replace the entire interior of the cabs. From the photo you can tell they are "ugly"! BTW - The brake stand fell out of the cab when the cab was removed from the model.

For the lead coach, to add a motorman, the compartment has to be completely rebuilt. Here's my compartment made out of styrene along with the appropriate controller, air brake, etc. I left the door to the compartment open. For the other control compartments, a 1/16" brass angle was soldered along the 90 degree turn in the brass wall. While the brass is thick, it will not resist bending and twisting as the small window is cut out of the short wall. The piping holding up the brake stand was straightened out and a faux controller was installed.

Store the bulkheads and cabs in a safe location for installation later. Next are the long awaited couplers, underbody, and steps.

Cheers,

Ed