To paraphrase Vane Jones, "Knowledge is of little value until shared with others."

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Is It Better to Leave Things as They Are? (Part 1)


For our honeymoon, my bride and I went to a vacation resort on one of the many small lakes west of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Most of the days were sunny, warm, and beautiful. On a day which was was cold and rainy, I talked by bride into going to Milwaukee supposedly to go shopping and sightseeing.

In the back of my mind was a plan to visit the Walthers shop at 1245 N. Water St. If you're my age you may recognize the address and be able to tell how long ago this was. The store was small with some of the many models built from the kits Walthers offered for sale displayed.

One of the display cases had a car from a kit almost completely assembled. Only the painted, finished sides were left off.  In case you are not aware, the way Walthers passenger car kits (including their interurban kits) were to be assembled - the floor, ends, and roof were to be attached and painted. The interior was to be added next. The sides were painted and lettered. After the window material was added, the sides were to be attached to the model with glue and if needed nailed onto the floor and roof.

I wanted a souvenir of our visit to the Walthers store. At the time the Walthers interurban kits didn't interest me. One kit which did interest me was a short, Lionel size, executive or business car. It was about the size of a steel South Shore car before lengthening. The kit would make a great business car to be run on a trolley line although it was wider than most interurban cars.. 

A couple of years after purchase, the kit was assembled with a Walthers interior kit used. The almost standard Wagner Baldwin 8440 power and trail trucks were installed. The only alterations were a motorman's door at the front right of the car, the cutting of 2 windows into the front end, and installing a door in the center of the front end. Trolley poles were installed on the roof. The balance of the car had appropriate traction items added.

The model was paint traction orange with a black roof and underbody. Now the question came! What to name the car? The executive decision was to name the car after my wife, "Lois Ann".

Fast forward to today -  the "Lois Ann" was starting to look a little old. The paint was very dull and the interior looked its age. I wanted to paint the letter board maroon so the car would be orange and maroon. The name of my railway, the "Chicago & Utopia Railway" was to be on the letter board. 
The process of taking the car apart has started. The trolley poles have been removed and the roof is loose from the body.

The model was taken apart. Alterations were made and the interior was upgraded. The letterboard was maroon with a new railway name in gold letters. There was a rebuilt interior. Then "things" didn't go as planned! When a coat of Glosscoat was applied to the car body, one side of the car was blotchy!

The only way to correct the problem was to completely repaint the car. BUT, with a simple repaint over everything would  give an uneven finish with the outline of the old decals showing. This called for a striping of the old paint off and restarting the painting process.

The repainting is in the next post.

Cheers,
Ed




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