The reason I refer readers back to prior blogs is I do not want to take out time to cover material which has been covered before. This blog like many of the model railroad blogs should be read from the beginning. Material which was covered before can be quickly reviewed by reader.
Next comes the addition of the roof vents. When the prototype car was built Garland vents were used. These are the same vents the car had when it was converted to a Silverliner. The 2 non-conventional Silverliners, combination car 215 and the 409, continued to have their original vents on the roofs.
Luckily at a recent O Scale Show I picked-up some cast brass vents which had been left over from producing O scale NSL cars in brass. The vents I obtained were either used to make the MTS or The Car Works NSL models.
The vents came with the strap metal protector over the vent. The strap metal was added by the NSL to protect the vent from errant trolley poles or other items. All I had to do was to clean-up the castings and straighten out the straps.
If you do not have vents like mine, you will have to use Garland vents and add the straps. After the vents are installed make the straps out of thin, narrow pieces of brass. Both the vents and the straps can be ACC'ed to the roof.
Using both the MR plans for the 409 plus photos the vents were ACC'ed to the roof. The remaining items to ACC to the roof were the electrical junction box at the #1 end of the car, the roof fuse, and some copper wire to look like the electrical cable from the trolley pole bases to the roof fuse and electrical junction box. You can refer to the prior posts mentioned above to see what the junction box and roof fuse look like.
The replacement piece of styrene roof board should be ACC'ed in place. The replacement piece should blend in to touch. Run you fingers over it. Use a small straight edge to be sure it is not bowed. It may have to be shimmed with paper or thin styrene to fit in correctly. If need-be place a weight on top as the ACC cures.
Finally 2 trolley pole hooks were soldered to the end of a roof board. These were soldered on instead of ACC'ed due to the amount of handling the trolley pole hooks get. If correctly soldered on trolley pole hooks will take a lot of abuse before coming off. Also, if soldered on the trolley pole hooks can be used as part of a pole reverse electrical circuit.
This is the roof with all items added prior to painting.
In preparation for painting, clean off the roof with a good brush. Inspect the roof for any imperfections. The areas with body putty should be smooth and level to the touch. The primer will cover some extremely minor imperfections. The light color of the primer can be used to see imperfections hidden by the black paint. Fix any problems prior to the final painting. Take your time - do not rush through this process.
Mask off the roof with a quality masking tape. Be cautious not to touch the Silverliner part of the model with the tape. I applied a coating of Rustoleum Automotive Primer first. After the primer was allowed to dry for 24 hours Floquil Weathered Black was sprayed over the roof.
The 2-56 screws for the trolley poles have been added after the masking was removed.
The Weathered Black is a black-gray color which mimics what gloss or flat black would look like if left outside in the weather and sun. It didn't take long for a newly painted NSL car to loose its gloss and newness after coming from the paint shop. A NSL employee told me depending upon the weather as little as one high speed round trip between Chicago and Milwaukee would start the process of removing the gloss.
Remove the masking from your model. Inspect your model. I found if my model was held upside-down, the area of the roof matts over the end doors and diaphragm was unpainted. A small brush was used to "touched up" this area by hand.
Next will come a fix of a pilot then on to the hardest part of the conversion!
Cheers,
Ed
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