One of the details missing from the roof of the Baldie is the line of rivets around the bottom of the roof where the roof joined to the sides and ends of the car. There are also lines of rivets which go from side to side over the crown of the roof where the ARMCO steel plates were joined together to make the roof.
It's the single row of rivets which go around the bottom of the roof that I am interested in placing on the model. The best way of installing the rivets is to use the Archer Surface AR 88063 "7/8-inch rivets for streetcars and interurbans O-scale".
These are "regular" decals meant to be dipped in water, slid off the decal paper backing, and applied to the model. After an application of a decal setting solution, the decal material "disappears". The 7/8" rivets match the rivets already on the sides and ends of the model.
The black rivet heads can be seen. I had applied the rivets before finishing the vent in the roof.
Only the most fastidious modeler will notice the rivets on the roof joining the steel plates together are not duplicated on the my model.
Rain Gutters
Before applying the roof gutters on your model refer to the picture of your prototype car. The big difference between cars, even in the same series, is the location of the rain gutters at the #1 end of the car. Some cars had the rain gutters below the air intake vent while other cars had these gutters over the vent.
I chose 0.015" x 0.020" styrene for the rain gutters on my model. In O scale, 0.015" model = 3/4" prototype and 0.020" model = 1" prototype. This size material also best matches the rain gutters on a Q-Car Plushie model.
On most of the CRT/CTA Baldies the rain gutters were the width of the doorway over which they were placed. After examining photos, mark in pencil were the gutters are to be placed. Most of the gutters looked almost flat as opposed to other passenger cars where the gutters were pitched.
Gently "tack" one end of the rain gutter in place. The gutters are to be installed on edge or the 0.015" side next to the roof. If the gutter is correctly placed, then using a toothpick place a drop of glue on the other top end of the gutter. Use the toothpick to flow the glue towards the other end.
The glue will fill in the top of the gutter. When the glue cures, the glue will provide a fillet between the gutter and the roof.
With a fingernail emery board I smoothened the edges at both ends round. From experience, if the ends are left with a "sharp" edge it's easy for them to be caught by paper towels or cloths during cleaning and torn off. Once the model is all done and ready for display, it's a pain to replace a roof gutter. Missing roof gutters are easy to spot!
It looks like some more cleaning of this vent detail is required. Note the rivet line around the bottom of the roof after primering.
Primering
Now is the time to apply another thin coat of primer on your model. The new roof detail will blend in with the balance of the model. Any area(s) where body filler had to be applied to the model will blend in as well.
After the primer dries, inspect your model for any "assembly" defects. Now is the time to correct them. Close up photos are great for "pointing out" any problems.
Plushie vs. Baldie Roofs
Finally something most of individuals are not aware of when comparing the Baldie vs. a Plushie. Below is a photo of the Baldie and a Q-Car Plushie. Do you notice anything about the bottom roof lines? The bottom of the roof on the Plushie is lower then the bottom of the roof of the Baldie.
The Plushie is on the left while the Baldie is on the right. Notice the difference in the bottom line of the roofs.
I had to go round and round with Terry, the designer and producer of the Baldie kit. There is a difference in the way the roofs of these 2 series of cars were installed. Both series of cars started out with the same amount of material for the letterboard
The Baldie was a metal (roof) on metal (side and end) construction. The amount of material required for the overlap and riveting of the 2 materials together was only about an inch. It could have been less.
The Plushie with a canvas electrically insulated roof, required different construction of apply the canvas roofing material to either the wood or metal sides and ends. To give you a complete picture of what is required to install a new canvas roof on a railway car read what Randy Hicks of the Illinois Railway Museum had to do to install a new roof on a CA&E car.
The posts start about September 22, 2013 when Randy started to work on the roof of CA&E 36. This URL should take you to that post http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/search/label/319%20Progress?updated-max=2013-10-17T21:11:00-05:00&max-results=20&start=57&by-date=false
You'll have to "page" forward to newer post as you read what was involved in replacing the canvas on the car. Pay particular attention to the "tack rail" parts of the posts.
A tack rail has to be thick enough to hold the tacks holding the canvas to the side of the car - perhaps 1 or more inches thick. At the same time the tack rail as to be 1-1/2" - 2 or more inches wide. It has to be attached to the car side with screws or small bolts.
The overall effect of the tack rail is to have the roof material come down lover than the metal roof to metal side construction. This equals a letterboard with less area for the name of the railroad. At the same time the roof extends over the side more - the thickness of both the tack rail and the canvas material.
On the Baldie the roof should only be as wide as the sides while on the Plushie the roof extends a combined 4 or so inches over the sides.
BTW- if you aren't a regular reader of Randy's blog, shame on you.
Both the Plushie and Baldie are ready for painting. The past 6 weeks have been a busy time for me. The Annual March O Scale Meet held in the Chicago area is an important event. It includes visiting many O scale trolley layouts, including mine. Most of the trolley layout tours are private events - by invitation only.
After the Annual O Scale Meet some of my models which did not operate as expected have been repaired.
Coming up is the biannual East Penn Traction Meet in May. There will be many friends to meet and have a chance to talk with. I always try to bring a model or 2 to run on the EPTC modular layout. My models represent the Chicago and Midwest area.
To see if my models will operate on the EPTC modules, they are tested on my special test layout. This layout has both 9" and 12" curves.
Blue arrows = 12" radius curves
Green arrows = 12" radius Old Pullman turnouts
Red arrows = 9" radius curves
The small aluminum rectangle in the lower right is the control panel for the layout. The layout is broken into 5 blocks. The yellow ties are the locations of cuts (with insulating rail joiners) in the rails. The black and red jacks are for power to the layout. More about this layout later.
Cheers,
Ed
