Model Railroading > D&RGW #1248-1250 dome coaches

i would love to build this particular car using a Lambert C&O car the biggest change i need to make is adding the diaphragm and support structure to the rear of the observation.

Any ideas?

thanks

John Ruehle

Yes, look on-line at the auction sites for a Palace Car Co. nickle-plated brass model of the actual DRGW car. I just sold mine, mint in box, yesterday for $400. Don't waste your efforts trying to make a purse out of a sow's ear. The correct Palace Car Co. car shows up every now and then. Warning: Division Point made the car you want too, with all the bells and whistles, BUT the Koreans painted the roof silver. I guess they did it to match DP's other Royal Gorge cars that  were built by Pullman with silver painted roofs. However, DRGW's dome observation car was built by Budd and had a typical unpainted stainless roof. That's a big error for a DP car that costs +/- $1000! 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/18 00:08 by RRBaron.

The OP onlty wanted to modify what he already had and you want to upgrade him for $400-$1000.  I don't really know if you're doing him any favors (in the wallet).

SP3800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i would love to build this particular car using a
> Lambert C&O car the biggest change i need to make
> is adding the diaphragm and support structure to
> the rear of the observation.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> thanks
>
> John Ruehle

Looks like you will need to build the rear housing from styrene and then file and sand to custom fit. As I recall, these Lambert cars had oversize windows. Not much you can do to fix that. Anyway, good luck. Send photos if you like. 

cabman Wrote:
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> The OP onlty wanted to modify what he already had
> and you want to upgrade him for $400-$1000.  I
> don't really know if you're doing him any favors
> (in the wallet).

A) Thanks for your opinion. 
B) As a DRGW modeler I wanted to save him frustration with getting the car to look right.
C) Yes, there was someone out there who thought $400 is a fair price to get the car to look right--I know, I sold him mine on line in a few mins. 
D) No, I don't want him to spend $1000 for an incorrectly painted car--I didn't when I had a chance to buy the DP car. 
E) Alas, to some people--POTUS for instance--$1000 is lunch money, if even that. 

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/18 08:46 by RRBaron.

Seems doable, as mentioned above I would build up the extension with styrene. For the end door details you could kitbash it from an older junk car that you are willing to part with. Finish it off with a Hi-Tech Details diaphragm.

For the diaphgragms I kitbashed the Walthers and IHC diaphragms, using the paper bellows from the Walthers, and the strike plate, torsion rods, and leaf spring from the IHC.

I trimmed back the tabs on the IHC being careful not to break the torsion bars, and cut the leaf spring off.  ACC'd the bellows (after repeatedly flattening and creasing it to create more flexibility) to the back of the strike plate, and the leaf spring to the top of the car (there will be a gap between the strike plate and leaf spring but that can't be helped and is not really noticable.  Then ACC'd the assembly to the end of the car.

I have 30" curves on my HO scale layout (28" hidden tracks) and very seldom have a problem, and if I do it's usually because the diaphragms are snagging on each other during shoving moves on a curve or turnout.  So what I do I ACC on a piece of clear sytrene, same size as the strike plate so mid-train you cannot really see it.

It does take some practice and experimenting but the effect of zero gaps between the cars makes it well worth it.  Here's a couple of examples at the end of the trains; naturally we don't couple other cars to these ends due to the taillight and drumhead.

John

 

John Acosta
Palm Springs, CA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/18 16:41 by Josta.

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