HE Express modifications

[chuck]

Thanks for the compliments. I forgot that using real cloth for the seat upholstery looks nice but you have the issue of how to secure the figures. You can't use Blue Tak or Wax or any other adhesive as that tends to mess up the cloth. I had purchased some 2mm x 1mm rare earth magnets for another project that didn't work out. I ran a test on a couple of the figures using a 1/16 drill bit to make a hole in the figure's seats for the magnets to fit in.



Here they are hanging onto my stainless steel square.



I will figure out a way to retrofit the six existing seats to use some mini washers I can glue in under the "cushions". When I get back to the project after the holidays I will incorporate same or some strapping material into the rest of the seats.

[Roy]

Do you want your passengers to be removable, for some reason?

[chuck]

As I eventually find more, I would like to be able to move/replace/repaint them. If the seats were made of anything but a plush cloth I could get by with some kind of tacky substance that could be cleaned up if needed. KE stainless strip works nicely for under the seat cushion install and the a*s magnets do grab.

I'm working on the under the floor wiring right now and the roof modifications. I have the partitions for the bathrooms installed and I MAY have some photo's later today (assuming I don't melt anything doing the solder splices).

[webenda]

I ran a test on a couple of the figures using a 1/16 drill bit to make a hole in the figure's seats for the magnets to fit in.

Ow, ow, ow! What kind of pain block did you use on those people? Does novocaine work on plastic?

Seriously, what a great idea. I have seen those tiny magnets in the hobby store. Some of the model airplane guys use them to hold access hatches on.

[chuck]

It was creepy drilling the holes.

[MartyE]

Looks like a pretty nice project Chuck. Thanks for sharing.

[G3750]

I ran a test on a couple of the figures using a 1/16 drill bit to make a hole in the figure's seats for the magnets to fit in.

Ow, ow, ow! What kind of pain block did you use on those people? Does novocaine work on plastic?

Seriously, what a great idea. I have seen those tiny magnets in the hobby store. Some of the model airplane guys use them to hold access hatches on.

I can just hear the conversations among the passengers.

"Hey Madge, does this magnet make my butt look big?"

George

[chuck]

Marty, Thanks for the compliments, nice to hear from you.

George, that's a great line.

Some new pictures on the progress. I have to find my little dental mirror to make adjustment to the roof when I test fitting it.



One thing I am taking away from this project is how hard this is to get everything to fit/work. This is very complicated. Even getting something to fit where you want/need is only half the battle. You have to be concerned with how the parts go together and taking into account that you may need to take it apart a later date to fix/change something. Sometimes the order of assembly forces changes you never considered.

This is a prototype of the above the seat luggage racks. The netting is fiberglass window screen and the "frame" is brass rod soldered to look "silvery". The brackets were the "hard" part until I hit on using staples with one "leg" cut off. I'm now thinking about having to make luggage to put in the racks

[Roy]

Chuck, I'm curious about your use of cloth-like materials on the seats. Did you see someone else's train made that way, or a dollhouse, that served as an inspiration?

[chuck]

Doll house work and consulting with my daughter. She was trained as a scenic designer and has made lots of set models. A little bit of cross over from doing 1/24 scale cars.

[Roy]

I like your magnet-and-metal-strip passenger fastening. Another idea I've been working on, is tie tacks. If you're using woven seat material, pins shouldn't be a problem. The tack retainers, mounted under the seat covering, might take some indexing, to locate properly.

[chuck]

I've seen pins used on diorama displays with the pins sinking into extruded styrofoam under the scenery or structures. It would be a little difficult with hard plastic and wood, I would have to drill pilot holes. That's especially hard on fabric as the drill flutes tend to grab and shred the fabric. On 1:1 scale projects with fabric covering I've had to use a punch or a heated nail to make the initial hole and then very carefully drill.

[Roy]

So Chuck, are you still working on your HE cars, or did you put them away until next Xmas?

[chuck]

Still working on the "prototype" combination coach. I may have some new photo's later today. I've come up with the "wall" between the compartments and the corridor and I'm just letting the glue set up, each section is added to the previous ones.

I've also got almost everything I need cut for the second bank in coach one and a bunch of parts cut for the remaining two. I need to find some vey fine wire to make up the ceiling light harness and finish the modifications to the roof. The luggage racks and sconces can be added later as I am trying to make it relatively easy to get back inside (unlike the way Lionel did it). Once coach one is done, I will open up the brake coach to come up with a design for it.

In doing additional research I came across a video of the Universal Florida theme park ride. The coaches used in that "train" are very close to the Lionel cars, they just dropped the last few feet where the bathrooms would be. Also, that train does not "turn around". They just back it up for the ride from Hogsmeade back to London. The far windows are TV screens and the corridor panels appear to be the windows that have LCD elements that grey out and double as a "rear" projection screen during the ride, aka shadowing Dementors or characters passing in the corridor with appropriate dialog or sound effects.

Built up compartment





Test fit. The floor and side panel are not where the should be. They are being pushed up by the wiring that has to be tacked into place with some "warm" hot melt glue. The roof has to be notched to allow for the transverse panels. I could not do this until I had the compartments built up. I like the way the cloth seat covers look.

[Roy]

This is going to be amazing! Have you thought about leaving some of the corridor doors open, to get a little more outside light into the compartments?