Kitbashing a Pittsburgh Railways interurban car
The kitbash’s parts have been primed and are ready for painting (above). Now painted and fully assembled, the interurban model rumbles through South Hills Junction (below).
front and an oval window at the rear. The double window was not a problem because I had extra pieces made, but I had to make the small arched and oval windows. This was not difficult, but it would have been much easier to have done it on the laser. To keep the sides straight and strong
I glued strips of ¹₈″ square stripwood along the top edge and just above the floor location. In the top strip I made a recess the thickness of the acetate I
used window for glazing, making it much easier to attach the acetate after painting and weathering the car. The glazing is slipped under the lip above and tack-glued at the bottom. Once I finished the sides I built the kit as per the instructions. substituting my sides and ends for the kit pieces and adding details based on the PRCo. car. I made use of EZ Line from Berkshire
Junction in two places on the model. The truss rods are the thick EZ Line. I coated
the ends of the EZ Line with cyanoacry- late and allowed it to dry while I drilled holes through the floor. The EZ Line was threaded through the turnbuckles, through the holes, then tied off and ce- mented to the inside of the floor. Thin EZ Line was used for the window guards. After the painting and weathering was finished I stretched it across the win- dows just enough to take out the slack, then cemented it to each window post with a drop of Micro Scale Krystal Klear applied with a toothpick. Krystal Klear holds the EZ Line in place but does not attack it like cyanoacrylate does. Since it also dries clear the car color is not hid- den. A dab of flat coat got rid of the sheen. I used EZ Line in these two places because I manage to grab one or the oth- er every time I pick up the car; brass wire would bend out of shape. The La Belle kit I have is powered with a large motor with a larger fly- wheel and a rubber belt drive. I had a little trouble fine tuning the drive. Get- ting it into the car was also a problem because of all the bracing I added; much of the bracing has been carved away to allow the motor to fit into the car. My 3600-class car now serves the in- terurban lines on my layout. To learn more about the layout and South Hills Junction in Pittsburgh, go to http://
www.eastpenn.org/shj.htm.
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JANUARY 2012
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