truck swing. With these alterations, the bottom of the underbody perfectly matched those of my other passenger cars. One issue taken care of. I returned to the body and glued the window sills in place and after adding the pre-cut door trim, installed the door sills as well. By this time, the builder should have drilled out the holes on each end for the end railings. Next, us- ing thick cyanoacrylate, install the end and baggage doors. Even though I knew I wasn’t going to go the route of the sep- arately available, full interior, I did as- semble the partition that separates the passenger and baggage compartments that was included in my review kit. An alternative to this, and one that adds a bit more rigidity to the body, is to shape the insert from the end construction jig and glue it into place. At this point, I brush-painted the carbody with two coats of Floquil Pull- man Green and turned my attention to the end platforms and steps. This is where the question of couplers
must be addressed. The Monson rail- road, somehow, escaped the require- ments to convert from link-and-pin cou- plers and stuck with those incredibly dangerous devices until its demise. I be- lieve there are O scale link-and-pin cou- plers available, but I am not familiar with them. Some O scalers also use Ser- gent couplers on narrow gauge cars. I use Kadees on my On30 cars as do many others and to mount them on this car, I had to experiment a bit. Long-time two-foot modeler Chris McChesney told me that the standard coupler height on Maine narrow gauge equipment was close to 16″ on center of the knuckle. Us- ing Kadee’s HO coupler height gauge, the matching dimension is about 18″ above the rail head which is close enough for me. The platforms are creat- ed by assembling laser-cut center sill extensions, the wooden step parts and the cast brass end beams. I spaced the sill extensions slightly wider apart to accommodate the shank of Kadee No. 5 couplers. In addition, I glued small pieces of stripwood, matching the height of the underframe beams to the outside of the two center beams to in- crease the gluing surface there. I also glued in place a length of stripwood, equal to the height of the frame beams, to the underside of the platform itself. I then rounded the ends of the coupler shanks using a file, laid them in posi- tion, taking into account the width of the cast end beams, and marked the center of the mounting hole. To get a screw started, a did a couple
of turns with the correct bit into the shim. I cut up a Kadee mounting box to fit in the space between the sills (a force fit is best), inserted the couplers, put the box in position and ran in the screw. With baited breath, I mounted the trucks and compared the coupler
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
height to the Kadee tool–perfect. This may sound complicated and I’m sure some of you can do it more simply. The rest of the assembly was pretty straightforward. Since I intended to do a few “post-review” modifications to match my existing rolling stock, I first bent and soldered uncoupling levers to the brass end beams. I then dunked them in the gun blackener, touched up any bright spots with Floquil Grimy Black, and glued the beams in place. As a side note, be very careful when drilling out the top of the railing for the brake staff. Next, the queen posts and mount- ing n.b.w. castings were glued in place on the needle beams and then the beams were glued in place. I bent the truss rods from the included wire and added the turnbuckles. On the roof, I drilled out mounting holes, inserted a piece of wire into the bottom of the stack and installed it and the lamp vents. Giv- ing these castings a light cleanup with a file, I carefully glued the end handrails into the pre-drilled holes. The roof itself is a snug fit on the
body and is beautifully molded. Mine did have a gap in the letterboard which I patched with cyanoacrylate and some resin flash. I sprayed the underside and the letterboards with Pullman Green and then brush painted the roof itself with Grimy Black. This paint went on smoothly and left a bit of texture as it dried. There is no window glazing mate- rial in the kit; so I used clear styrene cut close to the window size and held in place with Allane’s Tacky Glue. The stove shield covers the front window on the left side, but Gary Kohler says there was glass in the window as well. I in- stalled the stove and made a couple of simulated benches from leftover fret material from the kit. Shades are from an old mailing envelope. I don’t believe decals are available, but the prototype’s lettering, on the green livery, was sup- posedly white. The later reddish/orange paint scheme had no lettering. The de- cals for my SC&SR are from Microscale. A few passengers took their seats and the car was completed. This kit, while not for the faint-of-
heart, results in a superb replica of the unique, prototype car. The instructions included with my kit were a bit sparse, but an experienced modeler who is fa- miliar with the mechanics of narrow gauge modeling should be able to work around this issue. There is also an on- going lesson by Chris McChesney on Portland Locomotive Work’s Yahoo Group website under the “Files” sec- tion that will be of value as well. The kit’s base price of $125.00, plus $35.00 for the interior if desired, will provide narrow gaugers with a vigorous and satisfying modeling experience. Check with Portland Locomotive Works for availability, as the kit is produced on a limited basis.–BOB BENNET
OVER 75 EASY TO BUILD LASER CUT WOOD KITS IN HO AND N SCALE ARE AVAILABLE NOW AT YOUR DEALERS
WE PUT MODELLING BACK IN MODEL RAILROADING
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TEEN-AGERS
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SELECTABLE END FITTINGS
15% Smaller than our 202S . 165"Travel - Shim plate for elevation Five different ends:
1. Hook for ATLAS 2. Blade for ROCO 3. Hole for PECO 4. Rd. Pin for others 5. Sm. Rd. pin for Micro Eng.
HO Scale with .190" travel
117R Rigid .............$3.30 218S Sprung .........$3.40 5218S (5 pcs) .......$16.25
STANDARD GROUND THROWS
HO Scale with .190” travel
101R Rigid ..................$3.15 202S Sprung...............$3.30 5202S (5 pcs)............$15.75
N Scale with .135” travel
105R Rigid ..................$3.20 206S Sprung...............$3.40
Atlas “Mark 2” and O Scale with .280” travel
107R Rigid ..................$3.30 208S Sprung...............$3.45
AT DEALERS OR DIRECT.
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GROUND THROW with
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