James Wall’s Southern Railway 11 BRM

IO Groups Sleeper Project

Information gathered and reformatted by Steve Smith - 08 MAY 2020 | NCRails.com

SOURCE: https://groups.io/g/RPMclinics-JamesWall/topic/southern_11_brm_sleeper/69769382?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,0,69769382

So to start this clinic off I will post the parts needed. Now the first part is going to be hard to

find or very costly, I looked the other day and Walthers still has the car but it is $84!

Base car is a Walthers PS 11 double bedroom sleeper. Any sleeper will do as the bedroom

arrangement has to be changed. Palace Car Co. lightweight sleeper interior Union Station

Products Southern 11 DBL bedroom sides: https://unionstationproducts.com/-4162-r-sr-ps-

fluted-side-11-bedroom-sleeper.html

These are the three basic parts needed to start this clinic. I will give anyone a couple of days to

order as I have some projects to clear away before starting this clinic.

NOTE: Those that order the Union Station Products sides, PLEASE follow their directions if

you use the Walther base car! You have to measure your car length as they describe on the

order page to insure the correct length of your sides. Even the Walthers cars vary!

We will also cover using Alclad paint. I prefer the stainless steel or chrome colors for

passenger cars. You will also need Scalecoat II NYC light grey. It will not hurt to have Alclad

gloss and flat clear. I will be using decals I printed years ago from Donnie Dixon'x artwork.

Rick Bell has offered a discount for anyone participating in the clinic on the purchase of the

Walthers 11 Double bedroom sleeper (Walthers part number 920-9538).

https://www.walthers.com/85-pullman-standard-placid-series-11-double-bedroom-sleeper-

ready-to-run-union-pacific-r-city-of-los-angeles-yellow-gray-red-w-decals

Please contact Rick Bell for full discount info at: http://www.dccinstallsandsales.com

I want to start with some preliminary info on building this car.

First, you can also use a Train Station Products Pullman Standard core kit. I have used this

product and it is nice but presents some extra work. These kits are getting scarce and hard to

find. It will require the purchase of a complete interior kit, the Walthers Car does not require

the interior kit. Next it will also require an underbody equipment kit. I am not that familiar

with some underbody components and do not have a drawing of the underbody for this project.

I generally just reuse the donor car's underbody.

Secondly, to start disassembly of any Walthers passenger car, remove the trucks and coupler

pockets. Also remove any screws found in the underbody of the car. Walthers passenger cars

can be temperamental to get apart, I recommend watching the following YouTube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2A-QrqiPc

Additional Information: (Added by Steve Smith, https://ncrails.com)

Viewing Album: Southern Rwy Woodstock, Al. wreck trains 48 and Second 47

By: Bob Hasty

Dates: 11/25/1951 - 11/25/1951

Album Info: On November 25, 1951, The Crescent was routed off its normal route south of

Atlanta via A&WP/WRwy of Al and L&N to the all Southern Rwy route to New Orleans.

Operating as Second #47 and following First #47, the Southerner, it was lined up to meet train

#48 at Woodstock, Al. Train 48 went into the siding, met First #47then went through the switch

at the north end of the siding resulting in a head-on collision with 17 deaths. Train 48 consist:

Engine 2823, cars (all Southern) 700, 833, 952, 815, 3312, 827, 821 & 1102. Consist of Train

2nd 47: Engines 2915 & 2801, cars LN 1120, LN 3252, AWP 69, AWP 68, Burch River, Otter

River, Crescent Moon, AWP 501, Senickley Inn, Schuylkill River, Seneca River and Luther

Calvin Norris. ICC report available at:

http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/Document?db=DOT-

RAILROAD&query=%28select+3409%29

So to begin this clinic we need to disassemble the Walthers Car. The YouTube video in the earlier

post is the best way to start. You also need to remove some other parts as well. We start with

the trucks and underframe. In all we are looking to remove about 12 screws from the underneath

of the car (see photo).

Once you have these parts off and at least one side disassembled, the car comes apart much easier.

Now you can use an X-acto blade and pry off the remaining side off as well as the roof. You will

now have a model that looks like this:

As stated in an earlier post to order the Union Station sides you must measure the length of your

model from end to end. The ends on a Walthers Car are beveled with the side. You need to

measure to the longest part of the bevel.

The main reason for all this work is the interior of our starting model is just the opposite from the

Southern car we are modeling so the interior must be removed and turned 180 degrees. The

interior is held in with some tape and pins into the side. The tape holds the weight and interior

light contacts. If you want to light the car later, be careful in removing the contact strips. The

pins in the floor that connects to the side.

The end product of disassembly you should have a remaining outer frame with ends, the roof, the

underbody and interior. At this point you should have your car stripped down to the interior

bracing, weights and ends.

Now temporarily reinstall the floor with a screw on each end to give the car some rigidity while

we redo the interior. You see here how the interior does not match the windows. For further

reference the front of the car is the vestibule end. So below you are seeing the right side of the

car with the bedrooms moved to this side, completely opposite of the Walthers car. This is the

right side of the car:

There are several cuts we need to make to fit the interior. First remove about a 1/4 inch from

the end near the vestibule. The next cut needs to be between bedrooms 4 & 5.

Above you see the partitions removed and saved for later use. The next cuts are between bedrooms

7 & 8 and more than likely again At 9 & 10. The last cut will be determined while fitting the

interior.

With the floor attached we will now remove the ends for details and painting. Push the tabs inside to release the

end.

This model will need to be painted before assembly. We will now finish the final disassembly

and start to build our side kit. First we need one measurement. You will need to use your calipers

and measure the depth of the side at the bevel on the car end.

I find this the best way to measure as you do not get any misinformation from rivets or other

details on the old car side. Also the car side could possibly be a little thicker than this

measurement. Last this is the exact depth we want to match for our new sides.

Once you have this measurement, measure the thickness of your new siding and subtract that

measurement from the bevel depth. In the case of my measurements the depth was .040. My

new sides were .020, therefore I need to add .020 to the sides to bring them up to the height of

the bevel.

Once you have this measurement and calculations done remove the screws we added back to

reinforce the model while we worked. You now want to remove the underbody and prep it, the

trucks and the coupler guides for paint. Wash these parts and set aside to dry.

Now we will look at our side kit.

In the picture above we see the kit parts. Top to bottom we have the clear window cuts. The

next “short” piece is the letter boards. Then the ribs for the car side and finally the actual car

sides. As you can see the ribs are longer than the car sides. We need to cut a small piece from

the end and test glue it to some scrap. Why you ask, well as the kit directions state some glues

will distort the car sides. Here are two I recommend for this job. I tested both of these and both

worked nicely.

So to continue from here I cut the ribs down to within 1/8th inch of correct length. I then glued

the top rib onto the car side starting at the vestibule (door) end. I slowly worked my way down

the side applying a small amount of glue to the side and then the rib and pressing them firmly

together. The top rib is glued even with the car side top edge. The bottom ribbing is glued to the

scribed line near the bottom of the car side.

Some additions and corrections on the car siding. First as you measure the length of the fluting

leave it about 1/8th inch long. When you begin to glue the fluting to the siding leave a scale 3

inches from the vestibule door for the hand grab.

You should be able to see dimples on the car siding for drilling the hand grab mount holes. There

should be six each side all at the door. Once the glue has dried for 24 hours, you should have a

siding that looks like this:

Now the extra length we kept on the fluting is ready to be removed. Place the fluting on the down

side and using a sharp Exacto knife, #2 in my instance, cut the fluting to length now even with

the side end.

Cut to length and sand:

Drill all the grab holds on the ends:

We are about ready to paint the sides. Next step will be to add the lettering, name and number boards. I am

woking to find suitable picture for placing these on the car. At this time you need to be thinking of the color for

the roof of the car. Mine will be black.

Here is the underbody reinstalled and the side framing now glued.

I started looking over the right side of the car and noticed a major omission. The small window

just after the vestibule door and before the first bedroom window is not present. So we will

have to add it. I measured a Walthers 10-6 sleeper for the window size and location and

transferred these to the Union Station side.

Here is the picture:

I used a X-acto #11 blade and the a round rat tail file to make the round corners. This is a slow

work process as to not over enlarge the window we are adding.

We are now ready to add the lettering and number boards. I carefully studied the prototype photos

I had at my use and found that the upper Southern letter board and the car name board were not

centered. They are shifted forward toward the vestibule. Also in this process of marking the

locations I found that some of the windows on the side are off by a slight difference from

measurements I made at Spencer on the Royal Arch.

That said, remember that the Royal Arch is a replacement car made from a 10-6 sleeper. The car

in the museum at Spender, NC has only the 11 bedroom side and still carries her original 10-6

configuration on the aisle side.

The kit supplied side is correct however for the Royal Arch, as you can see the plated over window here:

On the letter and number boards I made compromise in the positioning.

The lower board is measured out for Luther Calvin Norris and allows for 3 inches spacing on

each end. The board for Southern was measured out to 31 scale feet.

The number board near the ends:

Now it is time to do some reading and studying on how we will paint our car. If you have not

used Alclad paint or need a refresher, I highly recommend reading this thread from the Atlas

Rescue Forum. This forum is active and is a group member's idea to keep the old Atlas sponsored

forum alive.

https://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/863/alclad-basic-steps-stainless-trains

As always remember to wash your sides and the ends with Dawn dish detergent, original blue,

others have additives for skin protection that hinder paint adhesion. I will be using Scalecoat II

NYC light gray per the above info. I will cover more on the items needed for painting later.

Start of painting process.

To start the painting process once you have washed the sides and ends, we will first apply a coats

of the Scalecoat 2 NYC light grey as seen here on the ends.

This is thinned with about 6 drops of Scalecoat 2 thinner and about 1/4 of the mix is Scalecoat 2 gloss. The gloss

is added as the Alclad likes a gloss surface for the metallizer to show. Here are the sides with a single thin coat

of Alclad 2 stainless steel. There will be several more coats of the Alclad of various colors added.

Now as a continuation of the painting process, allowing 24 hours of drying time between

applications, here are the sides after the third and fourth coat of Alclad2.

Now as a comparison to a factory painted Walthers 10-6 sleeper.

On top we have the side from our Alclad2 paint process and the lower lettered car is a Walthers

10-6 sleeper painted silver.

Next step is to apply the gloss clear coat. It is very necessary to use the Alclad gloss as other

products may damage the Alclad paint.

I do understand that Alclad paint is a huge investment but I for one find it makes a difference.

Not only for train models but I have used it for fire truck models and other projects. My Alclad

paint is nearly two year or older.

So to continue the build process thru paint. After a 24 hour or more wait for the Alclad paint to

dry, we next apply the Alclad clear gloss finish as seen here:

The gloss finish will bring out the remaining shine for the stainless steel. After allowing the gloss

finish to dry, we are ready to apply the decals. Yes I know this is not the normal way to do a car

but with all the paint steps the sides must be finished before final assembly.

Here are the decaled sides. Lettering decals are from Donnie Dixon’s artwork, the SR emblem

is Microscale. I do know that Donnie’s website is no longer functioning so I am not sure how

available the artwork is for printing.

Now that the decals are set, they need to be sealed. If you have eon hand the Alclad2 Gloss clear

just use a long haired brush and apply an even coat over each decal. This stuff is thin so it does

not take much. Give this clear coat 48 hours to dry. If you don't feel comfortable with brushing

the clear coat you can airbrush one last coat over the entire side. While waiting on the clear to

dry and seal the decals we can add the .020 shims to the Walthers interior frame. I used .020 X

.020 on the ends and .020 X .100 on the top and bottom.

The roof is in place at this time to mark where the top shim should be. You can also go ahead

and add the ends. If you plan on adding the lighted interior no is the time to put the contacts back

in the model.

Once the last clear coat is dry it is time to add the window glazing. First thing is to use a Sharpie

fine point black marker and do the inner ring of each window to simulate the window gasket.

Work slowly, if you do have a slip then a thin tip brush with 70% ISO will remove the mistake,

work smoothly if you have to remove a marker slip and wipe with a paper towel. A heavy coat

of ISO will damage the Alclad2 paint.

Now using your favorite canopy glue, used by aircraft modelers for the canopies, attach the

window glazing to the inside to the shell. It is a good time to look at where the styrene shims to

raise the side are to insure that the window glazing does not interfere. Using CA may fog the

window. For those not familiar with canopy glue: https://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-

Hobbies/Model-Kits/Tools-Adhesives/Canopy-Glue/p/80968575

As you can see these look pretty nice. The Union Station sides are thin enough that the window

material does have a nice prototype look. Now to add the interior. I showed earlier the pieces I

cut from the interior and it is now time to add them back and arrange them. You may have some

room dividers that come apart as you cut, SAVE these!

So we start at the vestibule end and put the interior divider back in. Next we put in the first piece

of the interior that has the closet. This piece should have four bedrooms. You can see the cut at

the fourth room.

Now for the next you should have a section with two rooms one being a smaller room.

Next section is three bedrooms. You might have had one piece/divider that came loose during

cutting. Add it back now to the front bedroom for the divider. The last section consists of two

bedrooms and should come up short. In the Royal Arch at Spencer, NC this is the shower area

for the entire car.

In this photo, you can see the last bedroom and several divider I had leftover. I made the interior

wall at the bottom to be the shower area. The area in the top is the electrical closet on the Royal

Arch.

So now to the last step. Our last step is to replace the roof. If the roof was removed properly this should just be

a matter of snapping it back in place. I do not glue these roofs on in case the need arises to adjust something,

add weight or lights later on. Also you can now replace the trucks and add you favorite coupler, my model has

Sergent H couplers. The last detail I added was American Limited diaphragms. If you chose you can reuse the

Walthers parts. Here is the final product: - James Wall, Rural Hall, NC

END