"U" gotta see Geoff Gooderham's new "U"

[Puddington]

Vancouver's "Hero of the Canadian Pacific Passenger Modeller"; Mr. Geoff Gooderham has struck again and struck HUGE.... He has produced the "U" series Tourist Sleeper resin shell and kit....

He sent me one and it arrived today............... (drumroll please.)


The "U" series has been a difficult bash for many; but now thanks to Geoff; it's available as a kit (Central Hobbies in Vancouver carries Geoff's offerings)

Here's a bit of the "U" series history, thanks to the BGR Group, who make the shell in HO scale:


In 1950 25 "P" series and 3 "N" series 12 section 1 drawing room sleeping cars were converted to 14 section "G" series tourist sleepers. The only internal change was to remove the drawing room and to fit two open sections in its place. This group of “G” sleepers was not fitted with kitchens as were the other “G” sleepers in the fleet. The 28 sleepers that were chosen for conversion to “G” tourist sleepers had not been air conditioned during the late 1930’s as had the other cars in the series. This group of cars was unique among heavyweight CPR sleeping cars in that they were fitted with electromechanical air conditioning.

In 1954 CPR externally upgraded 22 “G” series 14 section tourist sleepers that had, in turn, been converted from “P” and “N” series sleepers in 1950. These cars were chosen for service with the brand new stainless steel cars being built by Budd for use on The Canadian. Three cars were intended for each train set. The cars were fitted with fluted stainless steel panels below the belt rail to match the panels on the new cars. They were also fitted with new stainless steel curved fluted panels above the lettering panel to conform to the roof profile on the new cars. The remainders of the car bodies were painted a pale grey to blend with the stainless steel paneling. Car body lettering was in conformance with the lettering on the stainless steel cars. The cast beaver heralds were applied to these cars. Stainless steel battery box covers were also applied.

The operating schedule for "The Canadian" was substantially accelerated compared with the schedule for "The Dominion" CPR's previous premier transcontinental train service. A number of mechanical and electrical modifications were undertaken to allow these cars to operate comfortably at higher speeds and to reduce station servicing times.prepare the cars
•The trucks were modernized by replacing the bolster elliptical springs with helical springs together with dampers and bolster stabilizers
•The water tanks were replaced with tanks of significantly larger capacity
•Electromechanical air-conditioning was installed to eliminate the need for enroute stops to load ice for the traditional type of A/C system
•Additional generating capacity was installed to provide power for the A/C system

I say "Well done that man" to Geoff for a fine addition to the N scale passenger world !
 

[Sokramiketes]

I'd have a hard time picking between these cars and the Zephyr Tower/Rocket Tower as the classiest heavyweights of all time.  These might win.

[eja]

Tempting, very tempting ........


Go Habs Go!

[chessie system fan]

I'm curious how he made the stainless fluting on the sides.  It looks good!

[Angus Shops]

I'd be happy to tell you how the fluting was done.

The cars sides (masters, if you want) are made up by glueing Evergreen plastic material onto a piece of .060 thick black base material by Plastruk (interesting in light of the 'ABS to styrene' debate going on elsewhere, and I use Testors glue; no problem). I don't think it's possible to construct a car side without the base; the base provides a stable platform to build up the side on, and there are lot of little pieces of white plastic involved!

The first strip is a piece of .020 x .030 glued to the base on its edge, such that the .020 side is glued to the base. It's vital that this piece is perfectly straight; use a steel ruler. Let the glue set thoroughly. This is the belt rail under the windows. Next add a strip of .020 x .020 under the belt rail, using moderate pressure to make sure this strip is pressed up against the belt rail AND securely down onto the base. I've noticed that some Evergreen strip material as a very fine texture that looks like 'saw marks' on one or two sides of the strips so I try to avoid having this texture visible on the finished surface. The next strip is a length of .010 x .030 placed on edge to form the first of the raised corregations, carefully pressed up to the last strip and down to the base etc...

Repeat as required (7 times in this example). I did 2 or 3 strips and then paused to let the glue set before adding more. I also let the the strips run a little long as I applied them and cleaned them up to the correct length after the glue set. I used a piece of .060 x .030 for the car name plate and the final strip is another piece of .020 x .030. Then I used some extra fine modeller's sandpaper to polish up the top surface and smooth out any inconsistencies. Once the fluted panel was complete, the rest of the car side was built up around it.

Obviously this method does not result a fluting with curved concave or convex surfaces, but it still seems to work. The fluting applied to this particular car was in reality quite 'square' so this method provides a more prototypical result than you might think. 

Final thought: you could try to build up the the fluted panel on a base of .010 thick plastic and the cut this free to allow for a more typical car building strategy, but I think you would have go slower and be careful to keep the glue application as light as possible to avoid warping the panel.

Geoff

[Scottl]

That is a beautiful model.  It seems every week, there is an example of high quality models from cottage industries coming onto the market.  It is really great to see. 

[chessie system fan]

Thanks for the explanation, Geoff.  I'll have to try that.