N-scale Passenger Car Seats and Other Details

[robert3985]

Thought I'd post this for those who may be into detailing passenger car interiors.  I'm into building/kitbashing specific cars for my UP passenger fleet and while taking a shower one bright morning, it hit me that I could extrude passenger seats using Sculpey.  I could also mix some up in appropriate colors for my various cars.

So, I modified a garlic press I had never used for years into a Sculpey extruder.  The photos basically are self explanatory.

When baking my extrusions, I straighten them out and make sure I don't bake them too long so they retain their color rather than turning brown.  I chop them off using my NWSL Chopper and square up the ends with a fine sanding block.  I carve details into them using files and knives and on some seats I glue the armrest on.  Not all seats have them.

I then just glue 'em into my car's interior floor making sure the floor is the correct height.

This is an easy way to do some really detailed seats and it doesn't take very long to do it.





I've also extruded different shapes for tabletops (round, oval, rectangular) and different style chairs.  It makes detailing passenger car interiors pretty quick and the only thing that you have to do (other than filing in details if you want to) is to just cut the extrusions to the proper length.

[GaryHinshaw]

Very resourceful! The results are excellent - much better than I would have imagined for such a small extrusion.  Sculpey is cool.

[Philip H]

you know, as a guy with a bazillion Play-Dough extruders around my house for my kids . . . . 

Brilliant!

[wazzou]

Probably bumps the weight of the cars right up there too.  Good idea.

[robert3985]

Additionally, you don't want the Sculpey to be "hard" after it's baked, but still just a tiny bit flexible.  It cuts much better with the NWSL Chopper that way. 

This worked pretty well for me, but making the new extrusion plates was a PITA, so I went to Michael's and looked for extruders specifically designed for plasticene.  Sure enough, they had some, so I got the biggest one, which had some blank plates (which are circular) and made the shapes for my tables, end tables, supports and smaller seat and chairs easily using the small, thin blank plates.

[peteski]

Very clever Robert. I also have to say that the result in the photos is much better than what I would have expected. 

Now to make some seat-shape pasta....   

BTW, how did you manage to make your N scale cars (with overly-thick floors) accept what looks like full-height seat units?  No more passenger leg amputations are needed.

[robert3985]

Very clever Robert. I also have to say that the result in the photos is much better than what I would have expected. 

Now to make some seat-shape pasta....   

BTW, how did you manage to make your N scale cars (with overly-thick floors) accept what looks like full-height seat units?  No more passenger leg amputations are needed.

Hahaha!  I like the pasta suggestion. 

These were for the American Model Builders LASER cut kits which use the American Limited Models core kits, which are no longer available (Hopefully that will change in the near future).  I didn't experience any "floors being overly thick" with these kits (and I have a sh*tload of 'em) so the seat height was easy.

However, I did some custom extrusions for my friend Nate (Nato) for some different models and I had to make the extrusion cut-out shorter.  It's not difficult to make new chair profiles, so....just make 'em shorter.

When seating passengers, they need to have their butts and backs ground down a bit to look right since prototypically the passenger would be sinking into the soft upholstery a bit.  Then, I production-line paint 'em and glue 'em in.