This experiment is attempting to make the inside of the car interesting if not perfect. I have more
dome cars in case I get better ideas down the road! I haven't done a lot of hand painting with a brush,
this is trial and error using mostly Pollyscale paint, and some Model Master. Even a little Scalecoat. I
tend to be lazy with colors and over-simply interior painting. I tried to use a few more colors here, even some
that were fairly close like the blue and green. All of the colors are lighter/paler than what I believe the
prototype would have looked like, and I'm hoping this effect will be toned down by the car being mostly closed
and modestly lit. Tinting the windows with 1950s style blue will help also.
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The dome section of the interior is a separate piece. Other than the passengers, this is all one single
molded chunk of plastic. Pretty impressive tooling. Not as detailed as a stick-built interior, but
a long way from the one-piece blobs of the past.
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You may recognize various members of the Preiser Family... they tend to get around on my railroad. Single color
outfits tend to be their style - the purple lady even has purple binoculars. I may fix that before I close the thing up. Also
these seats need antimacassars to be applied.
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A better view of the lower level lounge/bar than you'll get through the two windows once the side is on the car.
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Eagle's eye view of the main lounge. Again it's stock Walthers and paint, the only additions are the people
and the Red Cap Line pedestal ash trays. The instructions for these parts even include a diagram and an
explanation of how the pedestal trays worked. While this type of ash tray is not extinct today, they
are not universal as they were 40, 50 years ago.
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Straight down on the dome. The brush streaks on the green floor don't show except when hit with the flash.
This is my attempt at the green "fern" carpet, the real thing was probably darker. This will be too, once it
is enclosed. At least I hope so.
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The Turquoise Lounge. I doubt if the seats were really that color, the lounge apparently got its name from the
medallion on the wall. Someone has sent me a photo of that medallion which I hope to shrink and print for mounting
on the wall. I don't know if it will be visible in the window or not.
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An approximation of the view a passenger would have walking into the main lounge through the ponger. Of course
you would have walls, windows, a ceiling, and would not be able to see the passengers in the dome!
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The two pieces of the interior join together here to provide a complete curved stairway to the dome. Just
a wild guess here on the colors. I used Pollyscale "Sand" as the neutral beige (with a slight peach tint), and
I also like it for heavyweight Pullman interior walls and partitions. That is Pollyscale PRR Maroon for the
dark red/brown. I used it to make sort of a wood "trim" as a railing on top of the stairwell. I have no
idea if this is correct but it makes it look more complex than just a single molded hunk of plastic.
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I set the roof loosely on top of the skeleton to take this picture. Even without tinting, you can see the
colors are darkened and subdued a bit. I also am wondering if the BLI California Zephyr domes will
stand up to this kind of close-up!
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The seats look less blob-like, just by placing this baffle in front of them. It will be difficult to view
the model this closely in person without an Optivisor and strong lighting, so I'm not too concerned about
the general crudeness or the sloppy painting. What I am concerned about is if you'll be able to tell the thing
apart from a stock Walthers dome at all, from 3 feet away!
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