This is a great step by step blog. I hope you keep us posted right up to the painting and decal process.
I have been curious about those laser cut sides since the first article in MRH by Matt Snell(?). It looks like you have figured out the process very well.
Did the laser cutting company have the plans for window arrangements in their plan books or did you send them the dimensions?

Looking forward to next installment.

Thomas Gasior

dcforbes,

For the grab irons I used Detail Associates passenger grabs for the sides of the passenger cars.  I don't have photos of the ends of the passenger cars so I installed the supplied Walthers grabs.  

As for paint and decals, TruColor paint, in conjunction with the C&EI Historical Society has produced the C&EI early blue (light blue) paint, along with the C&EI orange.  The C&EI Historical society also has a set of decals that will model the light blue/orange stripe passenger scheme.  I still have some details to finish before I get to that step.

Thomas,

Laser Horizans has access to the Pullman library of plans.  I did not have to supply the plans.  Thanks for the nice comments.

Dave

The C&EI Historical society also sells an equipment diagram DVD that has nearly 1000 pages of C&EI equipment.  Those diagrams include the interior layouts of various passenger cars, including the Sparhawk Inn.  I kitbashed this interior using the original Walthers lunch counter interior.  

Here is the before view that shows where the cuts were made.

I rearranged the pieces to match the Sparhawk Inn's interior.  Not an exact match as I don't have any of the RPO counters or pigeon holes, but pretty close.

Then I glued the pieces to styrene that was cut to match the original floors interior.  

I also added styrene pieces to represent the hallway corridor and the RPO/Baggage bulkhead.  I will probably add blinds to the RPO window to prevent the lack of an interior to be observed. 

Next will be the coach interiors.

Dave

The next step was installing the coach interiors.  I considered using the Walthers interiors but discovered with the new laser cut sides, the floor plan is different resulting in walls in the middle of the windows.  Therefore, I went ahead and scratch built the interiors.

I used a Palace Car Company kit to do the interior of the cars.  Many moons ago, the C&EI HS offered kits for the Meadowlark/Whipporwill cars.  The interiors didn't sell as well so I was able to pick up the last four.  (Palace car Company still offers these types of kits.)  I bought these kits over ten years ago.  That is how long I have been thinking about this project.

The kits consists of chairs and the interior walls.

I used the original interior to cut a new styrene floor.  I used the interior wall kits to create the interior walls.  I thin measured and divided the floor into lines to evenly distribute the chairs on the floor.

Here is the finished interior.  I ended up cutting out the Walthers toilets, water fountains, and sinks and glued them into the new interiors.

This coach had a desk for the train conductor in place of one of the seats.

Next is to paint the interiors and finish the roofs.

Dave

What color will the interiors be?

The interior colors of the Meadowlark cars are described in period documents and in the C&EI HS Flyer issue Vol 5 No 2-3, April-July 86.  

602, the Sparhawk Inn, had a two tone grey scheme on the walls in the passenger end of the car.  The lunch counter stools had yellow leather.  Of the 12 lounge chairs, four were blue and eight were red.  I assume the middle two were blue and the end two were red.  

The rest of the Pullman built cars had a two tone paint scheme with various colors.

464, the Hubbard Trail, had a green paint scheme with mirrors on the bulkheads.

465, the Egyptian Trail, had a tan paint scheme with mirrors on the bulkheads.

466, the Horseshoe Trail, had a blue paint scheme with murals on the bulkheads.  The murals were likely of famous Chicago landmaks.  

The cars had coral blinds and coral drapes.

My remaining question is the color of the Heywood-Wakefield seats.  The lack of late 40's color photography is a detriment to modeling colors.  I will most likely paint the seats red with a white headrest until additional information is uncovered that says otherwise.

Hopefully I will get a primer coat on the interiors this weekend.

Dave

This is one of the best build blogs on this forum.
Thanks for keeping us posted.

Thomas Gasior

Thomas,

Thanks, it is nice to know someone is reading it! 

Dave

To get an idea of what the cars will look like when finished I am posting this picture of a Walther's paired window coach painted in C&EI's blue and orange paint scheme.

This heavyweight coach was used on the Chicago to St. Louis Cardinal.  However, the C&EI couldn't compete in that market as they had the longest rail miles between terminals compared to the IC, Wabash, and GM&O.  Therefore the Cardinal was discontinued in 49 and its equipment moved to other trains.  Regardless, this is how the streamliners will look in their final coat of paint and decals.

Dave

Finally got a chance to prime the interiors.  I used automotive grey primer from Wal-Mart.  I don't have a spray booth so I do my painting in the garage with open doors and windows to vent any fumes.

Next is a close up of one of the lounges.  This is the men's as the women's had a small table with mirrors.  

Next is to start painting.  As previously mentioned, the walls are a two tone paint scheme of green, blue, and tan for the coaches.  The coach seats will get spray can painted red and the walls will be brush painted.

If you have any suggestions for painting the interiors, I would like to hear them.

Dave