Passengers in MTL EB dome cars

Passengers in MTL Empire Builder dome cars

By Mike Scully

June 2009

Step 1: paint passengers on sprue. 

This is my project to add passengers to the provided seats in the MTL dome cars, Great Northern Empire Builder, in my case.  The first step is to paint the passengers (except their heads) on the sprues.  Lessons learned: a) Testor enamels go on thick with too large a brush, b) enamels are also quite shiny, c) a small sheet of shipping-box cardboard serves well as a base in which to stick Preiser sprues while painting.

Step 2: paint the seats.

Second step is to paint the seats.  As one who has broken equipment in the past, I was worried the dome would only come off after being pried open, leaving pry marks.  The domes actually come off easily.  Like when painting the people, I learned enamel needs to be applied with the smallest brush possible.  After taking this picture, I was made aware that the seats have *edges*, which have since been painted.

Step 3: All aboard!

Step 3 involves putting the passengers in the seats.  Preiser passengers are to scale, but the seats in the domes are a bit low, and thus the passengers must have thier legs raised to fit.  They can be squeezed in, but my other two cars will be done with passengers' feet removed for a better fit.  The first shot was taken with flash (which emphasizes any errors), the second without.

Step 4: restore the dome.

The last step is to restore the dome to its rightful place.  I'll likely go back in to paint the heads of my passengers on this car (and I'll do so before "sealing them in" on my other two dome cars).  But I'm happy with the result.

Passengers in MTL EB dome cars how to was written by Mike Scully in June 2009. This article has been assembled in order by the following links. Simply cut and paste the following links into your web browser to follow up on any additional comments, suggestions, or to view the larger images.

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