ICMainline, thanks for the comments.

I have finished painting the interiors of the three Meadowlark coaches.  The colors and names can be found in a previous post.

I masked off the bathroom ends and spray painted the seats red.  I then used a brush to paint the tops of the seats white and the walls in their two tone colors.

Here is a close up of the women's lounge.  I couldn't decide what colors to paint the seats so I just left them gray.  I am planning on installing blinds and shades so it will be difficult to make out the details any ways.  

And the men's lounge.

Next up is to try and add the mirrors and murals to the bulkheads of the interiors.  I think I will attempt using foil for the mirrors and will try to find Chicago murals to use for the prints.

Dave

For anyone interested,

The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Historical Society will hold it's annual meeting on April 12, at the museum in Watseka, IL.  The schedule of events includes a meet and greet with a swap meet in the morning.  Tables are available. The afternoon will include a tour of the former C&EI mainline with a tour of a small business that manufactures railroad models.  The evening program includes a business meeting and then a presentation by the business owner.  For more information contact me or visit www.ceihs.org.

The Historical Society is looking for members if anyone is remotely interested!

Dave

This post just keeps getting better

Thomas Gasior

I agree!

Got around to finishing the interiors of the coaches by adding the mirrors and murals to the bulkheads.  While the prototype had painted murals that covered the bulkhead, I chose to represent this with a painting.  As I didn't know which paintings were used, I did a simile Google search for city of Chicago paintings and use those for the murals.  I copied the pictures into MS Publisher and shrunk the pictures to various sizes to have options for installation.  After I printed out the scale pictures and cut them out with a hobby knife, I used a brown Sharpie marker to color the edges and allow the ink to bleed into the picture to create a frame look.  Here is how it turned out.

For the mirrors, I decided to try using foil.  I cut sizes similar to prototype mirrors in photos.  I attached the mirrors and murals using tacky glue.  Here is how they turned out.

I also put the interiors into the coaches to see how they would look and get them ready for the C&EI HS annual meeting.

Dave

This model is the E7 the C&EI purchased to pull the Meadowlark and Whipoorwill.

This is a great model that runs great and sounds great.  The only changes I made was to remove the front coupler and add the front coupler cover plate and install a couple of front grab irons.  

The pictures were taken on a module for my home layout.  This is the only part I have finished with scenery.  

Dave

Can't wait to see more...

Well, I haven't posted any more for six months because I got stuck on how to make the stirrup steps on the passenger cars.  I have looked and look for a detail part that is close, but can't find any.  What I may end up doing is useing A-Line stirrup steps and then add the bolt plates from a Grandt Line set of stirrups to match the prototype.  

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Dave

can you post a picture of the prototype? What material would you like them to be made out of? I want to see this train finished, as this should be a great how-to article in MRH. 

Maybe some of the design guru's on here can make some with a laser, CNC machine or 3D printer.

Thomas Gasior

Here is a prototype photo of the Sparhawk Inn that shows the passenger stirrup that I have struggled with making for my four passenger cars.  I am going to attempt to use A-Line stirrups with the ends of Grandt Line stirrups to create the same effect.

As you can see, the brackets that bolt to the car are turned 90 degrees from most freight stirrup steps.  Any thoughts or ideas would be apprecaited.

Dave