lmagna

A small update. Work has progressed on the ends of the car, and I now have two that are a reasonable match. There's a bit of a preview as to what is to come with the sides, as I went ahead and added the window frames, as well as the doors (and the door window frames as well.
One of the tricky bits was getting the top curve to match the curve of the roof end pieces. It's not quite correct, but I've left myself a decent margin for error there, so when the time comes for assembling the car, the arch can be sanded to fit nicely. There's still another layer to be added above the windows, but there again, that will have to wait until assembly. The ends are slightly over width as well, but again, that can easily be corrected at a later point in time.
As I mentioned earlier, the ends provide a nice preview of things to come. Next up will be the creation of the sub-side layers. Above is an earlier attempt that is destined only for the scrap pile, but it does nicely illustrate all the cutting that lies ahead. For the sub-side, the transom window openings are a bit more generalized, and the exact openings are still yet to be cut out on the outer side layers. The trick is that the transom windows need to be the same width as the frames of the windows, as cut out on the sub side, so in order to be as accurate as possible, they cannot be cut out until the subside layers have been made and glued in place (fingers crossed that all foes well).
 
Andy

Westwood... yeah that’s going back a few years! 
 
From photos, CPR kept the transom windows until the cars were scrapped, it’s likely, though, that the fancy etched glass was replaced. At Delson there’s also a restored official car that has its etched glass in place:

 
Andy

Great project. I have done similar builds but in O-Scale, with LaBelle kits.
Working in HO scale is a serious challenge and I am curious how you will be doing it.
 
yves

I will enjoy watching this come together.... 

The CPR 1500 series wooden first class passenger cars were originally built in 1912.  The car was 80' long over the buffers and had a seating capacity of 76. It also included a smoking area. A surviving example can be found at the railway museum in Delson, Quebec. I had the opportunity to visit there back in 2009. The main hall is fairly dimly lit (as far as photography is concerned).  

These cars lasted in service almost 50 years. Although in their later careers they were relegated to secondary and branchline service, that represents a significant lifespan, especially for wooden equipment. At some point, the cars had even been converted to electric lighting. Many other types retained the original Pintsch gas lighting.

The primary source of inspiration for me was this CPR combine kit I recently completed. One of the primary stumbling blocks for building wooden type cars is the complexity of the windows. For anyone wanting to build a model of a steel car, there are many suppliers of almost every different type of window.  For wooden cars, there is considerable scratch building required. The combine I built showed me a viable technique that builds up the car side in multiple layers. An inner core layer to serve as a base. A second sub-side layer which will be seen only as the window sash, a third layer that has the wooden siding, and finally am outer layer consisting of the trim.
 
In my case, these side layers are all being built using styrene of varying thicknesses. The core layer will be cut from 0.040" thick styrene sheet, and the sub-sides will be cut from 0.020" plain sheet. I have already begun work on the third layer using the siding sheet.I had already made a few attempts starting with the sub-side layer, but I was running in to difficulties getting things to line up (between both opposing sides of the car as well as the subsequent layers. I have since decided to start with the siding layer in order to accurately establish the window pattern for each side, and then cut the thinner sub-side layer to fit. The floor of the car is basswood. The clerestory roof pieces are leftover from a couple of other kits that I've built and modified. Most of the remaining bits and pieces come from a healthy stockpile of bits and pieces I've built up over the years (despite what anyone else says, it does come in handy).  
 
Andy

really great progress Yves......the sleeping quarters and galley looks awesome  

Yes, very true. You described the mechanism very well. Here is a picture to illustrate the concept: 
 

 
Yves

A couple more pictures to situate the action: 

This is the left over space in the hull that will accommodate the two compartments under construction.
 
View of the Control Room floor. Notice the hole drilled and the tube allowing the attack periscope to slide down in the guts of the beast: 

View of the main ballast, before any sea water is poured into it (below): 

The tank located under the control room *below): 

And the two ends of the rear fuel tank: 

You can notice the different appearance of the resin mixed at  (too) low temperature (left) and at correct temperature (right). Since these two sections are separated by the outside hull and not much of them is visible, it does not come as a blatant contrast. Still, I wish I had waited one more day before pouring that very sensitive resin. One day was in the 50's, the following in the low 80's.
 
Yves

I already have one, several really, but I didn't think of that! Anyways, I"ve done my testing and application to the side panels..... 
Two coats of Mr Surfacer 500 on the joints.... It filled the grooves quite well....

My only problem with it was I didn't apply it directly to the plastic, I applied it over the Tamiya primer, so when I went to use the thinner to smooth it off, it also moved the primer..... UGH! so now I had to decide to either do it all over after removing the primer or test shoot it with the final white primer and see how it lays in the grooves....
 
Test shot with white....
Wet...

Dry...

That actually didn't come out too bad, it's not completely smooth, but it doesn't really stand out either and it's not hiding the rivet details either....
A couple more shots....

The vertical join....

The horizontal join..... Not perfect, but a lot better than it was. I'm going to go with it, the decal will ride over the joints without sinking now and once installed and flat finished I don't think it will be that noticeable, and besides the coat of future going on it for decal adhesion will do some smoothing out itself also....
 
I'm happy with it...... Next time I know to use the Mr Surfacer before any paint.... also use this in a WELL ventilated area it's Acetone based and the fumes will not overpower you, but the aroma will linger in the room for quite a few hours.... (my experience in my 500+ sq ft workshop) 

The Petlyakov PE-8
 

I bought a couple of Russian bombers by ICM - A. Tupolev TB 3 in 1:72 scale.  I think this was what the kit looked like....I still have the decals.  they were such a pain to put together,  I tossed them {I was heavy into wood back then too}.

the list of captured planes is long.........B 25's,  B 24's....a couple P 38 lightnings........British planes....and others.   the treaty of Versailles,  signed at the end of WWI limited the Germans from building up their air force...what they had was to be completely destroyed.  as Tom pointed out,  Anthony Fokker moved his entire operation to the Netherlands......including aircraft already built.  by the beginnings of WWII,  Germany had built up a small air force,  but most of the county's planes were geared for civilian transport.
  when I saw the Wulfe Hound,  I thought it was too good a subject to pass over  

The Russians were well known for tearing down, examining, and making carbon copies of our aircraft. The B-29 I recall specifically as they couldn't get certain parts of it right even though they copied ours bolt for bolt. 
It's not widely known in the West, but the Russians had a four engine transport/bomber of their own that was capable of trans-Atlantic flight. Stalin flew in it to the USA for a conference in 1942. I have the model of it and will build it in the near future.

Nice, I like the scribing on that kit, very well done...

I don't remember where I got it from but after the war they recovered somewhere between 20-25 of them in flyable condition. And yeah they were assigned to the "Commando" units for secret missions which undoubtedly  included dropping bomb at some point..... They also had several B-24's but just a few, B-24's generally didn't fare well crash landing so it wasn't as easy for them to repair them.... Somewhere in my library I have a book of reminisces of a pilot that flew for KG-200, If I remember right there was no real proof of what he said but he did say it.... KG200 was top secret and not much of what they did was recorded nor did a lot of the records survive....
 
I've told people about the B-17's that the germans were flying during the war and some of them called me crazy and wouldn't believe that the Germans were interested in flying enemy aircraft..... Heck the Germans would use anything they got their hands on if it would work.... So did the russians and so did we.... (the vaunted 88 comes to mind) and the germans were all about learning new tech especially when it came to building 4-engined aircraft.....
 
Your info coincides with what I remember when I was researching it..... one of those almost forgotten paragraphs of history that are fantastic to those not familiar....

they were use to run secret missions and reconnaissance.........some of those missions were secret bomb runs.  they had FW 200's,  Ju90's and Ju 290's...none of these could be retrofitted for heavy bomber operations.  I did read through the chapter........it is in there.......called the Dornier Do200,  I must have mistook it for another plane and didn't see the correlation.  ....this comes from the book of KG 200.
  

you can add 'Wally's Wheels',  'the Ground Hog',  and 'Badger Beauty V'.......they were captured later.   some were damaged severely,  and used for parts.  I did get a picture of the tail gear tub installation.......

 

Thanks EG,   I just use a wide brush  and make sure its almost dry  like a powder brush, then just light brushes over the details  keeping an eye on how its building up, then seal in with brushed on clear top coat.
 
OC.

That looks fantastic!  
 
Just out of curiosity, do you need to put a clear coat over it, or does the wax-based application help protect it?  I'm working on a car model now, and I noticed that they recommend using flat colors for some engine parts and gloss colors for other parts.  If i put a gloss coat on to weather, it seems like everything would become gloss.  Seems like this AK stuff would allow one to keep some parts flat and some parts more glossy.  
 
 

considering they are laid out like that {as they all would be},  they'd be the first thing seen.  they look good though......nice  

nice!  

I knew that you would end up making those prop blades into something fantastic Kevin. Along with the rest of the plane! Great inspiration for those like me who are far less capable and talented just knowing that it CAN be done. 

Thanks. Very interesting and helpful

Guys, here's the yellow primer blurb. I made it a PDF with pictures.
 
Yellow primer.pdf

Mother Nature did it for me !    
 
The entire collection used to sit on an open bookshelf for years until the Admiral decided to remodel our den right down to the wall studs.  So they got removed, dusted off with small brush, some compressed air, a Q-tip, and then stored in plastic storage bins. The "wind-swept dust" is what I could not remove without destroying the decals.  Sometimes it pays to be a lazy modeler and not cover or dust your models. 
 
Thanks, glad you liked the collection.  
 

Beautiful house !