MODELING N&W DINER 1017

Sat Jul 3 15:57:21 EDT 2021

More than 25 years ago Jim Nichols gifted me a HO scale undecorated Athearn
diner body which he had modified to more closely resemble a N&W diner. He
relocated the doors while also lengthening the body. (See photos 1 and 2)
At the NWHS Convention in Spencer, NC, he good naturedly prodded me about
having the body, so by the following year at the Roanoke Convention I had
mostly completed the model. It lacked some roof vents at that time. I was
determined to finish this model!

By my 1956 modeling era the prototype diners had had the small window on
the blind end plated over; I cut a piece of .020 plain styrene to fit the
opening and glued it in place. I elected to keep the wood sash windows per
the model. (See photo 3)

I removed the roof ribs on the Athearn shell with a modified chisel blade
in an X-acto handle. I then removed the vents and grills on the sides of
the clerestory using a sanding disc in my Dremel tool. I filled in any
imperfections with Tamiya putty and sanded these areas smooth. (Photos 4
and 5)

Except for N&W diners number 1023 and 1024, the other diners when
air-conditioned had half-tubes which are visible on the clerestory sides.
To simulate this detail I used Evergreen Scale Models (ESM) No. 243 half
round laminated the half round to ESM 125, .020 x .100 strip styrene.
(Photo 6)

In reviewing the prototype photos I noticed the doors on the kitchen end of
the car do not extend to the bottom of the side sheet. I cut a piece of ESM
.020 x .080 and fit it in place; I applied some Tamiya putty, allowed it to
dry and sanded the joint smooth. (Photo 7)

The underframe needs to be lengthened to match the car body. I reviewed
prototype photos and decided the battery box casting on the Athearn
underframe needed to be on the kitchen side of the car. I cut the
underframe into three pieces. (Photo 8 and 9)

I used a scrap of .040 styrene to assist in reassembling the lengthened
underframe. I used a longer piece of .040 styrene for the other end as
there will initially be a gap in the underframe that will be filled in.

I inserted the rejoined underframe in the kitchen end, and the remaining
piece of the underframe in the opposite end of the body. I carefully marked
my piece of .040 styrene so I could draw lines that would assist me in
joining this all back together at the appropriate length. I then glued this
piece of styrene to the end and allowed it to dry, using my lines as a
guide as to placement. I then applied glue to the styrene piece and the
longer underframe and slid the styene piece into the longer piece. I
inserted the lengthened underframe into the car body and made certain both
ends of the underframe were flush against the ends of the car body. I left
this to dry and cure.

I measured the thickness of the Athearn underframe with my dial caliper and
learned it was approximately .060 thick. I measured the opening in the
underframe where I had rejoined the pieces together and determined it was 4
x 9 HO scale feet. I cut a piece of scrap .060 styrene to this size and
glued it to the .040 styrene that was bridging the gap between the original
underframe pieces. (Photo 10)

I determined the stringers on the Athearn underframe were .040 x .040 and
used Evergreen Scale Models No. 142 to recreate these on the piece I used
to fill the gap in the original underframe. (Photo 11)

The underbody detail was my next area of concentration. In reviewing the
photographs and images available to me I noted an abundance of photographs
of the kitchen side of the car, but just a few of the opposite, or aisle,
side of the car. As mentioned earlier the “battery box” casting on the
Athearn underfame was retained, although reversed so it shows on the
kitchen side of the car. I also reviewed drawings in the NWHS archives,
particularly drawing F 43606. The best photographs available to me were
both found in *Norfolk and Western Passenger Service 1946-1971, *by William
E. Warden revised by Kenneth L. Miller. The photograph on page 87 is a good
aisle side view. An additional benefit for me of this photograph is that it
was taken of Train No. 1 on the Shenandoah Line in August 1956, which is
what I model. A nice photograph of the kitchen side is shown on page 125.

I had on hand a smattering of passenger car detail parts from New England
Rail Supply, Precision Scale, Details Associates and Bethlehem Car Works.
Jim Nichols suggested using detail parts from a Branchline Trains 8-1-2
Pullman Sleeper. This was a kit to model an Atlantic Coast Line car but Jim
indicated the trucks were the correct type to use for the N&W diner. I used
various detail parts and the trucks from the Branchline sleeper to further
detail the car. (Photo 12)

Other details included drilling holes to insert the handholds. The shell as
modified by Jim lost some of the rivet detail along the top of the sides. I
used rivet decals from Micro-Mark and applied these to fill in that detail.

With the major construction complete it was time to paint the various
components. I first gently washed the shell and underframe in warm water
with detergent and allowed it to dry. After priming all components I pained
the truck sideframes Scalecoat II No. 2018 Coach Olive, and the underbody
Scalecoat II No. 2118 Engine Black (Satin). I painted the roof using Polly
Scale Roof Brown with some Polly Scale Oily Black added; in hindsight I
wish I would have added more of the Oily Black.

The car body was painted using Scalecoat II paints. Jim Nichols suggested a
mix of 2.5:1 of Scalecoat II N&W Red with ATSF Red. I could not find a
bottle of the ATSF red so I used Scalecoat II S2089 CP Rail Bright Red.
Decals are from a set produced years ago by Rail Graphics for Roanoke
Rails. I believe Shell Scale now offers a similar set. (Photos 13 and 14)

When everything was dry I used Evergreen Scale Models No. 9007, .015 Clear
for windows, and window shades from American Model Builders Set #381. I
have not added any interior detail as of now.

N&W Class De Diner No. 1017 is ready for service! (Photo 15). I enjoyed
this project and am happy to have an accurate model of a N&W diner to run
on my railroad.

Jim Brewer
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