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I have heard of this idea from several sources. It is not original with me. Tom Cockle wrote me about it and Steve Mudd did a clinic at the Santa Fe Modellers convention in 1999 and sent me a handout. The only claim I can make is to have put it visually on this sight for all to see.
I have called this the "easy" coach. Don't be fooled - it will take some work. But compared to the other coach I am modeling....
Our easy coach will come by kitbashing two AHM / IHC / Rivarossi combines. We will form a pseudo Santa Fe coach and a more typical Santa Fe Baggage Car from these two cars. In essence we cut the cars in half and glue them back together. The new IHC cars are made of a plastic that will tear easier than old cars, so be careful and go slow. If you can find models produced in the 60s and 70s, they are easier to work with.
This article will focus on the coach. I say pseudo because we achieve a Santa Fe look without modeling any specific design. There are three primary problems which can't easily be overcome:
Do the same for both of two Rivarossi combines.
1. Using a mitre saw, cut each Rivarossi combine in half. You will notice to battery boxes molded into the frame. Cut even with the side of those boxes closest to the window end of the car. Your cut will come nearly in the middle of a side panel. I suggest cutting the car in half before you remove underbody details because those details provide strength for your cut.
2. Set the baggage end aside. We can use it later for a baggage car project.
3. Clamp a straightedge to the car body even with the molded lower sill. (I call is the Santa Fe Sill. See the special article for details.). Use a razor saw to remove that sill and all cast on underbody boxes and tanks.
4. Use a hobby knife to remove all cast on details in the mid section of the car. Cut it smooth with the floor of the car. Of course there will be some holes where cast on boxes had been located.
5. Notice the side panels of the cars. You will see where two windows have been plated over in the design. What we want to do is open up windows in those locations. We will cut back nearly to the rivets, then will glue in pieces of styrene to simulate the window casing. You must decide which era of car you are modeling. The original cars had an upper and lower window, like the diner windows mentioned above. Cars were modified in the mid-late 40s with the upper window plated over. Use a drill or router attachment on a Dremel tool to roughly open up two windows on each side. If you choose to plate over the upper window, you may wish to not open up the new windows fully, leaving part of the plating in place. Next use a hobby knife to get the openings nearly correct. Finally use a wide file to make them perfect.
6. Your job now is to frame in the 8 new windows using .015" X .030" styrene on the top and sides and .030" x .030" on the bottom and/or plate over the location of the upper window with .010" x .125" stock. Since I am modeling an air conditioned version, I plated over the top portion.
7. Your car halves are now ready to square up and assemble. Use a wide bastard file or sheet of 400 grit sand paper on a flat surface to refine the ends. Check with a machinist square at all times. The ends must be perfectly flat an perfectly square for this to work. Your miter cut will not be perfect. Some commercial miter boxes are off considerably. I have a disk sander and miter attachment that I have checked and rechecked for accuracy. I simply put the car in that miter and the sander does the rest. When you are sure everything fits, take a wide bastard file and make two square swiped across the floor portion of the car, avoiding the sides. We want the floor that tiny bit shorter. Glue the car together one side at a time. Put glue on a surface, rub it against the mating surface until you see some glue and plastic ooze up. When that "ooze" firms up 24 hours later, you can sand it flat and the seam will virtually disappear. The shorter length of the floor section is to allow for this "ooze." Let it set over night.
I also take a piece of .10 styrene that is about 1/4" wide and as tall as the car side and glue it to the inside of the car to reinforce that joint. I will further reinforce the joint (after these other have set 24 hours) with plastic in the floor of the car and on the side of the underframe trusses.
8. Once the glue has set, cut some .010" - .020" plastic and glue it to the bottom of the car and to the center sill at the joint area. This is where you removed all the underbody details. It will make the center sill look smooth from the outside, give you a smooth base for re-installing underbody details, and strengthen the car.
9. Now you can put on the Santa Fe Sill. I use Plastruct CFS-4 1/8" HIPS channel to simulate the sill. I lay the sill flat on a cutting surface and remove one side, leaving an "L" shaped piece which I glue to the bottom of my car.
10. Remove all cast on grabs and install your own from piano wire or brass.
11. Now comes a very time consuming part: The air conditioning. Look at the web page on Steam Ejector Air Conditioning for more detail. The bottom line is that you must either purchase or make some a/c equipment if you want an air conditioned car. See the web page for detail.
12. Install whatever underbody details you like. My practice is to only install what can be seen. Of course you must work around the a/c equipment. In addition to the web page above, see Stagner's Color Guide for three photos of air conditioned HWT coaches. Unfortunately, they are not helpful on underbody details.
13. If you want to use body mounted couplers, add a pad at each end of the car. Once the glue dries, drill and tap it for your coupler pocket.
14. Now for the roof. You will need to cut down a Rivarossi roof to fit the length of your car. Carefully measure your cut so that the seam will come between windows. I suggest that you cut it so that the seam does not come in the middle of the car - that's where your car body seam is already locate. If you wish to maintain the roof ribs, you must also consider what will look right when glued together. I filed my roof ribs away after gluing and now can't find the seam.
15. Install New England Rail Service #250 Pullman Air Conditioning Duct on one side of the roof. Add your roof hatches for the air conditioning. Install an air intake for the a/c.
16. Remove cast on grabs and unwanted gutters. Add wire grabs and styrene gutters at the appropriate locations.
17. You will need to frost one toilet window on each side. One method is to remove the windows from other roof you are not using in this project and glue it in. However, you must be extremely careful. The plastic material for the roof is much more fragile than the plastic of the car body.
18. I added an interior to my care. If you want a floor plan, see Frailey's Quarter Century for plans of the 3000 series and the 3020 series cars.
19. Since the car is light, the toilets are a great place to put your needed weight to bring the car to NMRA standards. My car required 2 additional ounces.
20. I use the AHM truck frames and inserted 36" wheelsets. Trim the brake shoes slightly to assure clearance. I chose not to install truck generators (per the CoachYard kit) to avoid tracking problems.
21. Paint the car Santa Fe coach green (lighter than Pullman Green) and decal it. The roof and undercarriage are black.
22. Decals on this car are easy: Santa Fe and a number centered on the side.
