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Milwaukee Road Skytop Lounge


Chuck
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A project that I'll be starting soon is turning a USA Trains streamlined observation car into a "close representation" of one of the famous Milwaukee Road Skytop Lounge/ Observation cars.

 

Here's a real one  :)

 

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I'm going to use a ribbed sided car as I bought it at a fairly reasonable price of $125.00  :D

 

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Disassembled and paint stripped w/ 1:29 scale drawings.

 

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Thanks all as I maybe in over my head on this one!

 

Jens, After much looking I finally found thru the http://trains.com website that Railroad Model Craftsman published the HO scale drawings in a November 1971 issue. I bought that magazine on eBay and then had a printing house copy & enlarge them for me  :)

 

And the best part is they have both versions of the Skytops drawn.

 

The Rapids version...

 

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And the Creek version...

 

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Thanks, Chuck, but I wasn't actually looking for the Skytop Lounge drawings. I'm thinking of getting drawings of the Santa Fe hi-levels for El Capitan just wrap my mind around how such coaches could be constructed at a reasonable cost. I've written the Santa Fe Historical Society (Temple Collection) about it, but no reply so far. I was hoping you had the drawings from some "universal" source.

 

I'm considering writing to Amtrak and Bombardier (I think that's where any remains of the Budd company may have ended up. Maybe they still have the archives.)

 

Jens

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Jens,

 

I'd start searching the magazines such as Model Railroader, Model Railroad Craftsman, Mainline Modeler etc. Those bi-level cars were all basically the same shell. Great Trains/ American Standard made the bi-level cars in 1:32 scale though they were a bit short in length and made rather crude...then again they were made in the late 1980's  :)

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MRC and MM are good suggestions.

 

I did find an old thread on trains.com where in the fourth post, there's a reference to the book "Santa Fe's High Level Cars" by Kogan, Ochiello and McCormick, which should be the reference. Of course, it's unavailable everywhere, but I'll keep looking. If anyone spots it and you don't want it yourself, give me a heads up, please.

 

Other references in the post are Santa Fe Modeler, Santa Fe High Iron and Warbonnet, which I believe are old publications of the Santa Fe Modelers Group.

I did find on Amazon - and have ordered - a copy of High Iron 1971-73, which should have plans for the lounge and the diner. I'll see where that gets me.

Shipping from the US is more expensive than the book, but hey ...

 

'Warbonnet' is available from the Santa Fe Historical Society, but their ordering page is broken. I tried ordering the 1999 Q3 volume, but it dropped the Q2 volume in the shopping basket  <_<

 

Jerry: Thanks, I'll try looking there  ;)

 

 

I'll move out of the way now, seeing that I've all but hijacked Chucks thread.

I owe you a beer, Chuck !

 

Edit: I got the Santa Fe Historical Society shop to work, so I ordered the right issue of 'Warbonnet'. Also, I found a copy of 'Santa Fe Modeler 1984-1986' on the Amazon UK site, so I should have reading stuff for a few winter evenings ...

 

Jens

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I hope it's OK to post this as a reference. Are these what you're describing?

 

Almost.

The Amtrak Superliners were inspired by the ATSF hi-levels, but they were slightly different.

You can see it in this picture, where a heritage ATSF coach is sandwiched between what appears to be Superliners. The difference in profile is very visible.

 

Chuck: Two beers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I might have Mark Dashaw do the window area as a 3-D print in plastic. Looking at some other photos I found it seems the window glass area was actually flat, had some curves around it to fool the ey.e Plan to graft it on a MTH observation car, need to check dimensions but has been to cold to go dig it out of the shed!  I took the plans and made them 1/32nd.

 

 

 

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I know what you're saying about the windows being flat and the drawings do show that as a dashed line in the overhead view. I've been kicking around the idea of making a "skeleton" out of brass for the windows then wrapping it with brass. Then again I may build it all curved in one piece if it looks good to the eye. The only people who'd know it wasn't right would be rivet counters and I'm not one of those.

 

Your pic is kind of deceiving as the windows are removed. The windows themselves were mounted in a big aluminum frame that was held in with screw from the outside.

 

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  • 4 months later...
 

Jerry, No as been a change in plans...the observation car that I was going to use is now slated to be painted into Amtrak Phase III paint. I have other USA Amtrak cars that are corrugated so it'll fit in nice  :)

 

I do have a set of 5 USA Trains UP smoothside cars that I may strip & paint into Milwaukee Road colors and have the observation car that could be a Skytop Lounge. Or I just may leave them and run them behind my USA Big Boy.

 

How's yours coming along??

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Well, sounded like Mark Dashaw was going to 3-D print it for me, but have heard nothing since. I never found a MTH corrugated observation car in UP colors to cut up some to use. Sorta tied up in the restoration of my 63 1/2 Galaxie right now. Should be out of the paint shop next week. Then get all the trim/etc back on.

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Like I posted on another topic. The frame is made of flat stock, for the flat glass to fit on. Then add the curved parts once you have the angled framework done out of plastic or brass. Should make it a little 'easier' to do! ;)

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  • 2 years later...

Well now a new development may make this doable. That is just might 3D print the whole car out in 1:29 scale but first I need to relocate about 90 miles northwest, setup shop, buy a bigger 3D printer and then have a go at it :Slightly_Smiling_Face_Emoji(24x24):

 

Easy way to make the back half is to 3D print it in clear plastic then mask off the windows and paint.  

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