Katzhagen - Archive - April 2014
Meals on wheels...
... or like a more or less simple interior of a LGB coach was turned into a
restaurant.
I had been searching for a model of a RhB "steel" dining car WR38xx being
on sale for quite some time...
...until I finally found one early in 2014.
Holding the model in my hands it became clear immediately that the details'
design hadn't been completed by the manufacturer - to phrase it cautiously.
Hence this coach had to go through the operating theatre first. The procedure
was begun with applying the correct colours to the face sides (
like shown with the B2282 before ), not having a premonition of the
amount of work the interior would bring...
A detailing orgy
resulted from the attempt to breathe a little life into this model's
plain interior. The first four pictures show that completing the model's
interior design was left as an excersize to the customer.
A larger view of the pictures will open on left-clicking onto a picture.
Nothing but plain grey and brown...
... all over the kitchen
There are quite some basic apporaches...
... which need some further attention.
Improving the interior design was begun with some painting on the ceiling,
a reproduction of the lamps and a replacement of the ex-factory illumination
with LEDs.
The original illumination was removed...
... and has been replaced with a new one
New lamp dummies and LED illumination
Turning wooden into padded seats...
Some paint for the handles improve the impression
Tablecloths are a must as well...
The padding's templates - thanks to Andreas Cadosch - were printed on white
self-adhesive film (Avery 6575 8.5 x 11"). The latter also was used for
making the tablecloths. Up next was the dining room scenario's design:
The fluid parts of the meal...
Various dishes and beverages make the scenario come alive
Incredible but true: It is porcelain !
Undreamed-of possibilities...
are offered by numerous miniatures provided by several manufacturers from
very different modelling areas. Many details were found in the garden
railroading scene, while other fine scale stuff was found at dealers for
1:24 doll house equipment (see links below for details).
A demo video done by a committed dutch garden railroad dealer inspired me
to breathe some accustic life into this nice coach. This was achieved by
hiding a MP3 player inside the kitchen shelves and a loudspeaker inside the
roof. 5V on the tracks are necessary to start the restaurant sounds
accompanied by Strauss' Danube Waltz in the background...
MP3-Player with buffered 5V supply
MP3-Player's switch hidden in the entrance area
A new wire harness fuer illumination and sound
Despite there is not much space inside the kitchen...
... the cooks are busy preparing meals.
This looks a bit more like a kitchen...
I couldn't refrain from a further gimmick...
... a ceramic glass cooktop cyclically lighting up.
Shots for TV or ads...
... of the known waiter trick on the Glacier Express