P5se Camelback’s EOY Challenge

[P5se Camelback]

I have a bit of a quandary with the overall form factor with this Scale Test Car that I’m building.

In typical “BiL” fashion, I came to a realization/discovery late in the project, but it’s a big enough (to me) discrepancy that I think it probably should be addressed. I write for a second/third opinion. In this first photo, look at the point where the slope of the top of the car reaches the “walkway” along the car’s centerline. It’s kind of a “no-neck defensive tackle” kind of situation.



And now take a gander at the poor little George D. Stock kit representation. Now I realize that his model is roughly based on a PRR version of a Scale Test Car and not one on the Reading Company’s roster. Note that I have already filled in the “step openings” at the lower corners on the sides. That was easy … a little Squadron Green Putty and Duco Cement mix flows nice and smooth allowing for easy filing and sanding.

But now turn your attention to that same area where the slope of the top of the car reaches the “walkway” along the car’s centerline. There is a noticeable vertical wall right there, kind of the “neck” of a defensive free safety or the like.



Also notice the height difference between the two cars in the area of the vertical sides, most noticeable at the area of the round door and its hinged latch (that I am now taking a break from fabricating miniscule parts for, under an Optivisor with #5 optics) which is how I discovered the form factor differences … staring at those round doors and their hinged latches and locks and wondering how I was going to approach building those details!

So the question is … lay a sheet of 0.060” styrene on top of the Zamac casting to bring that slope up to the proper height and then have to fabricate the handrail bases and the “straps” at the top of the walkway or just leave it alone, with the thought that most viewers would never catch that discrepancy (only the “rivet-counters”) but have it bother me for eternity

I know I only have the rest of this week to finish this puppy … January 1, 2011 looms big on the horizon!

I’m hoping I can make it. The weather is not cooperating at all! I normally spray paint and work with other solvents out in the garage as none of that volatile stuff is all that good for a COPD sufferer! But we are experiencing a “cold snap” here in Florida (three hard freezes in the past two weeks – the sugar cane crop is lost, and you can expect to start paying more for your O.J. in the morning as the groves have all lost trees and quite a bit of fruit!) and well, it’s a bit cold out there to shoot paint. Plus the humidity is up again! It's 51° out in the garage and theres a 30-35 knot breeze blowing outside and it's looking like it's going to dump buckets at any moment! Not spray painting weather! We’ll have to see as the week progresses.

And I still have no decals, nor have I heard even a “peep” from the guy who had offered to send me a sheet of “up-sized” HO decals from his N scale artwork. So, I’ll be playing this week by ear! [I’ll lose the better part of one day as the VA (government healthcare) is requiring me to drive 2 ½ hours north to Tampa (Bay Pines VA Hospital) where I will wait 45 minutes to an hour to see – not a doctor but – a respiratory therapist for a five minute breathing test so he can tell me that, “Yes, you still qualify for home oxygen,” and then drive the 2 ½ hours back, catching the end of rush hour in the “crazy, constantly blocked-up because it’s constantly under construction Interstate” going up and the beginning of rush hour coming back down! Excuse me … COPD never gets any better – if you qualify for oxygen once you will always qualify for it! What a waste of time and gasoline and money!]

But I digress … (nothing new ...)

So, tell me, Fellas, should I bother with adding some height to that sloped sheet? I'm inclined to do it as I think it would look more correct. And not doing it would give me shingles every time I looked at it, reealizing it was "that close" to being spot on!

And now looking at the area around the axle bearings ... they are considerably different on the Zamac casting and there is a lot more body overhang on Reading Company #91210!

Oh, detail, details, details!