Amtrak Full Dome Observation Car Concept Test

[Herc Driver]

This is my next project...Amtrak's newly reburb'd Full Dome. This started as a 30+ yr old Bachmann full dome that came with an old Amtrak set I got as a young teenager. There's a few pictures of this car, wearing the Heritage III colors and matched with the P42 Heritage III engine on the web now...and I thought it might be a neat car to model. I gave it a very quick paint job by hand last night just to see what the final product might look like. To get the windows tinted, I used three coats of Tamiya Smoke paint. The top is Model Masters Flat Black. The Amtrak colors were factory applied but not in keeping with what this car looks like today. So, I need to strip this car, file down the corrugated area between the trucks, repaint with spray paint, and add new decals. I really shouldn't have wasted the black paint trying to see what the end result might look like...but the boys and I were curious if we could pull this off convincingly...and if we should use this old car. I think when properly done, the car will look pretty good. The big question is the decals though. I ordered two different sets of Microscale's Amtrak stripes and hope one of the sets fit the gap on the car body, and look like the Phase III Heritage scheme that Amtrak is using today. (The red/white/blue stripes are of equal width and run from one end to the other on the real car.) If not, I might be waiting a while for Microscale to release the newer Heritage III decals in Nscale before finishing this car. A Kato P42 in Heritage III colors should be arriving sometime this month or early next month, and will get to pull this car along the layout.