Phase IVb Amfleet

Notes

We first take the stock model of a phase IV or NED (as shown) Walthers, Amfleet Coach or Cafe; stock numbers: 932-6004/6006 or 932-6014/60015 respectively.  One could theoretically take any amfleet coach by any manufacturer however; this would require additional steps which will be outlined in the Phase IVb Ex-Metroliner Cab conversion which will eventually be posted at a later date.

With the model, begin popping out the window glazing but keep track of where each window came from as it will make the re-installation process much easier later in the project.  The method I used is demonstrated in the 3rd step.

I didn't remove the vestibule windows which required me to take the extra time to mask them as well when it became time to apply the clear coat.

This is the model after airbrushing the blue hue of the phase IVb paint scheme.

The fist two batches of cars that I painted (September '04 and February/March '05) used Badger railroad paint which required no thinner, however, in the latest batch, I used Polyscale RR paint which has been just as good but requires the addition of thinner.  I used no more than a 50/50 mixture of 51% Isopropyl alcohol and paint.  One can use less that 50% thinner in the mixture but any more can increase the risk of paint running and seeping through the masking tape.

Using either paints these are the paints used in order of concentration from greatest to smallest:

D&H Blue

CSX Blue (make sure it has a white cap as the black caps tend to have a slightly flatter shade.  It may just be that it requires more than just the shaking of the bottle and requires a mixing stick)

Penn Central Green

I have no formula for this mixture to get the hue as close as possible however, the best method that I've found thus far is to eyeball the paint until you get the blue hue on the mixing stick as close to the hue of the Athearn/Walthers AMD-103 as you can.  You can also swab the paint on the mixing stick on a piece of paper to compare.

Once you have reached the desired shade of blue, mask off the red and white pin stripes that are above the blue band.  Next, mask off everything below the blue band as well as the rest of the car body until nothing is left exposed but the blue band provided by the factory paint job.  I would also recommend putting masking tape across the inside of the windows as a precaution.

Now that the car is painted, it is time to apply the markings in their appropriate places.  Doing this was easy by making use of online and personal photographs for reference.

Unfortunately, no decals of this type are on the market at this time.  I tried to produce them myself but just did not have the resources to do an adequate job and so I decided to contract out to a private, custom decal maker; GMC Rail.  GMC Rail is no longer in business per the choice of the owner, who wanted to devote more time to model railroading which is understanding in any model railroaders point of view.

The car type font used was "Arial" italicized, roughly 1 mm in height.  The car numbers were simply normal Arial measuring roughly 1.5 mm in height.  Although the font types are not entirely accurate, the size of these fonts allows one to get away with this inaccuracy with all but the hard core rivet counters.

The logo should always be located on the restroom side of the car, at the center between the first window and the vestibule.  The inside of the car type marking should be lined up with the inside of the display board panel (currently masked in this photo).  The car number should be located at either end in the lower corner of the last/first window, slightly below so that the bottom of the numbers do not completely line up with the bottom of the window.

I then applied the red safety stripe provided by Highball Graphics Decals in their Acela Regional Coach set P-107.  Their website can be located here: www.mgdecals.com. Note: When applying this method to Amfleet II cars, the stripe will have to be airbrushed on.

Also note how I organized the batch of cars that I painted.  I mentioned earlier how one should keep track of the windows and their respective openings.  The reason for this is that when popping out the windows, they leave behind dried up hot glue and pieces of window glazing backing which can act as obstructions when installing arbitrary windows in arbitrary openings.

What I did here was first make sure that each car was oriented so that the restroom end of the car was facing the blue striped end of the Walthers box.  I also made sure to write the intended car number on the box as well as on the inside of the shell.  I wrote on the inside of the shell with a sharpie on most cars (except for the one in which I was unable to find the sharpie

After that, I placed each window on the box parallel to where its respective window opening will be while orienting the window so that that the top faced towards the car.

Any other method that works can be used, but this is what has worked for me from day one.

Also note how the glazing for the display board and vestibule is masked as these cars are awaiting the application of clear coat.

The bottom photo is also an example of why I get frustrated with hobby shops and/or suppliers that drag their feet with  something I need to complete the project such as glue, clear gloss coat, etc.  You see how much space this takes up?  This is my dining room table and its aggravating to have this space unnecessarily eaten up for extended periods of time because it takes forever to re-stock glue or clear coat.  As stressed throughout the website, space is limited but if you have a designated area that is out of the way, then that's definitely a plus!  

With the clear coat applied, we are now ready to re-install the windows.  This is where I begin to pat myself on the back and get excited as I begin to see the finished product take shape.  The tinted windows provide an accent to any passenger car but especially one whose paint scheme you virtually did on your own.

When reaching this step, one will also find that it is one of the smoothest parts of the project if one followed my suggestion about how to remove and re-install the window glazing.

Also note the installation of the Amfleet diaphragms on the older tooled amfleets.  Remember to paint the edges silver, a step not shown in this picture. 

The finished product!

This is a much older photo of a model that was completed in the second batch of phase IVb Amfleet cars.  Nevertheless this is the result if following the above procedure closely.  Of course there are many ways to skin a cat but being one who likes to keep model railroading projects as simple as possible, this worked for me.  Also keep in mind that my resources are limited.

Thanks for your interest in this project.  I hope you found this useful and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me!