Show Find: AHM-Rivarossi PRR 10-6 "Huron Rapids" (HO P-S lightweight)

[jbvb]

A brief thread about completing a discarded project for my passenger car fleet:
4-Feb-2023: The HUB Division has an energetic Donations Chair; he and his volunteers bring a lot of stuff to our annual Marlboro MA show. A few years back, I saw an old AHM/Rivarossi P-S lightweight 10-6 model on one of their tables: one truck loose, no couplers, roof made removable and an interior featuring a full passenger load of LPs.



The interior partitions are cardstock and Goo, by the color. Doors are drawn on. Floor covering is green blotting paper. And of course, one of the bedrooms is occupied by a young lady just out of the shower. I'd actually been thinking about a PRR lightweight 10-6 for quite a few years. By the mid-50s they regularly reached Portland, ME on the State of Maine, and even Ellsworth or later Bangor on the Bar Harbor Express. I don't know who built it, but I thought a few bucks for his (pretty sure) work was a good beginning to a "layout" car.

AHM/Rivarossi introduced a line of HO scale full-length heavyweight and lightweight passenger cars modeled after recognizable US prototypes in the late 1960s. They were injection-molded in Yugoslavia and continued to be produced through the 1980s, later under the IHC name. The line inspired a lot of prototypic passenger car modeling from painting/decaling to major cut/splice projects.  Many got written up in magazine articles. In particular, the heavyweight 12-1 Pullman was the basis for a lot of early efforts modeling accurate heavyweight Pullmans of various different plans. Lots of AHM/IHC Pullmans and lightweights were sold; they're still widely available used.

PRR Modeler (Curt Webb) commented:

The interior should look great through the car windows.

ACL1504 (Tom) commented:

Interesting project. I wonder if the Goo was used to hold a figure up against the walls.
I have a set of ACL heavyweights and Southern heavyweights all by IHC. They've been under the layout for at least 20+ years.

I added ice A/C to a Rivarossi 12-1 using New England Rail Service parts, and I turned another into B&M parlor Elm. Again, NERS ducts and details but with etched brass sides from Concord Jct. Car Shops.

k9wrangler (Karl) said:

Didn't Walters or someone make interior kits made of card stock and seats, toilets, etc? WAY back in the day? Of course if so you're required to use Goo....

I think you're right, Karl. Either I have one or I remember them from the catalog, won't know till I look.



I got out Liljestrand's picture book of PRR sleepers. Huron Rapids carried #8342 (though it's not visible in Bob's pictures). It was built March 1949 with PRR 2E-P5 trucks and ran till Feb. 1968. The Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Vol. 6 article translates that to Pullman type 41-NP.

The Rivarossi truck pivots are not centered on the trucks, even with 4-axle cars and the die work was ok for the 60s. But Walthers' 41-NP is much better. I filed a flat spot outboard of the old pivot centered in the side skirt opening. I experimented with styrene till the body height was about right. Walthers' passenger trucks have a drop-center bolster which sits very low compared to other passenger trucks. I wound up stacking 2 blocks of .060.

Then I removed Rivarossi's sketch of a diaphragm from the end. Once the American Limited diaphragm is installed, I'll have to replace the grabs and repaint the ends, but I don't like big gaps in my passenger trains.

6-Feb-2023:



Before I started my layout, I built and detailed a lot of passenger cars. I've applied many air, signal and steam hoses. The plastic castings are vulnerable and it's been years since I've found any more of Cal Scale's metal hose sets. So I did the grabs from Tichy phosphor bronze and then made hoses: .032 steam, .025 air (a brake hose I have measures 2") and .020 signal. Steel hammer on rail anvil to flatten the ends, mount in holes drilled in the floor. The blind end is most likely to be visible, given how the roomettes are laid out and people installed, so I'll make its drop steps a little smaller. I'll blacken the metal parts before painting.

I won't touch side and roof grabs till I see how well I can match Rivarossi's Tuscan Red. BTW the floor casting claims this was made in Italy.

12-Feb-2023:



I'm satisfied with the end details and how Floquil Tuscan Red matches up with AHM/Rivarossi's version. The only weathering I've done is a mist of Scalecoat NYC Dark Gray on the underbody and over the trucks. I'll put a little more time into that and dirt on the ends to disguise the paint mismatch.

Then the project sits till I get around to lighting. Probably a rectifier bridge and two current limiting diodes, one for the rear markers, the other for 3-4 LEDs in the people spaces. I doubt I'm the first to think of clear plastic sprue as a light diffuser, I'll see what's on the web.

deemery (Dave) commented:

PRR Modeler mag has an article on a passenger car including lighting: The Keystone Modeler Vol. 123

The Keystone Modeler index site

Thanks, Dave. I've known Andy Miller since the 1970s but I don't usually read Keystone Modeler (not his article, but it uses his circuit). Also it reminded me the aisle safety bars are easy to add. I'll check the beading wire one of my GFs gave me for stainless of the right diameter.

[jbvb]

12-Feb-2023:



I re-glued several of the prior owner's interior walls. Then I covered the visible Goo blobs (most hold wire door handles in place) with
Scalecoat "Restoration Ivory". It's not a perfect match, but you can't see the color difference from outside. You can see where I applied Ivory to exterior shell areas visible from windows opposite.



I used .012 nylon-coated stainless beading wire for the safety bars in the corridor area. Straightening it as you pull it off the spool is a waste of time. Straightening short pieces cut from the spool is much easier.

In 2025, Huron Rapids is in the 'ready' box. I have several cars on the "to be lit" list but haven't gotten around to them.  Maybe this year.

[deemery]

James, how did you straighten the steel wire?

dave

[jbvb]

I don't remember this specific case, but the first technique I try is pulling it through two fingers, offset a bit opposite the curl the wire has from being coiled. If the first try doesn't get it good enough to install, I try again.  I also pull wire over the curved edge of the top of my work table.