Disassembling Kato Super Chief observation car

[williek]

Can anyone advise on disassembling the Kato Super Chief observation car? I've had no trouble with any other Kato car. Unlike the smoothside cars there is a black plastic element that holds the transparent/red pieces that pipe light to four places at the tail end of the car. This appears to be held in place by the window glazing but also seems to be obstructing removal of the window panels. Thanks much.

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[Sokramiketes]

The black piece pulls out first, with some force.  I start at the front of the car and pry upward a bit, letting the rear (curved end) break free as it comes up. 

[williek]

@Sokramiketes Thank you very much. That was a leap of faith but I got it apart in the right number of pieces. Tightest press fit I've ever seen in plastic.

[NorsemanJack]

The black piece pulls out first, with some force.  I start at the front of the car and pry upward a bit, letting the rear (curved end) break free as it comes up.

Most of us get very nervous when the term "break" shows up in a disassembly instruction.   

[Sokramiketes]

Glad it worked! Yes, break shouldn’t be in the instructions... Kato tooling is usually a bit more friendly for disassembly!

[NorsemanJack]

Glad it worked! Yes, break shouldn’t be in the instructions... Kato tooling is usually a bit more friendly for disassembly!

Yep.  Unfortunately, designs that "snap" together at the factory to save labor aren't necessarily intended to easily "snap" apart for disassembly.  I think some folks misunderstand this when it comes to things like truck removal.

[peteski]

Yep.  Unfortunately, designs that "snap" together at the factory to save labor aren't necessarily intended to easily "snap" apart for disassembly.  I think some folks misunderstand this when it comes to things like truck removal.

IMO, still much better than having the parts glued along with smudges and fingerprints all over the model, like other companies do. By design, glued models are not designed for disassembly. Precision Kato engineered snap-together construction wins for me.

[williek]

By design, glued models are not designed for disassembly. Precision Kato engineered snap-together construction wins for me.

Fully agree after disassembling some Shasta Daylight cars for repainting their horribly wrong Daylight Orange.
Willie

[Sokramiketes]

Fully agree after disassembling some Shasta Daylight cars for repainting their horribly wrong Daylight Orange.
Willie

What's a good orange to use? 

[williek]

@Sokramiketes  I didn't find an orange that matched out of the bottle. After discovering that different Shasta Daylight cars that were supposed, according to the vendor, to have the correct orange color in fact still had very different shades from each other (i.e., the diner isn't very close to the coach in color) I just winged it and mixed Badger Modelflex SP Daylight red, C&O Yellow, and D&RGW Gold until I got something somewhere between the orange of the other cars. I removed the window shades and added seats since I had to cut them apart anyway.  [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Sokramiketes]

Ah, ok.  I see now that you're referring to the Centralia Car Shops colors being off.  I was wondering if I should repaint the orange on the Kato Daylight set. 

[williek]

I’m sure this has been addressed many times, but while it is inaccurate to say that color is subjective (it can be measured accurately under any controlled lighting condition), the psycho-optical phenomenon of color saturation seeming to be reduced when the size of the reflecting surface is small is well-documented.  This results in photographers  and advertisers saturating images for use on mobile phones, only to have them look ridiculous in large print. I think Kato does a pretty good job at oversaturating to an appropriate degree. Their Daylight scheme feels right despite being oversaturated, especially the orange. I suspect Centralia was trying to match paint samples without adequately compensating for that effect, that compensation being of course highly subjective. Then again, I test as being colorblind- 10% deuteranopia. 🙂

[peteski]

I’m sure this has been addressed many times, but while it is inaccurate to say that color is subjective (it can be measured accurately under any controlled lighting condition), the psycho-optical phenomenon of color saturation seeming to be reduced when the size of the reflecting surface is small is well-documented.  This results in photographers  and advertisers saturating images for use on mobile phones, only to have them look ridiculous in large print. I think Kato does a pretty good job at oversaturating to an appropriate degree. Their Daylight scheme feels right despite being oversaturated, especially the orange. I suspect Centralia was trying to match paint samples without adequately compensating for that effect, that compensation being of course highly subjective. Then again, I test as being colorblind- 10% deuteranopia. 🙂

While what you mentioned makes sense, many modelers subscribe to an opposite theory, where the smaller the model is the lighter the color should be.  That call it "scale color effect".  The color is desaturated and lightened using white, because the small scale model could be thought of a 1:1 object viewed from the distance where the air and haze would make it appear ligther.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/13/t/2385.aspx
http://leavenworthmodelersclub.org/member-articles/the-scale-effect-of-color-and-other-considerations/

Not saying that why you described is wrong - just that there is also another school of thought.

Then there are some modelers like to paint their models using exact color formula used for 1:1 cars.

And of course there are multiple shades of the paint real RR shops used at various times. Sometimes they changed paint manufacturers resulting in slightly different color of the same paint Next, there is the natural fading and dirtying of the paint on 1:1 cars which affect the color too.

[williek]

 Fascinating. I had not previously heard of the concept scale color. When I read that I imagined shrinking the wavelength of light by a factor of 160. That would be a considerable blue shift. I wondered if somebody makes ultraviolet paint.

I think I have heard people talking about scale sound. Presumably they met volume but I’m not sure on what basis you would calculate the scaling other than scaling the sound energy. But that would be inaudible. I suppose taking that literally you should also shrink the wave length of sound as well. So a 100 Hz bass sound would be rendered as 16 K hertz. Right at the upper end of hearing range.  So much for that Rolling Thunder kit.

I bought a Rolling Thunder receiver from the BLI refurb store and hooked it up. I like it.

[peteski]

Fascinating. I had not previously heard of the concept scale color. When I read that I imagined shrinking the wavelength of light by a factor of 160. That would be a considerable blue shift. I wondered if somebody makes ultraviolet paint.

That is an interesting (and way out in left field theory).     The problem is that unlike the scale color modelers currently utilize (just washed-out colors), which retains the visibility and overall appearance of the model, yours would make the model invisible to  1:1 scale humans and their eyes.  What's the fun in owning a model one can't see?   

And yes, scale sound is just like scale color - volume is reduced as if the model represents 1:1 vehicle viewed from a distance (so the sound has much lower value. I subscribe to that train of thought. Makes no sense to me to have gut-shaking deep bass sound of a diesel loco (like that Sound of Thunder system) seemingly  being generated by a 5" long model.

Plus most people get quickly tired of loud train sounds, especially during an ops session where there are dozen of sound-equipped locos on the layout all making noise at the same time.   That Sound of Thunder would quickly be dispatched into a trash can or have its woofer cone kicked in.