Showcase Miniatures Pfat Boys Diner kit is back!

[peteski]

I kept on pestering all the parties involved in producing this kit. My persistence finally paid off.  The kit has been brought back (in limited quantity).  Get yours while you can, without having to search eBay for them, and without paying crazy prices.

http://www.showcaseminiatures.net/n-pfatt-boys-diner.html

[jimmo]

Fifty bucks? Is that assembled? I must be charging way too little for my structure kits.

[peteski]

It has quite a few metal and resin castings, decal and printed "glass" piece.  It includes a well-detailed interior, including figures of the Pfat Boys. I agree that the price is a bit on the high side, but even the original run (probably about 10 years ago) sold out at around $40 a piece.

[jimmo]

Have you ever built one?

[peteski]

Have you ever built one?

Not yet.    It is one of my future projects.  I have test fit some pieces when I bough my first one abd things seemed to fit. I want to illuminate it, so my version will take a bit longer to assemble than the unmodified kit.

[jimmo]

Please share that when you get it finished. A "mecca of neon" should be illuminated. Perhaps you will do a little how-to for us?

[peteski]

Please share that when you get it finished. A "mecca of neon" should be illuminated. Perhaps you will do a little how-to for us?

That is the plan Jimmo. But It hasn't happened for several years , and it probably won't happen for few more years. I keep finding projects which have higher priority than many of my old and long overdue projects.

[jimmo]

I hear ya, Petski.

[160pennsy]

A "mecca of neon" should be illuminated.

With the recent release of Showcase Miniatures signal kits using fiber optics, why not focus that new found lighting knowledge on this Pfat Boys Diner kit. Maybe a redesign of this excellent kit is due with some "enhanced features" to make the n-scale modellers life a little easier:

1.) Make the kit's resin roof into multiple sections (with channels or inlays for fiber optic strands that all converge into a single LED source underneath the base )
2.) This would allow for those small pinpoints of light (using their heat formed/polished mushroomed head trick) in place of the cast resin ones on the current kit
3.) All of the signage could also be redesigned to allow illumination via Miller Engineering's EL method
4.) Or simple opaque white resin bases (illuminated using those miniature SMD LEDs) and then overlaid w/existing decals, instead of the cast metal ones currently used.

Just thinking out loud....

[Loren Perry]

I built this kit and renamed it Bob's Big Boy for my L.A.-themed layout - it was seen in several photos of my Los Angeles section a couple of years back in N Scale magazine.

It's a wonderful kit. The resin casting goes together like a fine injection-molded plastic kit and the white metal parts have unbelievable detail, including burger patties on the grill and place settings on the counter. This is one of those cases where you can't see much of it when it's finished, but you'll have the satisfaction of "knowing it's there."

While I was re-branding it into a Bob's restaurant, I made all-new signs on my ALPS printer and overlaid some of them on Miller Engineering Electro-Luminescent (EL) panels. I was also lucky in that Miller was selling a nice animated neon street-side sign that included a Bob's Big Boy overlay in its die-cut selection of signs.

The decals and the printed clear window parts in the Showcase kit are also top notch. And it's a perfect little slice of Americana from the good ol' days.

Want fries with that?

With the recent release of Showcase Miniatures signal kits using fiber optics, why not focus that new found lighting knowledge on this Pfat Boys Diner kit. Maybe a redesign of this excellent kit is due with some "enhanced features" to make the n-scale modellers life a little easier:

1.) Make the kit's resin roof into multiple sections (with channels or inlays for fiber optic strands that all converge into a single LED source underneath the base )
2.) This would allow for those small pinpoints of light (using their heat formed/polished mushroomed head trick) in place of the cast resin ones on the current kit
3.) All of the signage could also be redesigned to allow illumination via Miller Engineering's EL method
4.) Or simple opaque white resin bases (illuminated using those miniature SMD LEDs) and then overlaid w/existing decals, instead of the cast metal ones currently used.

Just thinking out loud....

[peteski]

While EL panels have some great advantages (mainly being so thin), they have rather low brightness and limited life. They are also cumbersome to power (as they need rather high AC voltage). The advancement in small LEDs made me pretty much abandon EL panels in my projects.

[jimmo]

While EL panels have some great advantages (mainly being so thin), they have rather low brightness and limited life. They are also cumbersome to power (as they need rather high AC voltage). The advancement in small LEDs made me pretty much abandon EL panels in my projects.

I have to agree with you on the EL's limitations, I considered them a couple of years ago on a sign project I was working on but unless I had designed it to be replaceable, it would not have been practical. The initial brightness was the other factor as I found that they only look bright in photos.

I would be interested in how you use LEDs in place of a flat light source, let's say in a free-standing sign like the kit has.

Loren, I'm curious as to how do your drive-in signs look years later?

[Loren Perry]

I have to agree with you on the EL's limitations, I considered them a couple of years ago on a sign project I was working on but unless I had designed it to be replaceable, it would not have been practical. The initial brightness was the other factor as I found that they only look bright in photos.

I would be interested in how you use LEDs in place of a flat light source, let's say in a free-standing sign like the kit has.

Loren, I'm curious as to how do your drive-in signs look years later?

 As of today, all my Miller Engineering EL signs (about a dozen or so) are performing as well as they did when I installed them several years ago. They include standard Miller animated signs as well as my own home-made signs based on Miller's EL panel kits. I'm very impressed with the continued brightness and color on all of them and I have zero regrets using them. Of course I don't operate them for long and constant periods. Typically, I light the layout for night operations once each time I have visitors for about a half hour per episode, then I switch back to daylight operations. The way I see it, the estimated 400 hour half-life is long enough to last a typical model railroader for quite a few years of use at this rate. My main complaint about the EL panels is the relatively bulky attachment points for connecting them to the power source wires. It makes it difficult to design a sign that can hide this section. I've come up with some solutions on several of my buildings, but sometimes it isn't easy.

BTW I also added LED lighting to my Bob's Big Boy's interior and under the overhanging roof. The detailed interior really looks busy when the lights come on.

[jnevis]

I immediately thought of at least outlining the signage with this:

http://www.frys.com/product/7409635?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Power pack is either two AAs or a 9V.  Id be curious if the different colored wires could be soldered together for multi-colored signs.
Might order the "starter" pack just to play with it.

[jimmo]

As of today, all my Miller Engineering EL signs (about a dozen or so) are performing as well as they did when I installed them several years ago. They include standard Miller animated signs as well as my own home-made signs based on Miller's EL panel kits. I'm very impressed with the continued brightness and color on all of them and I have zero regrets using them. Of course I don't operate them for long and constant periods. Typically, I light the layout for night operations once each time I have visitors for about a half hour per episode, then I switch back to daylight operations. The way I see it, the estimated 400 hour half-life is long enough to last a typical model railroader for quite a few years of use at this rate. My main complaint about the EL panels is the relatively bulky attachment points for connecting them to the power source wires. It makes it difficult to design a sign that can hide this section. I've come up with some solutions on several of my buildings, but sometimes it isn't easy.

BTW I also added LED lighting to my Bob's Big Boy's interior and under the overhanging roof. The detailed interior really looks busy when the lights come on.

I would love to see pics if you have any.

This is where a model like this really comes alive--doing what the prototypes were designed to do: attract attention--especially in the dark.