Improving the LS Models
modernized Sud-Est coaches (3)

Original page created on 12/03/2021.

Interior decoration

As these coaches were modernized in the 1950s, here is what the Encyclopédie des voitures SNCF has to say about them: “[…] about those with a central corridor, only a limited number have kept the initial fittings (with wooden benches in 3rd class) while the following ones have received low-backed railcar-type seats.”

The seats are therefore green, or varnished wood. In period IV, the walls are light yellow, the roof white. As for the floor, opinions vary between grey and dark brown.

Seats

Painting

The seats are painted in dark green, without fear of overflowing on the floor which will be covered.

The walls are beige, with a mixture of Humbrol acrylics:

• 1 part yellow #69
• 3 parts wood #110
• 10 parts white #34

It is difficult to prevent the paint from spilling onto the window frames, but this can be overcome by quickly wiping off the spillages or, later, by scraping with a cocktail stick. Despite this, the overall quality is poor. The use of an airbrush would probably be better, but the body would have to be masked off to avoid any spillage on the outside walls.

The roofs are painted white.

This one has a broken end post, repaired with Evergreen rod.

Self-adhesive vinyl decorations

The trouble with painting the walls, apart from not looking very good, is that it doesn’t hide the glazing. This prompted me to add printed self-adhesive paper decorations, as I have already done for a number of coaches. I also do this for the floor.

The PDF file of these decors is available here.

This set is for two coaches. It is to scale, but the result can be slightly different depending on the type of paper and printer. That’s why the file contains a first page with only corner markings, which I recommend to print out first. This way, the dimensions can be checked and corrected if necessary without wasting a whole sheet.

I use self-adhesive vinyl as a medium. Compared to the photo paper I used before, it has many advantages: it is thinner, more tear-resistant, does not make “beards”, and does not delaminate. Although its adhesive is quite strong, it can be removed without too much fear in case of positioning errors. According to the seller, it is also suitable for some cutting machines.

Caution: the printed surface is fragile. It is therefore advisable to varnish it. I used Railcolor satin varnish that I had on hand, diluted 50-50, without any problem of damage to the print. The vinyl seller also offers suitable varnish sprays.

I cut by hand, using a new X-Acto blade.

Move the mouse over the image to see the details.

In this photo, the painted interior fittings have been given their floor covering and put back in place, as well as the glazing with its decorations. We will see that the Plexiglas strip supports, visible above the platform, proved to be too high and have been replaced by a simple 1 mm polystyrene plate.

Here is the mounted and connected strip.

Move the mouse over the image to see the details.

The support plate is glued with Kristal Klear, so it is easily removable.

Here is a picture of the result.

There are some light leaks between the roof and the body.

I still have to weather the chassis… and install the side handrails, which I’ve been hesitating to do since the beginning, as I don’t have a clear solution for this. I’ll probably replace the supplied plastic handrails by metal ones.