passenger car interiors - Model Railroader Magazine
Welcome Audreys
Just by coincidence, I was doing the very thing you were asking about yesterday. The basic problem with installling an IHC interior in an Athern coach is the Athern is 71' long and the IHC interior is designed for a longer car; 84' I believe. In addition, the Athern is narrower, so the interior width has to be shaved as well.
This photo is a stock IHC interior, next to the cut down one I worked on yesterday. The photo shows the major chunks of base I cut out to reduce the length. The best way to do this is with an X-Acto miter box, that way you will get cuts that are square and the pieces will fit together. You want your final length to be between the stairways on the Athern car base.
(Those with sharp eyes may notice the interior is for a lighweight coach, not a heavyweight - but that is what I had available.)
Once the length is sorted out, the best way to reduce the width is to cut away the plastic flange running down the sides of the base. Use a hobby knife with a new sharp blade. Place a piece of sandpaper, around 100 grit, on a flat surface, and sand the sides of the base to reduce the width. Test fit it into the Athern car base until it fits. The original base is on the right. (Sorry for the poor quality of the closeup photo, I forgot to go to macro mode on my camera.)
A final thing depends on just how picky you are on looks. The seats on the IHC base do not align with the Athern coach windows, which stands to reason since it was designed for an IHC passenger car. If you think this is important, then each seat will need to be cut from the IHC base and glued into the Athern car base to align with the windows. Personally, I think this is a lot of work for a small gain in looks, and I am not going to do it.
A final consideration is the weight of the car. In order to properly install the interior, you can not use the standard Athern car weights. A 70' car should weigh 5.8 oz to meet NMRA standards. I am going to install sheet lead in the recessed area of the car floor. If that does not meet the weight, I will add more lead into the bathroom areas of the car where it can not be seen.
Next stop is the paint shop and decals to complete a Maine Central coach. Also some figures to be painted and installing a lighting kit; then it will be ready to run!
