Were the retractable sun shades an add-on from the Frisco shops? Is there a detail part for this item or does it have to be made? If so, any info on how to make them? How durable where these things since they where made of heavy duty fabric material and from the photos they were always in the down position exposed to the elements. John
Those were the cat's meow. Very simple in design and quite ingenious. I recall them being a type of heavy canvas with a simple wire frame. Worked well in rain and could be easily folded up when not needed. Kind of a pain to model, though. Never entered my mind to take a close up picture of them. Andre
John, somewhere on the forum, someone posted a how-to on sunshades using paper and very small gauge wire. It was either Tom Holley, Brad Slone or Steve Hurt.
I would assume Tom and Brad have both got them here besides myself. I have a few here John. If you look through my "media" album here Several switchers I built have them with varying degrees of success. My early rolled attempts with tissue paper soaked in thinned Elmers worked but I was not careful enough with the sizes they look too fat. My old RS1 here for example. Some of the later attempts got better. Keeping a realistic diameter to the roll is tough. For unrolled sunshades I have used tissue over a small wire armature. Just bending it into a U shape and draping the wet tissue. They are on my 70 ton GE and Large scale switcher. I also have used cardstock or white construction paper to make them unrolled. On my Baldwins and FM switchers. These look decent to me because they have a little texture abd with pastels or even pencil some shadows can be added to enhance the fabric effect. A wire U can be added under them after they are installed. I have some more to try and practice on still coming up with a 100% likeable look. I can add pics if you want here? I have never seen them offered for sale. Hope this helps a little. LMK if I can help, Steve
Hey John, I am trying them again on my dad's FAs. Here is what I have so far. Still not perfect. Oversized I suspect but oh well. Here is what I did anyway. I you are a little more careful than me you will have no problem making some. The frame is .015" stainless wire from DA. I used yellow Frog tape for this attempt. A little paint and pastel weathering and they should look OK. Hope it helps. I will post finished product. Steve
