Rapidly Replacing Rattan

On Wednesday I brought out the second reupholstered rattan seat back and installed it in the 36.

It looks good -- probably too good.  Any modelers out there have some weathering secrets for rattan?

Anyway, the third and final back is being varnished and should be ready soon.  For my next project, I went through the car and took a closer look at the seat cushions.  One of the corner stationary seats had a bad rip in the rattan, so I took it home for repair.

 There's also one walkover cushion that has a worn-out spot, and it should probably be recovered too.  And then one of the old-style seat backs has a noticeable rip.  So there's more to do.  I have plenty of new material.

And then I spent some time rearranging parts and tools in storage.  While we're in Barn 8, let's look at the nice new door on the 213.  It's close to the barn wall, so the angle isn't the best, but you get the idea.  The glass still needs to be installed; it was left out to eliminate the chance of breaking it while mounting the door.

Pete and Fritz were working on building the next 213 door.  Here they are running stock through the big jointer.

And Tim and Buzz and Victor and Bill and others were working on their projects too.

Finally, when I got the first stationary seat cushion home, I started by taking some pictures for future reference.

One amusing mathematical fact: these stationary seats are exactly 24" wide.  When these cars were built, the ERR journal article claimed that the seating capacity was 56.  But the only way you can get to 56 people is if you have two persons sitting on each of the stationary seats.  That might work if all your passengers are ten year olds, but otherwise it's pretty much impossible.  48 is a much more reasonable number.