Yea, I forgot to add....I am hoping Overland does some ATSF cabooses. With the great job they have been doing with cabooses, you would think a good ATSF caboose will be coming soon.
I'm hoping someone else does a detail kit for the caboose...Atlas' caboose is a fine one. I can't afford brass. Especially when I want 4-5 ATSF cabooses.
Today I got some wider roofwalks for next to the cupola. It's not much bigger, but it will look fine when painted.
Also changed the couplers to ones with a longer shank. Make it look more like the cushion gear the ATSF cabooses had. Also give me something better to add BLMA cut levers too.
Today I finished the top of the cupola with grabs and an antenna. Then I hit it with a light coat of red to prime it all together before painting when the weather gets warmer. Also added the curved grabs on the side of the caboose.
I accidentally broke one of the ladder handrails that go to the top, but it's going to stay that way.
I did a whole batch of these back in the 80's when there weren't a whole lot of choices. I used the Walthers decal set for the yellow heralds, .010 wire, the original plastic brakestands with wire additions and brass ladders, and the Trix cabooses, which still have some rather nice detail and the right truck spacing - unlike the old Atlas. Lube plates are Walthers, reflective heralds are Micro-Scale, numbers and reporting marks. In the early 70's the roofs were still black. I blanked out the windows with styrene, but I never tried to flush-fit and round the remaining ones, just cut out the sashes and used Krystal-Kleer for glazing. Jerry, I really like what you did to the cupola windows on the side. I didn't bother and when I look at yours, I should have! When Micro-Scale came out with a better decal set, I at least redid the cupola numbers. That's a real signature item. I've got like nine of these when I did my caboose program, and until somebody does a body shell with the right flush windows, they'll probably stick around. The yellow-cupola one in front designates a local-only caboose, not a pool caboose. I've noticed when I studied photos that the original 1969-era pool caboose rebuild program seemed to have redder paint than the later rebuilds like Jerry is doing that run lighter and more orange. This shot is pretty much what I'm trying to do, the cars are relatively clean, black roofs, some different details. http://www.railpixs.com/atsf2/ATSF2667_AlvinTx_July76a.jpg If you look at them a little later in life you can see the differences in paint, lettering, etc. http://www.vistadome.com/trains/oerm/atsf076.jpg ATSF didn't take delivery of the first CE-8's until 1975 for the Super C, but I've got one bashed one I did from a Bachmann, which was a LOT of work. I followed an MR article and my own photos. When Atlas came out with their extended vision caboose (also 999538), I got all excited and bought one, and after I really studied and compared the cars I sold Atlas'. Mine was still closer.
Great jobs on the cabooses Randy! I'm really surprised someone has not done an accurate model of these,(CE Series), Cabooses.
Of course, if you really want an ACCURATE model, some additional photoetch details might be necessary: Lucky for you, Jerry, that's a CE-1, or you'd have to do some real digging to get that prototypically correct. (extra bonus points if you can identify the railroad and location - hint, I took the photo in 2006)
Well it was overcast, but a beautiful 65 degrees, so I fired up the airbrush and put a nice coat of red on the caboose.
Biggest modifications were to the cupola. Looks rough magnified with the digital camera, but good enough for me at normal viewing distance.
There are still people on roofs in some countries, as in this [ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=9CT5oX1fu4I"]video[/ame]. (Only tangentially related to the discussion. Let it run until at least 45 seconds into it and you will see some great on-the-roof footwork.) I love this kitbash. Modeling the WPRR/PNWR, kitbashing is pretty much all I am doing since there is next to zero RTR available in my roadname. I have a couple cabooses I have been considering kitbashing and this makes it seem more do-able.
