Train's Best Friend I like dogs. I like the way that no matter what, they're always glad to see you come home at the end of the day. Man's best friend. They'll greet you at the door, jumping around, slobbering all over you, ears flopping, tail wagging. That tail - it gives the dog character. Each one is different and special. Back in the day, trains had tails too, each one different, each one with a unique character. I'm talking about the caboose. Red ones, yellow ones, green ones, brown ones. They came in all shapes and sizes, and you would find one at the rear of every train. The train's best friend. You don't see them anymore. Pushed out of service by electronics, they now sit in museums, or neglected in some storage facility: The caboose has always been one of my favorite parts of the train, and for a long time, I've wanted to build one from scratch. For the October NMRA meeting, the topic of the modeling contest is "Cabooses", making this the perfect time to do just that. I found plans for this caboose through the Missabe Railroad Historical Society: Looks easy, right? Should be fun - construction is underway... Stay tuned!
A Box On Wheels In simplest terms, a caboose is nothing more than a box on wheels. Sure, there's more to it than that, but essentially it's a box sitting on a frame with wheels underneath. As the first step in my caboose construction, I started with the frame, using 6"x7" timbers as specified in the plans that I purchased. Using scribed sheet stock, I cut the side walls and cut out the window openings. Since this thin material tends to warp when painted, I also added some bracing to the inside of each wall. I won't be detailing the interior, so this doesn't need to look pretty. With the floor in place, and the two side walls propped in place, you can see that this is indeed nothing more than a box sitting on a frame.
New Boards Turned Gray Behind Yellow Wood A better title might be "Apologies to Robert Frost", but I couldn't think of another title to sum up the weathering and painting that I did this evening. Using my trusty India Ink/alcohol solution, I stained the floor and two side walls of the caboose. I painted the insides of the two walls black, primarily to help minimize warping. This thin sheet stock will warp badly if only one side is painted. The black will also help disguise the fact that there is no interior detail. I also painted the underside of the frame black. A light coat of yellow (not DM&IR Yellow, but close) was applied to the outside of the walls. Notice also that one of the window frames is in place, constructed from thin styrene strips.
Does This Make My Caboose Look Square? In a previous post, I made the remark that a caboose is nothing more than a box on wheels. Today, that box began to take shape, as I finished constructed and attaching the two side walls and two end walls of the caboose. Each end wall contains a door (constructed from cereal box cardboard, paper, and clear plastic): Each window contains a "glass" pane, cut from a piece of clear plastic, with a piece of Scotch tape applied to obscure the view into the caboose. Since there is no interior detail, I don't want a clear view to the inside. Before the long weekend is over, I'll have the corner joints sanded and filled, the roof installed, and hopefully will have started on the cupola.
Squeezably Soft For My Caboose With the four walls of the caboose assembled, it was time for the roof. I hadn't yet decided what I was going to use for a roof, so I had some thinking to do. After obtaining the necessary inspirational material, I began pondering the situation. After a few minutes of deep thought, I found my answer. My caboose needed a curved roof, and here I was, looking at a curved (round, in fact) piece of cardboard. If you've ever tried to flatten a toilet paper (or paper towel) roll, you know that it's impossible. The cardboard wants to return to it's curved state. To me, it seemed like this would be easier than trying to curve a flat piece of cardboard. This "pre-curved" cardboard would give me a nice smooth curve, and would naturally hold that shape. I proceeded to cut a piece from the empty roll, and attached that piece to the top of the caboose. After a little trimming, it fit perfectly! The fit is perfect, but the look isn't quite right. The prototype caboose that I'm modeling didn't have a smooth roof, it appears to have been built from several sections of sheet metal - there are visible seams in the photo that I'm working from. To achieve that look, I turned to what is fast becoming a favorite modeling medium of mine - aluminum foil. Using strips of foil, each 36 scale inches wide, I began covering the roof of the caboose. The aluminum foil is readily held in place with CA. Hopefully tomorrow I will find time to finish applying the foil strips, and then I can paint and weather the metal roof.
Excellent scratch-build Tracy! :thumbs_up::thumbs_up: You're inspiring me to get started on the Virginia & Truckee Caboose I've been meaning to build for almost a year now!
Cupola Chaos Did you hear that? That huge sigh of relief? That was me. The caboose finally has a cupola, and the damned thing almost drove me over the edge. This is actually the third cupola that I've built for this caboose. With the first one, I cut out all of the pieces, and as I was cutting out the window openings, the walls split. I tried gluing them back together, but once assembled, they looked terrible - misaligned, crooked, and warped. I trashed that one and started over. On the second cupola, I cut the walls and glued them together, THEN tried to cut out the window openings. Again, problems with the wood splitting, and again, I glued them back together again. This one didn't turn out too bad, but then I dropped it. It didn't survive the fall. For attempt number three, I again cut out the walls, and again tried to cut out the window openings before assembling the cupola. This time, however, I cut the openings out in small chunks. I only split one wall. I quickly glued the roof on to add strength, and added some internal bracing. Windows glass was installed next, along with the window frames. The roof was given the same treatment as the caboose roof, with strips of aluminum foil glued on top. With that accomplished, I proceeded to paint the "metal" roof of the caboose and the cupola. For now, the cupola is not glued down. I'm going to give the paint a couple of days to dry, then I'll sand some of it off to expose the metal underneath. I'll glue the cupola down once that is done.
Confounded Cupola Two weeks ago, I wrote about my failures to build a cupola for my caboose. I've been trying since then to solve the problem. I think I found the answer this weekend. One of the problems I was facing was how to cut the window opening without splitting the scribed sheeting. It seems that just sticking the knife blade into the wood, along the wood grain, will split it wide open. Gerry Leone suggested that I try putting a piece of tape across the back of the wood piece before cutting. This worked beautifully - I was able to cut out all eight window openings without a single split. The second problem was with warping - the thin wood sheeting warps badly when painted, or even when glue is applied too heavily. Even painting both sides didn't completely prevent warping, these pieces are just too small. This time around, I added some 1/8"x1/8" bracing to the back side of each wall. After painting the walls, inside and out, there was NO WARPING! I still need to install the window frames and window glass, and paint the roof, but I finally have an acceptable cupola.
I was just looking at the leftover caboose steps from my n-scale boxcab project and was thinking about what I might do with them. I even have scribed wood and lots of other parts and bits from some other kits and stuff. So I think maybe a scratchbuilt caboose is in my future (even though I just kitbashed a shorty caboose). Hey Mark & MC, maybe this could be the next TB challenge? Great work so far, can't wait to see it finished. (and hey, if you're not happy with the end results, I could always convert it into a boxcab for you!)
Cupola Conquered! Tonight I installed the window frames and window glass into the new cupola, and am finally pleased with the results! It needs some touch-up painting, and a few rough edges cleaned up, but it's a vast improvement over the last attempt.
Yes, painting the wood at both sides is a good idea. What did you use for tar paper? Looks good! Wolfgang
It's aluminum foil, cut into strips. My plan is to lightly sand it, removing some of the paint, exposing the "metal", and then weathering/rusting it all.
Caboose on the Loose? Nope, not anymore, it's now firmly coupled to the rest of the train. Trucks, wheels, couplers and underside toolboxes are installed. The toolboxes need to be painted, then it's on to the brake components and truss rods, and finally the railings, ladders, grab irons, roof walks, smoke pipe, and so on. Jeez, there's a lot left to do... I'm hoping to have this thing completely finished in time for the Twin Cities Division meeting on October 13th. The topic for the modeling contest is, what else - cabooses!
Step Right Up! I wasn't going to admit this, since I've already made my ONE mistake for the year, but I'll go ahead anyway. I forgot to leave room for the steps on the caboose. Fixing that required cutting notches into the decking - very delicate, worrisome work. All is well, however, the notches are cut, and things seem to be on track for installing the steps. All of the pieces are cut, just have to assemble and install them all. I also finished adding the truss rods and brake details. It's not 100% accurate, but close enough for a Division contest.
That foil roofing has me fascinated. Well, not that the entire process so far hasn't been really very, very interesting! It sure has.
Grab My Caboose! Just be sure to use the newly installed grabiron. There's only one so far, so you'll need to be on the correct side of the tracks. You'll also notice that the ladders are installed, the smoke pipe is installed, and most of the cupola braces. Oh, and the steps, painted and installed. Three more grabirons to go, the roofwalk, platform railings, and the brake wheels, some weathering, and this will be one fine looking caboose. Should be done in plenty of time for the October meeting.
This is fantastic... If I remember correctly you have a thread regarding your scratchbuilding of a 'produce warehouse' which was equally brilliant. I love how you can break down something (to me) so daunting and make it look so manageable. Of course, besides your thread presentation, your work looks excellent (as always) I'm very impressed with how your roof came out too-once again I find myself inspired and my imagination running away with things Thank you for an excellent read so far, and can't wait to see the fully finished product!
