has anyone gotten on of Atlas’ trainman C&O style center cupola caboose, how do you paint an undecorated version without getting the windows or other part than the body painted. Is there a way to dissassemble the caboose to paint it?
Have you received the caboose and checked it out? Undec units may or may not have the glass installed. They should easilly be removed for your painting. I don’t have any undec Atlas ones, but they should disassemble w/o any problem. Took a look at my Chessie extended vision, the floor drops out once the end rails are removed by careful prying at the sides. The cupula snaps in but the smoke jack on my version needs to be removed first. If the Trainman line is close in construction this may help.
Bob K.
It’s simple- the caboose comes apart very easily.
First, gently pull the ends of the end ladders straight up out of the platforms on the roof. Don’t be surprised when the flop over to either side, because they pivot at the top of the ladders.
Once you’ve done that, you can gently pull the entire end railing/ladder assembly straight away from the body. Once you’ve done that to both ends, the caboose body pulls up and right off the frame.
The side and end window plastic is a separate piece for each window, which snaps into (and out of) place from the inside. One end slides behind a pair of pins, while a raised part snaps into the window frames. One at a time, gently press each piece of the window glass from the outside, then slide it down from the inside.
To remove the cupola window glazing, unsnap the cupola from the caboose body, then unsnap the window pieces from the inside.
The side grabs pull straight out from the sides of the caboose body easily.
After painting six of these so far, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of storing the window glazing, endrail/ladder assemblies and side grabs in a closable box. I hate looking for loose parts that got away…