This is a Bachmann searchlight-equipped work caboose I picked up off eBay as part of a lot of freight cars.
Before:
This thing needed some major help before it got anywhere near my layout. So I spent a day working on the car and this was the result:
After:
First, the roof on the car looked awful. I fixed it by using some peel and stick roofing material from an American Model Builder’s kit that I painted Floquil “Grimy Black.”
I painted the flatcar and tool boxes Floquil “Boxcar Red.” Appropriately enough, I painted the caboose part, Floquil “Caboose Red.” I painted the brake wheel and truss rods Floquil "Grimey Black and the steps Testors “Zinc Chromate.”
I made decals in Word and printed them on decal paper. I then gave the car a good coat of weather wash.
I made inserts for the windows out of clear plastic packaging material. I then fogged them with Dullcote to hide the empty interior.
I Dulcoted the whole car and then applied the chalk weathering before a final coat of Dullcote.
The last piece of this particular project is getting rid of the search light. I’m quite sure that no such prototype ever existed. That leaves the challenge of how to fill the hole where the lamp will leave behind.
What do you guys think?
