That caboose it looking great! Just a few more handrail details, trucks, couplers, decals, and some weathering and you’ll have an excellent piece of proundly sractchbuilt rolling stock*!*
It is very discouraging reading this forum. Everyone seems to have an affliction, a relative with an issue, a dying pet, a poopy job, a crappy boss, and so forth.
And now you tell me your caboose is terminal?
I know, [:(] I probably should’ve put this in the diner, where such things are discussed at length.
Mike.
I don’t know Mike. Since this is your first scratch build of a rail car, I think you have more than just a little to be proud of here.
Lookin good kid[Y] TF
Ok, I think that was supposed to be a joke. Because its a Terminal caboose? Haha. Good one. I liked it. Anyway…
Excellent work Mike! Even if I could never produce results like that, its still fun to see others pull it off. I should buy more styrene, actually…
Thanks guy! [:)]
The MILW. called these terminal cabooses from the start. Most know them as transfer caboose, because they were used when moving trains from yard to yard.
The MILW. had yards all over the metro Milwaukee area. Articles I’ve read about the railroad, talk about 100 car trains going from one yard to another. [:O]
The decals have been ordered. I got lucky and one of my favorite suppliers had 1 sheet of decal for the MILW steel caboose from 1950 - 1980.
I’m decaling it from what prototype photos I can find, of my series. It changed numbers as it went from one road to another, as talked about in a great post in here from Dave Nelson. Thanks again Dave for all the info you provided.
I will weather it as I see fit, going off of photos. I’ve already started that by weathering the under frame and brake gear, as I’ve shown in previous pictures, and the diamond plate deck has been painted and weathered.
Thanks again for the comments!
I’ll show some finished photos, except for decals and weathering, and then at some point, I’ll show the fully completed car.
Now I can clean up my work area. A complete mess. Next project? I have many in the works to choose from.
Mike.
Excellent progress Mike!
Your painting skills are impressive especially since I believe you are using a brush. My hands shake too much to get anywhere close to the straight edges that you have achieved.[tup][wow][yeah]
Dave
Great lookin’ results, Mike! [tup][tup]
Wayne
It’s looking great Mike. Glad I could be of whatever help I was. I remember those terminal cabooses - and the Fairbanks Morse switchers that usually accompanied them. Those frames from tenders made them strong enough to be part of very heavy shoves up the grade that gets to Burnham St Yard.
Dave Nelson
Thanks a lot guys! I’m humbled.
Mike.
Mid morning rain here in SE. WI., has given me a chance to do a little finish-up on the caboose project.
I added the trucks, couplers, and painted the newly added hand rails, and put it on the track for a test.
It’s a little light, at 2.5 oz, NMRA suggest it should weigh 3.5 oz, but I think it will work fine. Later today, I’ll hook it a string of cars, and take it for a ride.
I’ll have the decals next week, do a little fading and weathering, and call it a done deal!
It’s got some flaws, and I made some compromising, but I’m happy, for my first, and that’s what counts! [swg]
Maybe I’ll stick with buildings [(-D]
I’ll post a couple of pictures at that time, to finish this off.
Thanks for looking, and tagging along!
Mike.
Great job, Mike! [Y]
I especially like the way you captured the extremely “solid” looking underframe. One can spot at a glance that there’s a former tender underframe there.
Everything about your model exudes “character”.
Thanks for posting the progress,
Ed
Looks great! I didn’t realize how small that caboose is compared to that boxcar you put it next to. It really is quite small!
Looks like a nice 1st scratchbuild for you roster, and certainly something unique and different!
Thanks Ed, that means a bunch, coming from you! [:)]
Thanks SP.
The prototype was 34’ 3" from pulling face to pulling face on the couplers. Mine turned out the same, and If I would have used short shank couplers, I’d be right on. I used what I had, #148 whiskers, medium shank.
Of all the couplers I’ve put on my cars, during the last 9 years? converting to Kadees and metal wheel sets, this is the first time I’ve noticed how much the #148’s are out of scale, and perhaps the #158’s would look better.
I like the performance of the #148’s, so I’ll stick with them.
Mike.
I think that you did a terrific job on the caboose, Mike, especially for your first time at scratch building. [tup] Are you going to release it as RTR or a kit? [swg]
Hi Mike,
You have done a great job, especially considering that it is your first rolling stock scratchbuild! Regardless of the tiny imperfections that the camera shows, it just looks ‘right’. The decals and weathering will add a lot to it.
Dave
One last time! [swg]
I put on the decals, the way the prototype did it on some of their cabs, and did some light weathering.
I was just trying to fade the orange slightly, along with the roof, and add a little corrosion to the vent stacks. I also gave it a shot of dull coat before I started with the weathering.
That’s it! Done. At some point, I might patch it for my short line.
Thanks for all the comments, and the views.
Mike.
A nice final segment to this project, I have been following it earnestly for the past few weeks and am impressed buy the final result! A very close representation of the prototype!
I would eventually if it was my railroad, more plausible, and the prototype you used was bought by a shortline after all! It looks a bit strange in old MILW paint next to your moder boxcars and locomotive. When you do patch it I’d give it a heavier weathering job, if it were to still in MILW in the modern era.
You could also keep it in MILW paint and say your short line did it up as a heritage paint. I’ve heard of the real thing doing that, I recall an blerb in Trains a bit back were CSX painted a caboose in Chessie System colors.
For now I hope you can at least enjoy it in the scheme of a famous fallen flag!
That Caboose looks outstanding Mike, I really like it. Really, the thing looks Factory.
Great job. No one would ever know that was your first build if you hadn’t told them[Y]
TF
Wow, having KD’s on a car like that really puts the oversize into perspective!!!
I wonder if I can 3d print my own scale couplers…?
My whole fleet is KD’d right now. Horrid bad for rivet counting snobs[oX)].