+- (https://bigbluetrains.com)
+-- Forum: Mainline (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=17)
+--- Forum: HO Modeling (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=21)
+--- Thread: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses (/showthread.php?tid=2637)
Pages:
1
2
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - P5se Camelback - 05-04-2010
faraway Wrote:This is to be the caboose/crummy/cabin car/van fleet for the LS&W, an anthracite coal hauler in Northeast Pennsylvania. Branches are short, coal loads are heavy, grades are steep and it was decided by management that nothing larger was required. Besides, just as I like camelbacks, I think these little guys are just really "Cute Little Crummies!"P5se Camelback Wrote:I can't remember...
I am happy to see you have some backup in case one of the little guys gets lost
What is your intention to have a complete fleet?
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - P5se Camelback - 05-06-2010
Learning the capabilities of this little digital camera. Found the Super-Macro focus function. So ... here are a couple more photos following the conversion of a few toys to the status of detailed scale models.
The voids in the end platforms, left by cammed slides in the mold to facilitate molding the area of the long-shank "horn-hook" coupler, have been plugged with pieces of Evergreen styrene strip stock and the platform railing holes plugged with Evergreen rod stock.
![[Image: PlatformVoidsandMountingHolesPlugge.jpg]](http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/wwmarsland/Building%20the%20Cute%20Little%20Crummies/PlatformVoidsandMountingHolesPlugge.jpg)
Close-up detail of platform/end railing plugs ...
![[Image: Detail-PlatformRailHolesPlugged.jpg]](http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/wwmarsland/Building%20the%20Cute%20Little%20Crummies/Detail-PlatformRailHolesPlugged.jpg)
And of course, the mammoth-flanged, AHM toy train wheelsets had to go. Kadee 36" ribbed-back wheelsets replace the stock wheelsets.
![[Image: Ribbed-backKadeeWheelsetsInstalled.jpg]](http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/wwmarsland/Building%20the%20Cute%20Little%20Crummies/Ribbed-backKadeeWheelsetsInstalled.jpg)
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - ocalicreek - 05-19-2010
Do you find the kadee replacement wheelset axles long enough or is there much wobble in the journals?
Galen
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - nachoman - 05-19-2010
Any updates on this? I am curious what you will be doing for end railings.
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - P5se Camelback - 05-19-2010
Patience ... I had some "daughter" concerns to attend to, but am back at the makeshift breakfast table workbench, doggedly filling the "giant" voids left in the end platforms by cammed slides in the mold tooling to prevent the toy "horn-hook" couplers an 1/2" shanks from sagging onto the tracks! Two photos taken quickly to illustrate this annoying step in the transformation to those who are interested follow. The first shows the void left by the slide and the "U strap" that was the result of making a gaping hole in the end platform.
hock: ![[Image: OriginalCouplerPockets-resized.jpg]](http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/wwmarsland/Building%20the%20Cute%20Little%20Crummies/OriginalCouplerPockets-resized.jpg)
The second photo, a cropped version of one shown earlier, shows the initial stage of plugging the void and preparing a solid base for draft gear.
![[Image: StrapRemoved-VoidFilled-resized.jpg]](http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/wwmarsland/Building%20the%20Cute%20Little%20Crummies/StrapRemoved-VoidFilled-resized.jpg)
When the initial photo was taken, it was the only one I had filled that was still visible. And now with only nine more voids to plug I'm hoping to be finished with this tedious madness by the weekend. The fact that the platform has a series of raised ribs running across them that require filing and sanding to make the plugs disappear. (That detail was illustrated in a prvious post.)Then I can start drilling 80 #78 and #80 holes for grabs, rails and NBW castings.
If I can still see after that, I will start designing a fixture to fab up and solder brass wire end railings. So, Mr. Nachoman, all things in their time. 
I went through an unmotivated couple of days but have been remotivated by reading a few inspiring posts here on Big Blue The-Gauge (and your inquiry, too, Nacho Guy) and I'm back working on the very small fleet again. 
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - TrainNut - 05-19-2010
faraway Wrote:What is your intention to have a complete fleet?You could always use them to model your own version of the Red Caboose motel!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.redcaboosemotel.com/">http://www.redcaboosemotel.com/</a><!-- m -->
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - P5se Camelback - 05-19-2010
Yes ... I could ... if I was just building these for the halibut
... but they shall be the LS&W's caboose fleet. The District Super believes that "the runs are short, the grades are steep and the size of these crummies is sufficient for the job." I dare say they're at least as big as the slim gauge one you're building ...
BTW ... I've spent the night at the Red Caboose Motel on several occasions in a Reading Company class NMj crummy when my small daughter and I made our spring and summer trips to the Strasburg RR for some steam engine photography and for her exposure to why Daddy likes trains. They were lots more fun than Motel 6! Back then when she was 5 and 6, she had a 4x5 layout in the basement near the around the walls railroad I was building. She built all her structures from Legos. She doesn't model now
, but she appreciates Dad's trains and loves the fact that he's building again. And now I must get back to filling gaping holes in end platforms!
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - sgtcarl1 - 05-20-2010
biL: That's great looking work you're doing, there!! And your photos are great, too!! Thanks for sharing what you're doing, with us!!!
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - P5se Camelback - 05-22-2010
ocalicreek Wrote:Do you find the kadee replacement wheelset axles long enough or is there much wobble in the journals? - Galen
Galen, the Kadee wheelsets fit very nicely, no slop, no wobble, no bind ... they were perfect replacements for the very tall, knife-edged flanges of the as-supplied AHM toy-train wheelsets.
The Kadees were a good choice. I use them a lot when not satisfied with the wheelsets supplied with a model.
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - P5se Camelback - 05-24-2010
For all those who have asked the question, "They're nice, I guess ... but why would you want more than one? Are you going to model a motel?" ... I ask that you look to history, possibly even the very early history of your own favorite prototype, for justifying having a "Small Fleet of Very Small Cabooses" ...
![[Image: RDGNMa4-wheelBobbers.jpg]](http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af349/wwmarsland/Prototype%20Railroading/RDGNMa4-wheelBobbers.jpg)
READING COMPANY Cabooses (Crummies) Class NMa & NMb 4-Wheel Bobbers , taking a well-deserved rest.
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - ocalicreek - 05-27-2010
My 'Big Tujunga Lumber Company' has one, and there are a few others (old Mantua, et al) in a box of rolling stock in need of upgrading that will eventually be lettered for the Ocali Creek Railway. They're just nice little hacks that work well and detail nicely, IMO.
Nice proto photo.
Galen
Re: Building a small fleet of very small cabooses - Steve - 06-09-2010
biL....I think that they will look awesome! Great project
....let me get my 