02-22-2010, 10:09 PM
Actually, Ralph, that's a sealable plastic container for so-called "gourmet" jelly beans. 
It'll last a couple of months before the plastic begins to crack from exposure to the alcohol - the only plastic which I've ever seen affected by it. In the meantime, it keeps the vapours in check.
After a little scrubbing with a toothbrush, the paint was gone. I cleaned-up some of the areas where details had been removed, then added a .125"x125" styrene block at each end of the carbody, drilling and tapping for #0-80 screws. I wasn't satisfied with the fit between the body and floor using the tabs on the ends, as there was a visible gap at the platforms.
Here's the cleaned-up plug in an end window:
And the shaved plugs on the roof and floor:
After removing the cast-on brake gear from the frame, and improving the fit between the floor and underframe, the two were cemented together. The next step was to add some more-detailed brake gear. The valve, cylinder and reservoir are leftovers from a Red Caboose boxcar kit, with actuating rods fashioned from .012" stainless steel wire and piping from .015" brass wire. The operating lever for the second brake wheel is from Tichy, bent to suit the offset installation. The slack-adjuster chain is from Detail Associates, and the bleed rod is formed from .008" brass wire, working through a formed "eye" of .006" wire inserted into the AB valve.
Because of the excessive truck swing on our models, I route the actuating rods to mostly follow the line of the main frame, ensuring that they're directly in-line with the frame before they reach a point where the wheels can touch them. This allows them to terminate out of view above the trucks without fouling either wheel rotation or truck swing. While this arrangement is incorrect when viewed from below, it looks perfectly acceptable under normal on-layout viewing and provides additional incentive to avoid derailments, lest anyone discover the ruse.
...and as viewed from the side:
The next task was to alter the roof. I had used several of these cabooses, more-or-less unmodified, on my current layout and had also built some "modernised" versions, extending the roof over the platforms. However, following the roofline of the car resulted in a slightly drooping appearance. I was hoping to get a longer roof here, without the "droop".
The first step was to cut back the ends of the existing roof, removing the slight taper which caused the droop, then adding a support piece of .020" styrene on the underside of the remaining overhang.
I purposely left it narrower than the roof, as I want to add a valance around its perimeter:
Next, overly-long pieces of .060"x,125" strip styrene, scored at their mid-points to allow them to be bent, were cemented in place atop the support piece:
They'll be trimmed to length after the valance is in place. Here the sides of the valance have been installed, using .020"x.100" styrene strip. The joint is further strengthened with pieces of .020"x.020" strip.
Note too that the new straight panels have been added to the roof: They're .020" sheet styrene, cut-to-size to span the full width of the roof, then scored and bent at their mid-point. I dragged their edges over sandpaper to round them slightly, as they're supposed to represent stampings:
Here's the end valance. It's bottom edges were aligned with those of the side pieces, then cemented in place. After the cement has hardened, they'll be trimmed to size:
While the roof dries, it's time for a little work on those replacement windows. These are the windows as-supplied:
The 2-over-2 panels are meant to be installed in the larger frame from the rear, then the entire assembly goes into the window opening in the caboose from the outside. However, they would merely be a different style of fixed window, the same as those with which the caboose was originally equipped.
I decided to change them to a simple double-hung style. First, the inserts were cut in two, with one piece retaining the entire horizontal divider muntin. This piece was cemented into the larger frame, and will represent the upper, non-moveable part of the window.
The remaining parts were turned face-down on the work surface (there's a slight draught angle on the edges, making the front side slightly narrower), then a piece of HO scale 1"x2" was cemented to the open ends. As shown below, the strip of white styrene is slightly thicker than the window pieces, causing its upper surface to stand slightly higher than the window framing - this side will be on the inside of the caboose once it's been installed, leaving the outside face flush with the grey plastic to which it's attached.
I left all six lower sashes attached to the styrene strip, making them easier to handle. The windows will have to first be painted, then clear styrene "glass" installed, followed by assembly, then installation of the completed units into the enlarged openings in the otherwise-finished caboose.
Below, one of the partially-assembled windows is positioned over a lower sash, showing the desired effect of a partially-open window:
As shown here, any window can be partially open, wide open, or closed:
The sticking point mentioned at the beginning of this thread is what would logically be the next step: window screens.
While I've made them before, the kit on which they were installed provided a frame (meant for storm windows), which, while rather clunky-looking in the third photo below (taken through a loupe), looks pretty decent on the layout.
However, even by using HO scale 1"x1", the frame for the screen will hide too much of the window. At present, I'm going to forego window screens - perhaps something will occur to me after the rest of the caboose is done, perhaps not. In any event, it will have to be easy to do, as I'm about to embark on building a fleet of cabooses for my layout, all using this same window technique, albeit on scratchbuilt bodies. This caboose is the "test mule" for the various ideas and techniques.
Wayne
It'll last a couple of months before the plastic begins to crack from exposure to the alcohol - the only plastic which I've ever seen affected by it. In the meantime, it keeps the vapours in check.After a little scrubbing with a toothbrush, the paint was gone. I cleaned-up some of the areas where details had been removed, then added a .125"x125" styrene block at each end of the carbody, drilling and tapping for #0-80 screws. I wasn't satisfied with the fit between the body and floor using the tabs on the ends, as there was a visible gap at the platforms.
Here's the cleaned-up plug in an end window:
And the shaved plugs on the roof and floor:
After removing the cast-on brake gear from the frame, and improving the fit between the floor and underframe, the two were cemented together. The next step was to add some more-detailed brake gear. The valve, cylinder and reservoir are leftovers from a Red Caboose boxcar kit, with actuating rods fashioned from .012" stainless steel wire and piping from .015" brass wire. The operating lever for the second brake wheel is from Tichy, bent to suit the offset installation. The slack-adjuster chain is from Detail Associates, and the bleed rod is formed from .008" brass wire, working through a formed "eye" of .006" wire inserted into the AB valve.
Because of the excessive truck swing on our models, I route the actuating rods to mostly follow the line of the main frame, ensuring that they're directly in-line with the frame before they reach a point where the wheels can touch them. This allows them to terminate out of view above the trucks without fouling either wheel rotation or truck swing. While this arrangement is incorrect when viewed from below, it looks perfectly acceptable under normal on-layout viewing and provides additional incentive to avoid derailments, lest anyone discover the ruse.
...and as viewed from the side:
The next task was to alter the roof. I had used several of these cabooses, more-or-less unmodified, on my current layout and had also built some "modernised" versions, extending the roof over the platforms. However, following the roofline of the car resulted in a slightly drooping appearance. I was hoping to get a longer roof here, without the "droop".
The first step was to cut back the ends of the existing roof, removing the slight taper which caused the droop, then adding a support piece of .020" styrene on the underside of the remaining overhang.
I purposely left it narrower than the roof, as I want to add a valance around its perimeter:
Next, overly-long pieces of .060"x,125" strip styrene, scored at their mid-points to allow them to be bent, were cemented in place atop the support piece:
They'll be trimmed to length after the valance is in place. Here the sides of the valance have been installed, using .020"x.100" styrene strip. The joint is further strengthened with pieces of .020"x.020" strip.
Note too that the new straight panels have been added to the roof: They're .020" sheet styrene, cut-to-size to span the full width of the roof, then scored and bent at their mid-point. I dragged their edges over sandpaper to round them slightly, as they're supposed to represent stampings:
Here's the end valance. It's bottom edges were aligned with those of the side pieces, then cemented in place. After the cement has hardened, they'll be trimmed to size:
While the roof dries, it's time for a little work on those replacement windows. These are the windows as-supplied:
The 2-over-2 panels are meant to be installed in the larger frame from the rear, then the entire assembly goes into the window opening in the caboose from the outside. However, they would merely be a different style of fixed window, the same as those with which the caboose was originally equipped.
I decided to change them to a simple double-hung style. First, the inserts were cut in two, with one piece retaining the entire horizontal divider muntin. This piece was cemented into the larger frame, and will represent the upper, non-moveable part of the window.
The remaining parts were turned face-down on the work surface (there's a slight draught angle on the edges, making the front side slightly narrower), then a piece of HO scale 1"x2" was cemented to the open ends. As shown below, the strip of white styrene is slightly thicker than the window pieces, causing its upper surface to stand slightly higher than the window framing - this side will be on the inside of the caboose once it's been installed, leaving the outside face flush with the grey plastic to which it's attached.
I left all six lower sashes attached to the styrene strip, making them easier to handle. The windows will have to first be painted, then clear styrene "glass" installed, followed by assembly, then installation of the completed units into the enlarged openings in the otherwise-finished caboose.
Below, one of the partially-assembled windows is positioned over a lower sash, showing the desired effect of a partially-open window:
As shown here, any window can be partially open, wide open, or closed:
The sticking point mentioned at the beginning of this thread is what would logically be the next step: window screens.
While I've made them before, the kit on which they were installed provided a frame (meant for storm windows), which, while rather clunky-looking in the third photo below (taken through a loupe), looks pretty decent on the layout. However, even by using HO scale 1"x1", the frame for the screen will hide too much of the window. At present, I'm going to forego window screens - perhaps something will occur to me after the rest of the caboose is done, perhaps not. In any event, it will have to be easy to do, as I'm about to embark on building a fleet of cabooses for my layout, all using this same window technique, albeit on scratchbuilt bodies. This caboose is the "test mule" for the various ideas and techniques.
Wayne