Tug Fork & Eastern Cabin 04

Tug Fork & Eastern Cabin 04 Tug Fork & Eastern Cabin 04

January 10, 2006

     Once again, I've turned to the N&W for inspiration. Last year I aquired a Bachmann caboose, and at the time decided it wasn;t quite what I needed.   The trucks and their pickups I used under the tender of 4-6-0 No4, and on a lark I had beheaded it (removed the cupola) lowered it onto HO trucks and been using it as an elderly waycar.
      So after building hoppers and flats to a bit large size than I originally intended, I decided I needed a new caboose. Waycar 04 was the perfect target. Basically I trashed everything but the frame (Fig1). Then taking my basic measurements from this I laid out each side on some O scale scribed passenger car siding. (Fig 2) Siding makes things real easy if ya keep yer measurements to the grooves, you can cut it with out a straight edge most of the time.

Fig 1
Fig 2

     Some of the spotting features of a Class CF caboose, is the fact that the cupola sides are one piece with the carside, the cupola is slightly off center and there is a small bathroom window on one side of the car. One thing ya gotta be carful of, is to make sure you have two opposing sides, not two identical ones cause the scribing is only on one side. (Guess how I figgered this out?) With the sides cut out, I moved onto laying and cutting out the windows. (Fig 3).
    The ends were a bit tricky because I needed the top carline to overlap the walls just a bit. Once I got one end laid out, (Fig 4) I used it for a template to create the other end, the front and rear walls of the cupola, and intermediate carlines for connecting the roof. I went ahead and cut the door opening and then assembled the sides and ends using the carframe to keep everything square. (Fig 5) Fig 6 shows the cupola ends and carlines in place. Window framing was accomplished with a variety of sizes of styrene strip. (Fig 7) Each window required 4 pieces each.

Fig 3

Fig 4
Fig5

Fig 6
Fig 7

January 11, 2006

I used .010 styrene for a roof glueing it down to the carlines, then applied the nameboards. (Fig 8) Handrails and grabs were fabricated from .030 rod, roof ribs are 3/32 channel and a roofwalk applied (Fig 9,10) The end posts are also made from 3/32 channel with a square of .001 styrene and a section of .030 rod (Fig 11) I recycled the ladders from the original caboose as well as the brake wheels and the platforms at the ends of the roofwalks. The stove chimney is also part of the original Bachmann product.	Fig 8
Fig 9	Fig 10
Fig 11	Fig 12

	Once again, I've turned to the N&W for inspiration. Last year I aquired a Bachmann caboose, and at the time decided it wasn;t quite what I needed. The trucks and their pickups I used under the tender of 4-6-0 No4, and on a lark I had beheaded it (removed the cupola) lowered it onto HO trucks and been using it as an elderly waycar. So after building hoppers and flats to a bit large size than I originally intended, I decided I needed a new caboose. Waycar 04 was the perfect target. Basically I trashed everything but the frame (Fig1). Then taking my basic measurements from this I laid out each side on some O scale scribed passenger car siding. (Fig 2) Siding makes things real easy if ya keep yer measurements to the grooves, you can cut it with out a straight edge most of the time.
Fig 1	Fig 2
Some of the spotting features of a Class CF caboose, is the fact that the cupola sides are one piece with the carside, the cupola is slightly off center and there is a small bathroom window on one side of the car. One thing ya gotta be carful of, is to make sure you have two opposing sides, not two identical ones cause the scribing is only on one side. (Guess how I figgered this out?) With the sides cut out, I moved onto laying and cutting out the windows. (Fig 3). The ends were a bit tricky because I needed the top carline to overlap the walls just a bit. Once I got one end laid out, (Fig 4) I used it for a template to create the other end, the front and rear walls of the cupola, and intermediate carlines for connecting the roof. I went ahead and cut the door opening and then assembled the sides and ends using the carframe to keep everything square. (Fig 5) Fig 6 shows the cupola ends and carlines in place. Window framing was accomplished with a variety of sizes of styrene strip. (Fig 7) Each window required 4 pieces each.	Fig 3
Fig 4	Fig5
Fig 6	Fig 7