Bashing Athearn caboose into something it' snot!

[Anonymous]

I have an AMB Lazerkit 1200 series caboose also. I mentioned that here a few months ago to less than enthusiastic response. The AMB kit was a pleasure to build and wonderfully thought-out and executed. Their grab iron jig will be made use of plenty, in the future! I also recently built a Gloorecraft Model of this same series. Since I model 1953, I had to build end railings similar to the railings on the above caboose for this one also. I would recommend the AMB kits to anyone who has some patience. I think they have removed the need for brass cabooses, as you end up with a caboose which can't be told from brass. I emailed AMB and suggested they could easily modify the kit to produce a 1700 series caboose, by adding the cupola sides to the car sides and widening the cupola.

[GN-Rick]

Nice work. I agree with Andre. I would not have recogized a Athearn AT&SF
caboose under the NP look. It appears that you do with the NP the same
kind of things I do for the GN. I wanted a GN 25-foot wooden caboose for
a long time and since at the time (1993) there was no option but brass,
(and my funds were much more restricted then) I went ahead and scratch-
built one, using scribed and strip styrene, a Tichy underframe and brake gear,
and modified Athearn bay window caboose end platforms (plus other details).
I'm not camera enabled otherwise I'd post a picture. Keep the craftsmanship
going, it's good to see others still doing it. I also recommend the American
Model Builders NP caboose kit. A friend of mine has one and it's excellent.
I have done the GN one and have another in the erecting shop awaiting crew
time. They are very good, but they do require good planning in painting and
assembly. Anyway, keep up the good work.

[andrechapelon]

Mark, have you tried building an American Model Builders HO scale NP 1200 series caboose? Take a look: http://www.laserkit.com/images/871pr.jpg.

Looks like a good model.

Andre

[andrechapelon]

Nice job, Mark. If you hadn't fessed up to that being a bashed Athearn caboose, I'd have thought it was a brass one. You ever consider writing up any of your projects for publication?

Andre

[Anonymous]

I have seen some pretty odd things done to an old caboose.
A friend rebuilt a bay window into a rolling diner on a work train.
Another was double decked to include sleeping quarters on top
for crew

[Anonymous]

DeSchane -

That looks great! Do you have other pics of the layout as well?

Chris

[Anonymous]

The following photo shows my Athearn Caboose, which I modified to be a Northern Pacific Series 1000-1049 steel caboose. These were built in the N.P.'s shops in Brainerd, Minnesota in January and February of 1951.



In the late 30s, the N.P. 's mechanical dept. prepared designs of several 30 foot steel cabooses, to replace the standard 24 foot wood cabeese in use since before the turn of the century. However, they were not built until 1951. One of the N.P.'s conductors stated the steel cabooses were cold, compared to the wood cabooses and therefore at least he did not like them as well.

My kit-bash of the 1001 started with a standard cupola Athearn caboose. The overall length over the body end sills is approximately 1 foot short. This seemed like a good difference to overlook, so I did. The biggest difference between the Athearn stock caboose and the N.P.'s is the location, width and height of the cupola. Also, the ladders need to be moved from Athearn's normal side, to the other side and a few windows filled in and others opened up in new locations.

I started by sanding off all the rivet and panel detail on the car sides, ends and on the cupola. The Athearn caboose has a riveted metal joint between the roof and the car sides, whereas the N.P.'s caboose has a radiused corner. I filled in all the windows on the Athearn car body which were not in the correct position for the N.P. caboose with pieces of styrene sheet and Squadron's green putty. Then I opened up the new windows.

The old cupola opening in the roof was filled in with a sheet of styrene, filled with putty and sanded smooth. The cupola stands a foot taller and is wider than Athearn's cupola. So I sliced the cupola in two and added sheet filler to bring the cupola width right out even with the car sides and added sheet styrene to raise the cupola up. When I was satisfied with this, I cut a new hole, on location for the opening in the car body roof and glued on the cupola.

With the addition of brass wire grabs and end railings made from plastic angles, all that was left was adding the smoke stack, ladders, roof walks, painting mineral red and decalling and I had a unique railroad specific model made from one of the most common cabooses available.

It's not an easy conversion, but doable by most anyone whom owns a little patiences.