Kentucky Northern Caboose

[EZnKY]

Folks,
I spend a lot of time watching the amazing work on this website, but I haven't posted any of my own work.
I seem to spend more time learning new techniques than actually building anything.  (I'm not the only one with this problem...)

Anyway, I'm working on a new project and I could use some feedback.

I started scratchbuilding a caboose for my Kentucky Northern Railway over a year ago but stalled on painting and weathering.  My goal was to replicate a well-used, but not derelict car.  The kind of car owned by a not-so-prosperous shortline.

My caboose is roughly based on this photo of a standard gauge car owned by the Louisville & Atlantic Railroad, which connected with the Kentucky Northern upriver from Irvine, Kentucky. 

[EZnKY]

Finding good drawings of eastern narrow gauge equipment is tough, so I started with D&RGW caboose drawings from Robert Sloan's book.  I drew the basic forms in CAD to make sure I liked the proportions and things didn't look too "Colorado."

[EZnKY]

And here are the plans...

[EZnKY]

And the sections.
On the other drawings you can see I've borrowed the truck drawings from Bob Hartford's instructions for his Carter Brothers swing motion trucks.  I decided to use these trucks rather than scratchbuilding my own.  At the time, I didn't have any good images of trucks I knew were specific to a local builder like the Ohio Falls Car Company in Jeffersonville, Indiana.  (I've since found some surviving trucks, but that's another story.)

[EZnKY]

I've been using this image to set the look and feel of the interior.
I found the image online using a Google image search, but I'm afraid I don't recall where the image came from.

[EZnKY]

So here's where I am on the project. 

I've got the frame and running gear built using Hartford's trucks and a few miscellaneous castings from Ozark.  The rest is scratchbuilt from basswood and brass.  I've stained the wood and applied base coats to the metal parts, but haven't done much weathering to the undercarriage.

I've decked the frame and built the end rails and ladders. 

The shell has been assembled and has been painted and lettered, but only partially weathered.  The interior fittings have mostly been built and partially weathered, but not glued together yet.

The roof is in progress. 

[EZnKY]

Here's one end of the frame.  I'm not happy with the appearance of the wood.  It's too consistent and too light.  I'm guessing the underside of the caboose would have been painted originally, but it's too late to attempt a weathered painted finish at this point.

Would it be best to just apply dark brown and black washes?

[EZnKY]

Here's another shot with the truck installed.

So what do you all think I should do?

[NORCALLOGGER]

Eric,
First off, that is some beautiful workmanship your producing on that caboose project, very careful and clean.

Secondly I would like to comment on the prototype interior shot that you shared, that is a great picture in many ways.

I am no expert by any standard but I wonder if you used a wash of the coach color to darken the wood then used the weathering washes over that to get a final result, it may produce what your looking for.

I'm not so sure it is even legal let alone appropriate to use Carter Brothers trucks on an East Coast railroad

Great work, thanks for sharing it.
Rick

[gin sot]

Yeah, Carter Brothers trucks really scream "west coast" to me, but I've seen far worse crimes against accuracy.

I wouldn't worry about the underbody, as I understand it they usually weren't painted (imagine crawling around underneath a freight car with a paint bucket and a brush!).  I don't think the risk of ruining that completely adequate* modeling is worth the potential payoff.  The weathering and grain are really nice and not all too light to my eye.  Considering that car lumber was carefully selected and seasoned and sheltered from the worst of the weather, I'd avoid too much random variation for the sake of random variation, even if all the other kids are doing it.

What scale are you working in?  The mention of Ozark makes me suspect it's large.



* The only overt giveaway that it's a model is that one bit of sapwood visible on the intermediate sill on the right side.  I won't tell anybody.     

[finescalerr]

Eric, you're really building a nice model. Don't worry about stains or paints on the underframe. Many were unpainted. Maybe some judicious use of weathering powders and/or a very light mist of cinder dust or whatever color the dirt is where the railroad operated. Keep it subtle because so far everything else really looks good. Wonderful reference photos and plans. -- Russ

[MinerFortyNiner]

I like the proportions of the car, it definitely has a feel distinctly different from the Colorado narrow gauge cabeese.  Very nice modeling as well, I assume this is large scale.

[Frederic Testard]

That's a great subject, Eric, and your progress pictures on the trucks and underside of the caboose are very inspiring. I love the interior shot too, and am eager to see how you'll translate it into a model.

[DaKra]

Beautiful first rate work, really enjoyed looking at these photos and drawings.   I've also found it very helpful to start a model with a set of drawings.   

Dave

[EZnKY]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  I figured someone would bring up the Carter Brothers trucks.  I know I'm breaking some major taboos, but I decided scratchbuilt trucks would a project for another day.  It would be easy to replace them on the caboose at some point.

I've found surviving passenger trucks to measure and photograph, but no such luck for caboose trucks.  At least nearby.  There's a great narrow gauge coach at Mammoth Cave that rides on Ohio Falls trucks and has Louisville Car Wheel Company wheel sets.  I've started building some masters to cast copies, and one compromise I've been considering for the caboose is replacing the journal covers with Ohio Falls types.  That would at least eliminate the obvious "C B S F" text.