Riograndad
Model Railroading, boats and oil painting,
After the storms a few weeks ago my Lionel caboose was wrecked by some falling timber,one truck was smashed,body was badly damaged and one of the end beam ladder moldings was beyond repair,two options,scrap or rebuild so I decided on the latter and make a lightweight caboose to run behind smaller locos as the solid brass Accucraft and the Bachmann 1;20 items are really too heavy and it would look fine behind my Annie bash for instance but I decided only to use scraps of bits left over from other things and I was determined not to buy anything to finish it
.Out came the razor saw and the body was removed, a bit of a job as the body and floor is one piece,this left me with a floor with the end platforms,the floor was widened and a new body built,the roof and cupola were reusable so the roof was widened to match the new body,new end beams knocked up with new handrails,steps
and the brakewheels cut off and glued into brass tubing but the curved ones on the body sides were fine and I used them again,the "L" shaped rails on the cupola roof were taken off and re used as grab rails on the ends,I made up a very simple interior just for a little detail through the windows as no lights fitted.I replaced the smashed truck with a spare Bachmann item but retained the Lionel wheels,little adjustment needed there as different run heights and a washer sorted that.
As for not spending anything on the car? One length of brass rod needed to finish the handrails
.Painted and lettered finished it off.one job to do is to sort the coupling heights out but easy fix when I check it out with other cars.
.Out came the razor saw and the body was removed, a bit of a job as the body and floor is one piece,this left me with a floor with the end platforms,the floor was widened and a new body built,the roof and cupola were reusable so the roof was widened to match the new body,new end beams knocked up with new handrails,steps
and the brakewheels cut off and glued into brass tubing but the curved ones on the body sides were fine and I used them again,the "L" shaped rails on the cupola roof were taken off and re used as grab rails on the ends,I made up a very simple interior just for a little detail through the windows as no lights fitted.I replaced the smashed truck with a spare Bachmann item but retained the Lionel wheels,little adjustment needed there as different run heights and a washer sorted that.As for not spending anything on the car? One length of brass rod needed to finish the handrails
.Painted and lettered finished it off.one job to do is to sort the coupling heights out but easy fix when I check it out with other cars.
