Semi-Scratch Maintenance & Tool Caboose (#2 of 4)

Thomas Lambo

Thomas Lambo

RC, wood craftsmanship & culinary arts
Maintenance & Tool Caboose


This is the second in a set of four utility cars I’m building. The first was a Water Car posted in June (see the link below).


Once again, to simplify the construction I used the following parts; Bachmann strut frame support and trucks, Roll-Ez Nickel Plated Metal Wheels, G Scale Kadee 909 knuckle couplers, and many Ozark miniature cast parts to add further details to the build.


Everything else is scratch built using the following materials:

Boxwood and Walnut sheets of various thickness, and brass tubing for the railings and lamp support arm.


Several different color washes and stains were used on the wood and Bachmann parts, as well as Doc O'Brien’s weathering powders to add further detail. I also used a product to black the metal and brass parts called JAX Pewter Black.


This build was a bit more difficult than the water car taking about 70 hours to complete; build level rating is “Intermediate”.


And next up; a Steam Powered Crane Car.

Link to the first build - Water Car: https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/semi-scratch-water-car-build.309211/


Here are a few pictures of the finished build.

S 0776.JPG F 0780.JPG F 0784.JPG R 0874.JPG R 0877.JPG C 0881.JPG T 0782.JPG
 
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Very nice job, real,pleasure to see such a quality scratch built piece of rolling stock. Many thanks for posting with some interesting detail of how to do it.
JonD
 
Now that is a work of art!

Do you by any chance know if there is an illustrated list of Ozark Miniatures parts? - I have only found 'text descriptions', and do not know what many of the parts listed are.. :shake::(
 
I am impressed !
 
This and your water car are going to look great running behind your newly purchased Shay and Climax. Can't wait to see a full rake of your work. I wish I has the skill, imagination and patience to attempt such a nice bit of modeling. Max
 
dunnyrail said:
Very nice job, real,pleasure to see such a quality scratch built piece of rolling stock. Many thanks for posting with some interesting detail of how to do it.
JonD
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Hi Jon,

Thanks for your kind comments, I really appreciate you taking the time to post.

You mention "interesting detail" above. I’m glad you got something out of my comments but the truth is I gave very little detail on the build itself compared to the Model Ship forums I frequent.


I only mention this because these forums are a great place to hone your skills. You’ll find “Build Logs” that are 2 – 3 years old (typical build time for a quality ship) with literally hundreds of posts with narrative descriptions and pictures describing every step of the build. The result allows others to learn by seeing and reading exactly how the work can be done. And surprisingly enough many of the techniques are quite easy.


If anyone needs additional info just send me a private message and I’ll point you in the right direction.


And please forgive me for this brief digression from my topic :)
 
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PhilP said:
Now that is a work of art!

Do you by any chance know if there is an illustrated list of Ozark Miniatures parts? - I have only found 'text descriptions', and do not know what many of the parts listed are.. :shake::(
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Hi Phil,

I appreciate the kudos, it's always welcome.

Re. Ozark; I'm afraid I have no such information. I purchase from the Internet site and just roll through all the pages looking for what I need. I have phoned the owner a few times and he's always helpful and will answer any questions or give you specific details like additional measurements, etc. (by phone or email).

I'm just elated to have such a great variety of G Scale miniature parts available.....not to mention he's located in USA where I live :)
 
maxi-model said:
This and your water car are going to look great running behind your newly purchased Shay and Climax. Can't wait to see a full rake of your work. I wish I has the skill, imagination and patience to attempt such a nice bit of modeling. Max
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Hay Max,

I see you crossed over from the other thread. I appreciate your positive comments and do appreciate the post. And yes, I'll have many videos and pictures of the Shay and Climax pulling all four of the cars.....just a matter of time :)
 
Information behind the build is greatly appreciated. Beyond the sometimes wacky humour on here, we all are interested in the detail behind a classic build.
 
Hi Alan,

I'm relatively new on this forum so I wasn't sure about what level of detail to include on these builds....so I'm glad to get your feedback. I'll make it a point to document the next build in more detail.


In the mean time, here's a few more pictures of the Caboose build early on:

The first picture is a preliminary dry fitting of the side frames and headers. Once these were leveled and snugly fitted in place I cut out and glued up the front and rear frames....once again going through the same dry fitting process until all four frames were perfectly aligned and level on the flat car bed.

The second picture shows all four frames (with inside paneling in place) stained and color washed...ready to be glued up on the flat car bed.

The third picture shows all the frames permanently glued to the flat car bed (the Caboose is not removable).

The fourth picture shows the fabricated railings I made from 1/16 inch brass tubing (bent, soldered and filed) prior to blacking, paint wash and weathering powders. They were held in place on a formica board with masking tape while being soldered. Note; I originally planned to use the larger side railings on the left side of the picture but did not like the look, so I opted for traditional wood side rails mounted in steak pockets.

Note: Most pieces in this build were cut on my micro table saw, scroll saw and/or razor saw then fine tuned for fit using a series of jewelers files, sanding strips (i.e. fingernail files), and fine sandpaper.

Almost every hole drilled on this build was done with hand held pinvise drills.

Most of the joints were glued using good old Titebond PVA wood glue....with the exception of a few items that needed to dry quickly and/or are metal to metal so I used Ca glue (medium thickness).

IMG_0556.JPG IMG_0634.JPG IMG_0664.JPG IMG_0675.JPG
 
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Tom, what method did you use to solder the handrails together ?
 
Madman said:
Tom, what method did you use to solder the handrails together ?
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Hi Dan,

I use a Radio Shack variable heat 60 watt Soldering Iron (max heat for this work) Product# J-060VZT. Best darn soldering iron I've ever used for this type of work. Coupled with 60/40 Tin Lead Rosin Core Solder, .062 Diameter (fairly thin solder). I also apply a bit of Rosin Flux to the joints. Then I clean up the joints with Jewelers files and wet dry sandpaper before applying the finish color.

Also, I used this iron at low heat for soldering all the electrical wiring on my Loco RC Battery conversions.

I can't tell you how many soldering irons I've been through over the years....for delicate and accurate brass tubing soldering this little guy can't be beat. Here's a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Variable-Vo...Extra-Tips-Included-Great-Value-/301206308538
 
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Thomas Lambo said:
Maintenance & Tool Caboose


This is the second in a set of four utility cars I’m building. The first was a Water Car posted in June (see the link below).


Once again, to simplify the construction I used the following parts; Bachmann strut frame support and trucks, Roll-Ez Nickel Plated Metal Wheels, Kadee 909 knuckle couplers, and many Ozark miniature cast parts to add further details to the build.


Everything else is scratch built using the following materials:

Boxwood and Walnut sheets of various thickness, and brass tubing for the railings and lamp support arm.


Several different color washes and stains were used on the wood and Bachmann parts, as well as Doc O'Brien’s weathering powders to add further detail. I also used a product to black the metal and brass parts called JAX Pewter Black.


This build was a bit more difficult than the water car taking about 70 hours to complete; build level rating is “Intermediate”.


And next up; a Steam Powered Crane Car.

Link to the first build - Water Car: https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/semi-scratch-water-car-build.309211/


Here are a few pictures of the finished build.

View attachment 228821 View attachment 228822 View attachment 228823 View attachment 228824 View attachment 228825 View attachment 228826 View attachment 228827
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Excellent build,love it!
 
Thomas Lambo said:
Hi Dan,

I use a Radio Shack variable heat 60 watt Soldering Iron (max heat for this work) Product# J-060VZT. Best darn soldering iron I've ever used for this type of work. Coupled with 60/40 Tin Lead Rosin Core Solder, .062 Diameter (fairly thin solder). I also apply a bit of Rosin Flux to the joints. Then I clean up the joints with Jewelers files and wet dry sandpaper before applying the finish color.

Also, I used this iron at low heat for soldering all the electrical wiring on my Loco RC Battery conversions.

I can't tell you how many soldering irons I've been through over the years....for delicate and accurate brass tubing soldering this little guy can't be beat. Here's a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Variable-Vo...Extra-Tips-Included-Great-Value-/301206308538
Click to expand...


Thanks Tom. Did you set the pieces up in a jig before you soldered them ? Can you elaborate on the jig, if indeed you used one.
 
Madman said:
Thanks Tom. Did you set the pieces up in a jig before you soldered them ? Can you elaborate on the jig, if indeed you used one.
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Dan,

No jig with this particular job. In this case I needed everything flat/level and perfectly aligned. So I used an old piece of formica shelving for a soldering surface (hard and won't burn with these quick soldered joints, also won't draw heat from the brass).

I carefully lay out the railing on the surface (penciled measuring marks on the surface for alignment) and then fasten all the pieces down to the board with masking tape. Once this is done I apply a small amount of flux to all the joints and then solder each one of them. I heat the joint first by laying the iron on it for a couple of seconds, then touch solder to the iron just above the joint. It takes very little solder and only a couple of seconds to complete each joint.
 
Fantastic looking build Tom, I'm getting the itch to have a go myself. It'll be a lot more modest whatever I decide to make
 
Paul M said:
Fantastic looking build Tom, I'm getting the itch to have a go myself. It'll be a lot more modest whatever I decide to make
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Hi Paul,

Thanks much for the compliment and taking the time to make a post, it's always appreciated.

I really like this scale size as you can easily accomplish clean details and vendors like Ozark have a great selection of scale parts that add beautiful detail to your model.

I'm taking a short break from this set of cars and building a prototype logging car which is a very simple build....shouldn't take more than 10 - 20 hours to complete (might be a good choice for you) :)
 
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