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Im building a kit of a Northern Alberta Railway (NAR) bay window caboose for a friend. It's a resin kit by Minatures By Eric.
Here's the prototype
and the beginnings of the kit:
It`s a fairly simple kit compared to other resin kits I`ve worked with. The underframe comes pre-assembled and the body and roof are one piece. The grabs are all pre-bent as well.
So far I`ve glued the bay windows in and primered all the parts.
I also added the larker lights to the ends.
I`going to paint the body in it`s three color paint scheme before I go any further with assembly.
It's been over 3/4 of a year but I've finally got this project back on track. I managed to find a set of dry transfers for the caboose and that let me figure out the masking for the yellow stripe. I masked the yellow on the ends, and the two stripes on the sides, then sprayed the floquil reefer grey. After waiting 2 weeks for the floquil to dry and fully air out I re-masked the yellow along with the grey and painted the blue in Polly-S CSX blue.
I also masked the inside of the handrails and sprayed the ousside in the CSX blue as well.
Next the roofs (bay window as well as main), the under frame, steps and end platforms will all be black.
There were a number of NAR diesels, from GMD-1s to GP-9s to SD-38s. Googling NAR in images could provide some pics, even if they are of models. I have a few fellow modellers that model the NAR so I've seen both engines and rolling stock.
If you are after history, try wikipedia.
It seems that my second favorite modeling subject in model railroading has always been the caboose. That is an interesting kit and it looks like it is coming out very nice. Let us see the finished caboose.
I find that there are a lot of great caboose kits available of exact prototype available today. Considering the great quality of many of these kits I think they are reasonably priced as well.
I finished the major painting over the weekend with painting the black on the roofs and underframe.
I was just about to paint the underframe when I realized that the toolbox is blue so I airbrushed that last night and then masked it and painted the underframe this morning. Always pays to do the research!
I brush painted the front edges of the steps before I gave the entire car a quick spray of flat finish.
Next, dry transfers!
I got the lettering done over the past couple days:
The hardest part was the two-part logo transferss. I had to lay the blue diamond down first, spray with clear flat, then align the yellow NAR transfer overtop. Luckily it all turned out okay.
I guess there were a number of forgetful NAR employees that had to be reminded of who that work for:
Finally there is some very small lettering on the stairs:
I finished the caboose this afternoon. After letting the clear flat dry overnight I added the windows and smoke jack. The smoke jack is unique to the NAR and is included in the kit. The glass in the windows is Gallery Glass (a liquid) that creates a film across the window opening and dries clear. Before I glued the body onto the chassis I added the end grabs to the body and weighted the chassis.
There are very small 'gussets' that cover the frame and bolster ends. I painted them blue and glued them on
The rest of the grabs were added as well as the end platforms and some detail painting.
I used Tichy caboose trucks on the model. I was going to use Athearn caboose trucks until someone pointed out that the Athearn trucks are roller bearing and the NAR used friction bearing trucks.
I painted the marker lights on the ends. I think I'll be changing the McHenry couplers with some Kadees. The Mchenrys seem to sag a bit.
And here it is on my layout. I think I may weather it just a bit with polly-s dirt and grimey black on the lower sides, underframe and trucks.
I`m not used to something so colorful on my 50`s CNR layout!
