Burlington Northern FW&D Atlas Wide Vision caboose kitbash
Jan 29, 2019 17:02:40 GMT -8
riogrande, onequiknova, and 7 more like this
Post by sd40dash2 on Jan 29, 2019 17:02:40 GMT -8
Fort Worth and Denver (FW&D) ordered several brand new wide vision cabooses from International Car Company between 1971 and 1980. FW&D 165-167 were built in 1971 and came equipped with running boards, while 168-198 were delivered from 1977-80 without running boards. While FW&D was a separate entity from Burlington Northern (BN) until 1981, these cabooses were delivered in BN green paint and and lost their FW&D numbers to BN 11765-11798 series numbers in the 1990s. Eight (8) former FW&D cars were rebuilt into the windowless BN 12500-12624 series in 1990-91 and some remain in use as shoving platforms today. FW&D 198 is back to its original number in Gillette, Wyoming, where it presently survives on public display outside the Campbell County Rockpile Museum.
I was inspired to add an accurate BN caboose to my display case by a series of three YouTube videos by Dan Cortopassi of TSG Multimedia (links below). In these videos, Dan showed how he heavily modified an Atlas caboose to be as accurate as possible for the common BN cars. Ryan Harris also did a similar build and shared numerous details of how he built his own model of 177. The depth of research and quality of both works were excellent so I decided to attempt a kit bash of my own.
The closest prototype BN cars for the Atlas model are C&S 10637-10662, FW&D 165-188 and Burlington Northern 10500-10596, 10700-10799, 12000-12327 and 12393.
Prototype photo credits: Cicero, Illinois, USA, July 24, 1987, Chuck Zeiler.
Source:
www.flickr.com/photos/chuckzeiler/21983655991
I acquired an old Atlas item no. 1901 caboose which was factory painted Burlington Northern green and lettered as FW&D 177. I used this model to recreate a BN caboose as accurately as possible without having to repaint or re-letter any part of the model. Based on the type of box and the quality of the tooling and finish, I would estimate the origins of this model to be circa late 1990s or early 2000s. The prototype car FW&D 177 was built around 1979 and appears to have been retired by 1990.
General body changes to my Atlas model were relatively minor and included the blanking of windows with .005 styrene squares, which were painted with a non-matching shade of green. Weathering patterns were generically recreated from photos of various BN wide vision cabooses taken in the late 1980s and 1990s. A short sill skirt was built from styrene strip and glued in place above the air tank.
Roof changes included filling in the one blank panel with styrene to match the other panels, relocating the smoke jack, adding a toilet vent and antenna plus application of custom bent railings. Weathering was achieved with a grimy black and custom rust mix wash.
Cupola side window wind deflectors were made from styrene strip. The cupola face windows on these cabooses should be square rather than rectangular. My frames were made with decals but other options were considered included custom etchings, thin slices of styrene square tube and a whole new Shapeways 3D printed cupola with the correct window frames. If I was building one of these cabooses using an unpainted model as a starting point, I would remove some of the existing body inside the window frames. Or better yet, replace the entire cupola with the 3D cupola that features the correct window configuration. It would be painted at the same time as the rest of the car, saving the step of colour matching and adapting a cupola to a painted model.
Underframe work included removing the cast-in coupler pockets, walkway and steps and replacing all with Moloco, Plano and styrene parts. Brake line assemblies were also built using brass wire and Cal-Scale levers. The incorrect cast-in tool or battery box was removed and replaced with a piece of .005 styrene before painting. Truck mounting pins were replaced with 2-56 screws and the truck mounting holes reamed out slightly.
Ends were significantly modified by covering over one window on each end, adding oil filler to one end, bending new body end railings, adding bump-outs with styrene channel and creating spotlights from clear jewels and .005 wire. Car end railings also had to be reworked to better match the BN format including several new rails, marker and awning lights and conduits and new roof end caps. Final detailing included new Kadee brake wheels, chain, air hoses, uncoupling levers and weathering.
Total model build time was three (3) months; November 2018 through January 2019. Good project to help pass away some of the cold and snowy winter months.
Disclosure: I did not furnish the interior due to most of the windows being blanked over and any interior detailing thus being generally invisible. The cupola face window frames were an experiment and are perhaps a bit too large, but this was an accepted compromise so most of the existing windows and frames would be covered with the new part. Further refinements would result in major work on the cupola or having to replace, paint and decal at significantly higher expense. The truck-mount axle generator part was omitted but this can easily be added later if its absence becomes too problematic. There is no electrical pickup, DCC or sound in this caboose.
Acknowledgments and sources: Thank you to Ryan Harris for supplying prototype information, some of which originated from Robert C. Del Grosso's excellent book titled Burlington Northern Railroad Cabooses 1970-1995. I also acknowledge the time and effort of Dan Cortopassi and John Abatecola from TSG Multimedia for their quality video production skills. TSG showcased Dan's BN caboose modelling work in 2012-13.
HO Scale DCC Caboose Install Electrical Pickups 11-1-12 Podcast
HO Scale DCC BN Caboose Kitbash 12-1-12 Podcast
HO Scale DCC BN Caboose Kitbash 11-1-13 Podcast
I was inspired to add an accurate BN caboose to my display case by a series of three YouTube videos by Dan Cortopassi of TSG Multimedia (links below). In these videos, Dan showed how he heavily modified an Atlas caboose to be as accurate as possible for the common BN cars. Ryan Harris also did a similar build and shared numerous details of how he built his own model of 177. The depth of research and quality of both works were excellent so I decided to attempt a kit bash of my own.
The closest prototype BN cars for the Atlas model are C&S 10637-10662, FW&D 165-188 and Burlington Northern 10500-10596, 10700-10799, 12000-12327 and 12393.
Prototype photo credits: Cicero, Illinois, USA, July 24, 1987, Chuck Zeiler.
Source:
www.flickr.com/photos/chuckzeiler/21983655991
I acquired an old Atlas item no. 1901 caboose which was factory painted Burlington Northern green and lettered as FW&D 177. I used this model to recreate a BN caboose as accurately as possible without having to repaint or re-letter any part of the model. Based on the type of box and the quality of the tooling and finish, I would estimate the origins of this model to be circa late 1990s or early 2000s. The prototype car FW&D 177 was built around 1979 and appears to have been retired by 1990.
General body changes to my Atlas model were relatively minor and included the blanking of windows with .005 styrene squares, which were painted with a non-matching shade of green. Weathering patterns were generically recreated from photos of various BN wide vision cabooses taken in the late 1980s and 1990s. A short sill skirt was built from styrene strip and glued in place above the air tank.
Roof changes included filling in the one blank panel with styrene to match the other panels, relocating the smoke jack, adding a toilet vent and antenna plus application of custom bent railings. Weathering was achieved with a grimy black and custom rust mix wash.
Cupola side window wind deflectors were made from styrene strip. The cupola face windows on these cabooses should be square rather than rectangular. My frames were made with decals but other options were considered included custom etchings, thin slices of styrene square tube and a whole new Shapeways 3D printed cupola with the correct window frames. If I was building one of these cabooses using an unpainted model as a starting point, I would remove some of the existing body inside the window frames. Or better yet, replace the entire cupola with the 3D cupola that features the correct window configuration. It would be painted at the same time as the rest of the car, saving the step of colour matching and adapting a cupola to a painted model.
Underframe work included removing the cast-in coupler pockets, walkway and steps and replacing all with Moloco, Plano and styrene parts. Brake line assemblies were also built using brass wire and Cal-Scale levers. The incorrect cast-in tool or battery box was removed and replaced with a piece of .005 styrene before painting. Truck mounting pins were replaced with 2-56 screws and the truck mounting holes reamed out slightly.
Ends were significantly modified by covering over one window on each end, adding oil filler to one end, bending new body end railings, adding bump-outs with styrene channel and creating spotlights from clear jewels and .005 wire. Car end railings also had to be reworked to better match the BN format including several new rails, marker and awning lights and conduits and new roof end caps. Final detailing included new Kadee brake wheels, chain, air hoses, uncoupling levers and weathering.
Total model build time was three (3) months; November 2018 through January 2019. Good project to help pass away some of the cold and snowy winter months.
Disclosure: I did not furnish the interior due to most of the windows being blanked over and any interior detailing thus being generally invisible. The cupola face window frames were an experiment and are perhaps a bit too large, but this was an accepted compromise so most of the existing windows and frames would be covered with the new part. Further refinements would result in major work on the cupola or having to replace, paint and decal at significantly higher expense. The truck-mount axle generator part was omitted but this can easily be added later if its absence becomes too problematic. There is no electrical pickup, DCC or sound in this caboose.
Acknowledgments and sources: Thank you to Ryan Harris for supplying prototype information, some of which originated from Robert C. Del Grosso's excellent book titled Burlington Northern Railroad Cabooses 1970-1995. I also acknowledge the time and effort of Dan Cortopassi and John Abatecola from TSG Multimedia for their quality video production skills. TSG showcased Dan's BN caboose modelling work in 2012-13.
HO Scale DCC Caboose Install Electrical Pickups 11-1-12 Podcast
HO Scale DCC BN Caboose Kitbash 12-1-12 Podcast
HO Scale DCC BN Caboose Kitbash 11-1-13 Podcast
