here I go again

[nachoman]

I love HOn3 because it forces me to kitbash or scratchbuild much of my rolling stock. I look at standard gauge cars and see opportunities. while going through a box of old cheapie standard gauge cars over the holidays I discovered this caboose. This is the "caboose" part of a life-like MOW flat car that had an operating spotlight. It may have been one of the first pieces of rolling stock given to me when I was a kid. The flat car portion of the car was missing, but the caboose part is the perfect size for a small HOn3 caboose. So far, i have shaved off some molded on details, and extended the roof on one end. I will have to make a new underframe- luckily I have plenty of scrap plastic bits to do that.

An aside here - this year could be a breakthrough year in HOn3. Several companies are starting to produce ready-to-run HOn3 models. Micro-trains will be releasing a few freight cars, and Blackstone Models is coming out with a K-27 2-8-2 for about 200 bucks. The freight cars will retail for about 30$. What does that mean for me? Well, couplers and trucks alone mean a scratchbuilt HOn3 car costs at least about 7$. Add a few detail parts like a brake cylinder or brakewheels, and I am spending about 15 bucks to scratchbuild a single car. Will I still scratch/kitbash my rolling stock even when RTR stuff comes on the market? You bet.

kevin

 

[jim currie]

my kinda guy i love to scratch build and bash things you might look to a line of HO cars called Industrial rail(think there still around)all the cars they make seem to be under sized for HO might bash up to some good HOn3 cars

 

[knudsen]

I have no qualms at all about taking a perfectly fine piece of rollin' stock to the table saw to make it shorter and/or narrower :thumb::thumb::thumb: It will be innerstin to see how she comes out.

 

[sumpter250]

I have no qualms at all about taking a perfectly fine piece of rollin' stock to the table saw to make it shorter and/or narrower

" Just be sure that N scale box car is securely held before applying the chainsaw!"- Justin (two fingers) Feldercarp

 

[nachoman]

here is an update.

kevin

 

[nachoman]

Here is another unfinished project I pulled out of a box to finish up. There are still a few details I want to add, and do a little touch up on the painting and weathering, but otherwise, I think it looks good! It's hard to belive this started out as my very first piece of HO rolling stock, salvaged from a junk box I found in my parents' garage.

Kevin

 

[UP SD40-2]

Kevin, that caboose turned out SLAP AWESOME!!!:bravo: , WELL DONE!!!:thumb::thumb::thumb::mrgreen: .
:deano: -Deano

 

[nkp174]

Yes, very nice kitbashing! It looks like a nice stand in for a D&RGW shorty...but yet unique and much cheaper!

 

[nachoman]

Thanks guys. It really is something i just cobbled together. That's how I envision my fictional prototype would have done it, too. Some of those remote narrow guage railroad shop crews would make anything they needed out of junk.

 

[TrainNut]

I was just thinking about trying to find an HOn3 caboose for the D&RG and here you go and make one that looks better than anything I'll be able to find.

 

[nachoman]

Trainnut - for narrow gauge in all scales, you may want to check out Coronado scale models in phoenix at about 16th street south of Thomas. It's not much of a "browsing" type store, but they have the most narrow gauge stuff you will find anywhere.I'd call first, because you'd never find the place without *detailed* directions.

There are no RTR HOn3 cabooses (not yet, but maybe in a few years), but there are a few good kits available. They areint exactly the easy "shake the box" type of kits, but they arent that difficult.

Kevin

 

[TrainNut]

:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen: I was just in there a couple of days ago. I went in to buy some HOn3 trucks for some box cars I'm working on and also came away with a Blackstone stock car. There is a picture of it in this weeks photo fun... I'll edit the link in here in a second...
There is also the swap meets. I've seen a surprising amount of HOn3 scattered around over the last couple of years. There was one guy who had a bunch and I wish I'd snapped up the lot.
EDIT: Here's that stock car...

 

[nachoman]

I'm just about to start a new layout in both HO and Hon3. It will be a few weeks before I get anything that trains can roll on, but my minimum radius will be 18" and I plan on making it so a k-27 can navigate. I live just a few miles from coronado. Now that I have a job that gives me regular weekends off, I plan on having a little railroad open house as soon as I get some track done

Kevin

 

[ocalicreek]

Kevin,

Have you ever considered the old Ulrich/Walther's Sierra shorty cars? They're HO standard gauge, but on the narrow side so would be a good candidate for HOn3.

Great work on a very neat little caboose.