Papertrains caboose beta build

C

cgutzmer

I am building the caboose designed by papertrain! I am not building exactly to design. He designed it with free rolling wheels - mine are static for two reason - to make it a quicker build so I can find issues more quickly and my son WONT be playing with it, it will just be sitting on his dresser.....

a couple getting started shots
getting_started-1.jpg

getting_started-2.jpg


The trucks completed.
They built fairly straightforward. Some pics were needed that papertrain sent me but once I had those it was pretty obvious. Once instructions are provided it will be a no brainer. Fit was good throughout. I colored the rims with a silver sharpie to make them stand out as an often used caboose

trucks-1.jpg

trucks-2.jpg

trucks-3.jpg

trucks-4.jpg

trucks-5.jpg


The chassis is completed. I think there are one of two problems here. Either the parts that attach the center beam are designed upside down or the photos that papertrain sent me he installed them upside down. Putting them in the way I did, they match the angles on the ends of the undercarriage. I did not put in the other two braces for two reasons - first the cutouts didnt fit around the center beam properly (easy to fix) second they seemed upside down to me and the fit would not have been very good had I tried to make it work. I am satisfied with just the two bolsters for the beta. The flooring went on very nicely however my error was I forgot to color the darn edges in my excitement :)

chassis-1.jpg

chassis-2.jpg

chassis-3.jpg

chassis-4.jpg

chassis-5.jpg

chassis-6.jpg


I am just kinda going by guess and by golly for build sequence. I am putting the steps on next then going to build up the sides....
Chris
 
You are doing a great interpretation considering you have only a few pictures to go by...:grin: the few things that you mention have been adjusted and one minor detail that needed to get done of the chassis,,,,,8) i forgot to tell you:wink: very pleased with how you are doing it:twisted: :grin: I like the way that color of the trucks,,,the gray works out very nicely
papertrain
 

milenio3

Active Member
Great Chris!
You have momentum at your side, friend!

And the designer watching over your shoulder... but it's great to build while they are watching, right? Because... they are always watching over... always! Hehe.
 
C

cgutzmer

I was going to make the trucks and undercarriage pure black but then I couldnt have seen the lines and I was too lazy to recolor the lines ;)

Forgot to mention - I printed a second copy of the floor in black and white then ran it though the printer in draft mode to make a cover for the bottom of the chassis - I didnt want cardstock showing.

Glad you like it so far Kenn - Ellot sure does. He just keeps asking for me to get the sides on cause it doenst look enough like a train yet ;)

An item of note that will make a diference for those of you into model railroading. The build follows pretty closely to how scale model rolling stock is assembled. Course its been years since I built one and I only did a couple....
Chris

Oh, and the axels are toothpicks colored with a sharpie. They could probably use a couple layers of cardstock wrapped around them to make them the proper scale.
 
to make mine turn i took a hole punch out and made a hole the size of the toothpick and glued that to the inside of the truck frame,,then assebmled the truck
i am thinking about have some tabs at the top of the sides to better align and hold the roof in place.
 

Clashster

Member
Looks great Chris & Papertrain! Really like the idea of rolling wheels, though! When you build one for yourself, Chris, you'll have to add all the bells and whistles! :grin: Thanks for posting your build pics! Your becoming a machine!!! :grin:

Chris
 
C

cgutzmer

Dont let all the progress fool ya - I have been working on it for a week..... I just posted all the pics now!

As an added idea Kenn - since you went to teh effort to make the nice interior walls and floor I think you should add some additional interior details - benches, closets, whatever is inside those things. Never been in one myself. :D
Chris
 
S

sdk2knbk

Roll on, Chris and Kenn. Your excellent work is giving me lots of inspiration and ideas to use on my own NYC caboose!

Scott K.
 

Elliott

Senior Member
Great job guys! You might get me out of my armchair yet. :grin: One question - Chris, I understand why you did the black & white copy of the floor. You lost me however when you said you ran it thhrough the printer. Was that to give it the same color as above? And was the reason for draft mode just to save ink?

Well...now that the question has been asked, it seems I have the answer. :eek:ops:

Pay no attention mumblemumble:eek:ops:

elliott
 
C

cgutzmer

You are close - it wasnt just to save ink :) I printed a copy of the floor because I knew it was exactly the right dimension to cover the bottom. I printed black and white because I didnt want it brown and didnt want to recolor it. I used draft because of two reason. Save ink, make it print not so dark, and the draft mode leaves little bitty lines that make it look more textured in this case - ok, that was three reasons but you can live with that right? :D
Chris
 
C

cgutzmer

Well folks, I may have been gone for a while with work getting in the way of fun but I have made a little progress here. I hope PT is still around! I got the strps put together. I really like how they go together. I think they would have been cleaner without the tabs altogether if I had just butt glued them but they turned out well. I thing the step overlays to add a bit of depth really added a lot. The only problem is that all the sides were facing the same direction - half of them need to be reversed. Also I colored the other side with a sharpie else it would have been white. I think the black sides with the gray steps looks pretty good. The darn flash did throw the colors off a bit....
Chris

steps-1.jpg

steps-2.jpg

steps-3.jpg

steps-4.jpg
 
I am still around just very busy trying to find a new habitat......and helping my daughter thru school right now, you are doing a great job in figureing that out...comes out looking very nice.. keep up the good work.
papertrain:grin:
 
C

cgutzmer

Oh jeez! I spent about two hours workingon the wall for the ends of the caboose (the parts with the doors) The first door took me three tries and I still am pretty unhappy with the reults. THe first time I tried to put plastic sheeting in for windows - ick turned out horrible. second time i ripped one of the sides out. third time was passable but no glass and not a very good fit in the wall. It might be just that I didnt really understand how to put the darn thing together ahead of time so it was kind of trial and error. also the inner window cutout and outer window cutout for the window next to the door dont seem like the same size at all. for the first side it looks kinda cruddy. looks decent on the other side though. I just sandwiched them all together and cut it out at one shot. I am leaving the (*&^%^&*%()* door off the other side though. I couldnt bring myself to try again. Honestly it was way more frustrating than the trucks were (I expected the trucks to be the hardest so I did those first) I would have probaly just quit and started on the plane thats next on my build list but Elliot (my son) said he really likes it anyhow and wants me to continue ;) I am not too sure how the side and end walls are gonna but up agaisnt each other yet.... we shall see. Hope to get the side walls built up this week. Told you this would be a slow one :( wish I had more time. No pics now because I am not too satisfied with my nights results. Maybe after I get the side walls put up. (ok so maybe no pics because the kids are really harassing me about dinner) heh heh
Chris
 
I am including some pics of the end walls...the door can be difficult i guess since the center layer of the door has a hinge and that is also sandwiched in the end wall layers...clear as mud.:wink: :eek:ops: I will set up a demo series on it for tomorrow nights post.:grin:
Picture001-2.jpg

Picture002-2.jpg

Picture003-2.jpg

on the side walls i think you have the copy were the outside layer is longer than the other 2, that is because the tabs is also used as a corner board (see picture 2 and if you look close you can see what i mean) and go on the outside of the end and not the inside. as for the glass i would sandwich that between the inside layer and the center cutting the glass just slightly larger than the opening and glueing the glass to the outside of the inside piece,,,,make sense? The other part is that depending on how accurate you cut the door at the test fit you may want to trim a little off the lock side(opposite the hinge side) and off the top of the door(maybe at most 1/100th "). As you I thought the trucks were the hardest part and i never thought the door would be that much trouble,,,you could also just glue it in place.:wink: ..Thank you for letting me know on this....i will try to get some photos of the sequence so you can get it together. you can also get me by my yahoo email listed in my profile. of private message me if you want to:grin: :twisted:


If you think this one is bad wait until you try the mallet....he he:roll:
papertrain8) :grin:
 
C

cgutzmer

Yeah thats pretty much how I did it :) I cut out the bottom panel too though cause the white didnt make sense to me in the bottom half. Maybe thats part of the difficulty. It also looks like the inside and outside SHOULD be different sizes. I just have a hard time leaving pure white on there I suppose.... old habits and all! The inside and outside layer of the end walls was the same size - that what leads me to believe I am going to have some trouble getting the corners right.... I will come up with something though if its a problem :) thanks for the photos - they helped a lot!
CHris
 

B-Manic

Peripheral Visionary
Lookin good Chris keep up the good work. Looks like a model I might like to try. Maybe with a repaint for the E&N Railroad. :)
 
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