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 Posted - December 03 2014 : 7:23:24 PM
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The best part of this "book" may be the cover. I'd ordered this Mantua Metal Products Four Wheel Caboose (eBay, of course, when I say "ordered"). So . . . when I looked in my post-office box today, this is what I saw . . .
Really! The seller used the original box for the packaging (name obscured here - only by Paint in this altered photograph - to protect the guilty) . . . In a way it was cool. Sort of like when you're 8 years old and you've been waiting for this premium you ordered from the ad on the shredded wheat box and now you've finally got the same shirt that Rusty wore on Rin Tin Tin.
Anyway, the caboose arrived fine and the original box survives; albeit with a bit more history recorded on it . . .
I got that caboose for a couple of reasons. One is that I think that pretty much gives me each of the types of Mantua Metal Products cars that were made (NOT each of the road names), and two is that I thought a small caboose might be appropriate for this little sort of work train I'm putting together . . . a work in progress yet (be nicer if I'd clear the extras off the layout) . . .
This last picture should have been up above . . . this is what I saw when I opened the box. I'm surprised a bunch of those little fibers didn't get tangled up in the caboose, but amazingly they didn't.
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Posted - December 03 2014 : 7:36:08 PM
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cool
I am surprized I didn't see you at the train show Saturday 
neat caboose tho 
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Posted - December 03 2014 : 8:39:37 PM
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Wow! That body looks like stamped sheet metal. That must date it back quite a few years! 
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - December 03 2014 : 9:33:05 PM
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Nice little all-metal consist you got going there! If you want to save the box, you can get a heat gun, and get the labels hot enough that they will peel off without taking the paper underneath with it. Not a hair dryer, a real heat gun. Ugh, what a way to ship something, but I guess if you didn't know what the box represents, then oh well. 
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - December 03 2014 : 10:17:32 PM
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Nice job on that caboose. Especially with how nice it is.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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Posted - December 03 2014 : 11:55:21 PM
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Those little brass bobbers are neat. Did they originally come with marker lights, or was that an add-on?
My nightmare is that some dolt will ship a loco to me in the original box with no external packaging.  I've had a few bad experiences, so my shipping instructions are very specific.
You can also get those labels off with Bestine. It's pricey, but worth it. It goes through adhesives and hot melt glue without damaging printing or plastic.
http://www.amazon.com/Bestine-Solvent-and-Thinner-1-Quart/dp/B006SOK9YY/ref=pd_sim_hg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0R8E1RHS58F3YR8TR5R4
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - December 04 2014 : 10:31:13 AM
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Great story, I hope that never happens to me. Are you going to strip and repaint?
rich p
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Posted - December 04 2014 : 5:25:30 PM
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Hey Richard, In a way, I don't feel good about destroying someone's 50 year old (or so) model work, but I've got my own thoughts on what I want this caboose to look like. And I think I can improve on the build even while some folks might prefer to see me take a different direction. Anyway, here's where I am now after some brake fluid (paint was much easier to remove than I thought; some of that old paint is like welded on), a bit of soldering iron, a few knife blades and a couple hours of "carving" . . .
The little caboose was pretty solid with the cupola and roof pieces all soldered on and the sides soldered where they come together above the doors. The soldering, however, seemed to have been done while some of the parts were not ideally aligned. The guy soldered better than my ability, but it was still messy . . .
In my limited experience, I've found that I have better luck "carving" solder off than using the suction device to suck it up once it's melted, so I basically carved the solder out to get the thing apart. Now . . . if I can clean it up without marring the "wood siding".
As far as "that box", I'm just going to leave it like that. I think it's sort of a historical artifact that has been embellished with some recent history.
Well, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, we'll have a little work train here maybe in the next few weeks.
Nelson, I'm guessing these cabooses (and the 8 wheel ones) came with marker lights and they've just all gotten "lost" over the years. Basically, they're just a 1/8 X 3/16 block with a 1/16 square lug to mount in the provided holes. I don't know of a reason they provided 2 marker lights and 4 holes, though . . . maybe so you could (like the early marker lamps) move them around from bracket to bracket as needed)? I can see someone doing that and dropping the little light and then ushering a mouthful of epithets!
Those "extra" holes to provide some opportunities for "personalizing" the caboose.
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Posted - December 04 2014 : 6:01:45 PM
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Barry - I've never been very interested in the 4-wheeler cabooses, but love that one, cool find!
Digging the Fancy Feast cans too
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - December 04 2014 : 6:38:45 PM
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Jerry, is the wife feeding you? 
Barry, it looks a lot better without that red paint.
It sounds like your iron isn't hot enough to melt the solder joints completely, which is why you're having to carve through it. I tend to prefer guns for soldering brass, since it gives you quick targeted heat. A Weller gun over 100 watts should be fine for thin sheet brass. There are much better solder suckers on the market than that squeeze bulb type. I struggled with one for years until I got a good spring loaded one. You can also use wire braid to wick it up, or use the poor man's method and rap the parts on the bench to knock it off.
You could mount the markers diagonally. That would really confuse your brakeman.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - December 05 2014 : 12:02:32 AM
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| Thanks for the tips about soldering Nelson. I think I better go shopping for soldering supplies.
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Posted - December 26 2014 : 1:33:27 PM
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Well I've been working on that caboose and I went out and bought a desoldering pump and dug out a 100 watt iron. What seemed to work best for this novice wasn't the pump, but using some braided wire. The idea is that the tiny fluxed wire attracts the melted solder. It wasn't actually the high dollar braided wire you can buy for the purpose . . . it was some of the smallest wire I had on hand twisted up. Finer wire would have been good (and I would be a better modeler if I were more patient), but this wire did some good. I think the finer wire would have allowed me to clean out some tighter nooks and crannies . . .
an "after" compared to a "before" . . .
and now I have a "kit" . . .
I took photos along the way and here are some bits and pieces . . .
making the marker lights and flag holders . . .
more paint and glazing . . .
and . . . at last . . . on the road . . .
part of a train working in the canon . . .
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Posted - December 26 2014 : 2:17:14 PM
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Barry, you do very impressive work. Not only the caboose but all of it - nice hoppers too, they look good in their natural brass finish. And I think you are understating your patience!
Also, nice cookie pans you have there
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - December 26 2014 : 10:45:27 PM
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Looks fantastic, better than it ever did before.
-Steve
"A lot of modellers out there who go to these train shows see broken HO stuff and go, 'This is useless' when, in reality, they can still be used for modeling whether it's as a prop on your layout or a cool project to make something old new again."
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 Posted - December 29 2014 : 11:05:06 PM
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It all looks good. Nice old school consist.
Barry, braid can be found by stripping old shielded cable like coax. Some use a foil jacket, but any braided shield should be fine for this sort of job.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - December 30 2014 : 01:02:10 AM
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| Thanks guys. And thanks for the tip regarding the coax Nelson. That is one thing about these old metal cars; seems like for the most part, if you screw up, you can take it apart and try and do better the next time (I hope it isn't like recording music where the first take ends up being the best!). Then, the issue becomes jumping in that cold water to redo the project. Yikes.
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