Well, I finished building my rev 3 and rev 4 cabooses. I could not get any smokejacks for them, so I made a brass master and casted a few. I'm no good at casting, so I will work on improving by casting skills this week by building a pressure pot. Here is a picture of the my Mike pulling the rev 2, 3, and 4 cabooses: Here is rev 3 and rev 4: And here is a closeup of rev 4: I have the construction pictorial here: 1200 Series NP 24' Wood Caboose Project [ 17. April 2003, 16:15: Message edited by: pray59 ]
Pray, if I had the master you made I could have as many of them made as you need or want and would be identical to the master you made! STILL they look good! weather those stacks some to make them look old an it will cover it up some! you'd want any made, e-mail me an all with the link in my signature, and i'll see what I can do... BUT I would need the one you made to make more of it... just won't be the same type metal. as the castings would be made of Antimony Alloy....
First I want to thank all of you for your kind words on this model, and second I want to update you on my progress. I had originally wanted to use the MT smokejacks because of their nice detail, and plastic durability, but MT denied my request at buying a quanity of them so I can make up a few kits for other modelers who asked me if I could offer a few. I Had received an offer to have them made, and I do thank you 7600M_1 very much for the offer, but I am worried about how fragile it might be, being so thin. I had finally recieved a reply from Sunrise with pricing for a quanity to make several kits, but the prices they quoted me were higher than the retail prices listed on their own site, and the discount shops that carry them price them 20% cheaper yet! Well, I was completely undecided on how to proceed. I started on scaling the project down to Z Scale, and needed trucks and couplers, so I brought my models down to the LHS, and showed them there. I ended up leaving the shop without my N Scale rev 4 model. One of the guys at the shop is a member of the Golden State Model Railroad Museum club, and he was just so happy to see that caboose. He wanted it so bad, just to tweek one of the members of his club who happens to be an NP Modeler. (Steve Cleere, The same guy who had that NP Passenger train featured in the 3rd issue of N Scale Railroading) Well, he looked at the casting I had made of the smokejack, agreed that it is too fragile, and would be even more so if made of metal, then insisted on ordering me a quanity of the MT smokejacks. He insisted that since he is a dealer, MT will sell them to him, and even though I have to pay full retail, my net cost will be cheaper for the MT plastic smokejacks than the metal ones would be. I also had put in an order for the etched brass brakewheels I need at this time, so the whole project is coming closer to becoming a reality.
Those Look Great!! And while all my comments on the cabooses would mirror the others i would like to add something.Thats a very Nice Mike!!!Lets see a close up of the real moneymaker on your Pike
Robert- Strange little glitches such as the smoke jack can certainly be frustrating. As can be dealing with suppliers. If you'd have walked into a hobbyshop near me with those jewels, you would be leaving empty handed as well. Just wish I'd been there! I believe another fellow has now been in contact? I pointed him to your photos here at Trainboard. Thanks for the update!!! Boxcab E50
Robert, That is a beauty Mike.Lots of detail and a real showpiece.Thanks for the closeup.I will endeavor to one day detail my 2 mikes so as to have the same type of headturning Detail .although In N you may have to look close
Robert- I can't find my notes from when you told me the decal set you'd used on the cabooses. Help? Need to get my order sent off for them. Hoping to paint this weekend. Boxcab E50
'N'credible!!!! I would be interested in a rev 4 caboose to add to my premerger fleet... Are you selling them yet?
Thanks for the nice comments Hemi, I plan to have them ready to sell by the end of summer. I just got extended on my unemployment, and cannot have income until then. Not that I'm trying to get over on the system, but I never collected unemployment before, and have been employed solid since 1975, so I'm taking my much deserved sabbatical. Actually, I have been looking for work, but we are still in full swing layoff mode here for 3 full years now. I have sent out a prelim kit for evaluation, and after he is done with it, will make any changes needed for a final version. Thanks for you interest.
