Model Railroading > IAIS's West End - New IAIS caboose

I've long wanted to build a couple proto-freelance IAIS cabooses for the West End based on the excellent Bluford Shops MP short bay window models, and finally finished the first one, IAIS 9440, this morning.  The changes I made were really straightforward:

1. Removed the factory MP lettering by laying Kleenex tissue pieces over it and soaking it in Micro Sol for 5-10 minutes, then scraping the lettering away with an old blade.
2. Removed white stripes on the roof ends and end railing panels.
3. Painted the underframe, platforms, steps, and trucks black.
4. Added a yellow frame stripe, IAIS herald/reporting marks, and white step edges.
5. Added some light weathering to the roof and trucks.

Coming soon will be IAIS 9441, which will be a simple patch job, still in MP paint, and with more weathering.

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 08:55 by iaisfan.

---

---

HI Joe,

That looks terrific.  Very Plausible indeed!

Cheers,
Harry

Very nice Joe. There's some very well done detail on the end of those units that becomes very visible with that shorty cab. I might have to pick one of those up just for that. 

Chris

That looks great, nicely done.

Nathan

Those Bluford's are some nice cabooses.  Very detailed and missing in HO.  I have one of the older Family Lines scheme patched for the my Virginia Midland.  Plan on putting some heavy weathering on mine.  I added some weight to mine because they are very light.  Great looking caboose Joe!  It's just something about a red caboose.

Shannon Crabtree
Fredericksburg, VA
Virginia Midland Railroad Blog



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/15 12:08 by VAmidlandrr.

---

Very nice workl Joe! I think all caboose's shouldd be red.
cf7

---

Thanks everyone for your replies.  I agree about the red caboose thing!  Can't explain it, but I've always liked them, and they fit nicely with IAIS's color scheme.  Even when I modeled the UP primarily, I still preferred the looks of the MP cabooses.

Love the other cabooses you all shared here!

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd

cf7 Wrote:
> Very nice workl Joe! I think all caboose's should be red.

By the way Russ, it looks like the GT&I has been busy adding some new power!  Looks great!  Is that a Tom Johnson CR Geep I see?

Joe Atkinson
Council Bluffs, IA
www.iaisrailfans.org/../Sub4WestEnd