"We don't need no stinkin' prototypes......"

[De Bruin]

I needed a break from repairing cars in the donation pile, E-Bay and my CGW project. We’ve been planning a NdeM freight train for a while now, and the recent and most welcome proliferation of excellent Mexican prototype decals from K4 Supply compelled me do some freight cars, I originally planned on doing a pair of the modern, late 70’s era 44000 series ICC cabooses using K4’s decal set on some very nearly identical/plentiful Atlas-Roco versions, but decided I would need a slightly older prototype for the diesels and steam engine we’re planning too.


So I decided to abuse this poor KMT pattern caboose first as a stand in for NdeM’s very “UP-ish” looking 43700-800 series. The downside is its around 3 to 4 ft too short, the upside they’re very inexpensive, have a centered cupola and a reasonably (for me) close window arrangement to one of the many variants in that series.


The protype has a lot of vertical riveted panels, more than I could reasonably fit on the short carbody, so only added a pair while removing the belt rail per the prototype. Likewise the Kusan (actually here K-line’s version) cupola is too short and has two side windows vs the prototype’s one, so I amputated it while retaining the separate coop roof and, using a jewel case and evergreen plastic, fabricated a replacement facsimile.


Decals are a mix of Champ lettering and a spare pair of superfluous heralds from an old Walthers set for an orange and red Cerveceria Moctezuma NdeM box car. Paint is Testor’s “Daytona Yellow” from a rattle can, unlikely a decent match to NdeM’s caboose yellow which to me always seemed oxidized and washed out in real life.


Added a lot of grabs to the car body, replaced the end railing, reworked the stack, enlarged and split the windows.


Likewise added rigging, a battery box, gang valve etc to the underbody and Walthers white metal bolsters to get the truck height right. Hmm didn't cover all the original red either.


Lastly a battery pack and some refurbished markers from a scrapped passemger car, hence on-off switch on the underbody. Not going to give Malcolm a run for his money anytime soon that’s for sure, but works for me.

[E7]

Si!

[sleepmac]

Very nice!

Dan Weinhold

[Rufus T. Firefly]

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[bob turner]

That is the definition of metamorphosis! Tell us more about the new decal source?

[De Bruin]

They sell a lot through Ebay, but have their own site too, apparently once they've completed the art work they're able to print in any scale G through Z, (they even list some in TT)
Pretty interesting list of offerings too, modern and old prototype schemes, another bonus is many of the sets will do two cars instead of just one.

https://k4decals.com/collections/all

A most welcome addition for model builders, I'll be doing some 40' and 50' freight cars will post the results as they get completed.

[ScaleCraft]

https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/archi ... 203642.jpg

http://www.trainweb.org/chris/photos/mxp98.jpg

Years ago I did a bunch of research on locomotives south of the border. A whole lot of them came from the US, steam and diseasemal.

Looking into cabeese, it seems a whole lot of them did, too.

Extended cupola, tapered cupola, bay window.....bunches of them.

[De Bruin]

Good catch there Dave with that first linked photo, one of two photos of this variant that I was working off of. I might have incorporated that WC vent and that mineral colored roof too if I'd seen it before finding this one first.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1664712
Wish the underbody on my KMT victim had been deep enough to incorporate those plates on the side of the joists and bolsters too.
Again pretty UP-ish though I don't know enough to say it's a fact with these. There's a lot of others in this basic car body style with three or four side windows, some with wrap around coop windows, many variations etc. perhaps second hand too since they're devoid of the ubiquitous "Hecho en Mexico" eagle emblem, or not as it's certainly not uniformly applied either.
For the enormous size of the roster, it's surprisingly enigmatic regarding details like this.

[Chris Rock]

It's a good looking caboose. I don't know anything about the prototype.

[R.K. Maroon]

Brother Pete and I were taken to northern Mexico several times as teenagers by our Spanish-speaking gringo parents. Collectively, these trips were a formative experience in regards to exposure to Ferrocarrill de Mexico (and also to authentico Mexican comida y cerveza).

So it didn't take any arm-twisting to get me on board when Pete announced a few years back that an O-scale NdeM freight or mixed train was on the bucket list. With that in mind I came close to buying an MG/USH UP caboose as a stand-in for an NdeM:



But brass models are not easy for mortals to kit-bash, so I resisted. I am very glad I did, as Pete's chosen path to said caboose was clearly the right one.

I hope to contribute a few models to the lash-up along the way. Time will tell.

Jim

[De Bruin]

I reached a stretch between finishing the last custom paint job and the O Scale South meet to return to my NdeM project for a bit. Since posting the caboose about 18 months ago I had painted and decaled a few 40' box cars with a K4 Supply set and so decided to further expand the fleet to include a pair of AHM ARA style FCM "Mexicano" boxes and some factory BevBel's X43's in FCP "Pacifico" green.

The AHM’s are what they are, inexpensive and not terribly accurate shells, but close enough for my purposes. Pulled the factory silk screens off using Scalecoat II “Wash Away.” This K4 Supply set for the FCM is a "two-fer” due to those large “M”s.

I don’t think I own any of these cars where the ladders are intact as they're absurdly brittle and soft. So added step/grabs where needed. Unfortunately I did not get the same results with this set as I did with the previous ones, I owe David Freidlander an apology, as these did have clouding and fought snugging down around the rivets despite needle work and applying industrial strength quantities of Solvaset (no "Faerie Piss" here 8^)
Need to add stirrups to the non-ladder ends of the cars, and should probably get rid of those clunky factory roof walks in favor of an aftermarket expanded steel or scratch a wood version onto them

The Atlas/BevBel X43 were a nice factory special run and I was quite happy to find and snag a second example a few months ago off of Ebay, rather inexpensively too.

The only thing these required was to fix the color of the ladders as they were not the same color as the car body lettering etc. and change the road# on one of them.
More to follow as I get to them, planning on a 50' PS XM, some shorty gondolas and some tank cars. Then maybe a coach and mail-baggage box for a mixed train. Hopefully won't be in another 18 months either...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

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[sarge]

Well done that man!

[bob turner]

Yes - very nice looking, even though inexpensive plastic. Decals really make these things stand out!

[De Bruin]

....very nice looking, even though inexpensive plastic. Decals really make these things stand out!

Thank you for the kind comments gents. Agree Bob, good paint and decals are indeed under-rated. Candidly I'm still pretty economy minded (if not genetically so) and while I’d like having all of my stuff in durable brass or castings that would last till the next Ice-Age or nuclear melt down, I’m also still impatient these days when building (or buying) for specific trains I want to model, in this case NdeM. Also fairly untalented with brass and machining too and would likely still be working on a one or two of these cars if they were brass or quality metal of some kind. It's all ASAP about the train for the engine(s) or road I’m lusting for at the moment since I have a pending customer list these days and have to feed the Ebay sales monster too.

I did actually/finally finish some engines for these cars too, albeit more “inexpensive plastic” as-in a pair of the US Weaver FA2’s.

Above based on a Alco FA2. I go a lot of help from Sarge with these, both technical and material, one (#6530) was a junker and the other (#6519) brand new, yet they both suffered from cracked drive components as well as one of them experiencing a major drop to the concrete floor. Ouch.

This one based on an FPA2 from Montreal Locomotive Works.
After the respective repairs to their drives; new sprockets and u-joints, they (finally) run pretty good.