To make the seam between the roof of the caboose and the sides of the cupola as invisible as possible, I laid some fine sandpaper on the the roof and gently rubbed the completed cupola over the sandpaper. Effectively I used the roof of the caboose as a curved sanding block. This assured me that the curve of the cupola ends would exactly match the curve of the roof.
The other part of the model that bothered me was the end sill and railings casting. I toyed with the idea of scratch building the end sills and railings but in the end I decided to use them as they were. I did attempt to scratch build new steps but soon became frustrated and I chose to live with the cast steps. Overall I think the finished product is respectable.
With all due respect to Juneco, this kit is a bit crude. In many ways it uses the same technologies that were used in kits in the 50s and 60s. There is nothing wrong with the kit but with today's high standards of fine details in relatively easy to assemble kits this caboose seems to take up a lot of modeling time and resources that could be better spent on other quicker, more detailed kits.
It has been rumored that Sylvan scale models will be bringing out a resin kit for the wood sheathed caboose and they may have a version of the caboose after it was covered with plywood.
No matter which kit you build or scratch build you will be faced with the problem of painting the caboose. Choosing the correct color is not as simple as it may seem. The Juneco instructions indicated using bright caboose red for the ends and freight car red for the sides. After careful examination of the pictures provided by the John Riddell Canadian Pacific Color Guide published by Morning Sun Books, the sides seem to be more maroon than freight car red.
One great thing came of this decision making process. I have made a great modeling friend. I posted a question on the rec.models.railroad newsgroup about the appropriate colors to use and got a few responses. One respondent and I began corresponding as we were both building the Juneco kit at the same time. It has been over
two years now and both of us have completed our models but we still correspond.
To quote Ian Garton:
I'm not sure if you've followed up your post in the newsgroup any further, but there are two more replies. Both say that the end colour is caboose red, and one says that the side colour is freight car red (box car red, I would assume.)
I seem to remember the Juneco instructions saying it was tuscan red and action red, but this may have been for later, steel cabooses with the script lettering. The box car red and caboose red may very well be the correct colour for the wooden cabooses. This would mean the tuscan red is too light and not brown enough, and the action red has too much orange in it.
How old is that kit you're building? I bought another one on Friday and the instructions in it call for CP Tuscan Red (Accu-Paint AP-38) and Action Red (Accu-Paint AP-11).
The group of guys at the hobby store said that the cabooses were redder than the boxcars and that it was indeed tuscan red. However, they said that the ends were more of a caboose red, not action red. I see that somebody else responded to you post, saying that the ends were caboose red.
In the end I used Scalecoat CP Tuscan red and Floquil Caboose red for the ends. |