It’s been awhile since I updated this thread. I was distracted by the G-39/G-38 ore jennie project that is on another thread. I fully completed one G-39 and one G-38, and have another 24 in various stages of construction right now, but I figured it was a good time to get back to the DUNMORE Caboose and wrap that up. When we left of, most of the body was complete other than all the grabs, ladders and railings. I also hadn’t touched any of the brake rigging under the car. Part of my procrastination was due to a noticeable warpage of the acrylic/styrene underframe, which caused a slop in the end platforms that was noticeable. I realized this was because the main beam, which would have stiffened the frame, was cut short to make space for Kadee couplers. To correct this, I separated the platforms from the rest of the car bottom, slightly inside the car. This still allowed me to access the interior to install the window glazing after painting, but at the same time corrected the sloped end platforms, and improved overall construction. Cutting through the acrylic base wasn’t fun and turned out a bit sloppy, but I made the changes to the laser cut files to allow for this in future builds. The car is mostly complete and will head into the paint shop soon.
I’m not sure whether I will letter this for EL or Erie. I plan on building another three or four of these - at least one in EL. Most of the cars were welded, but some of the earlier ones had riveted construction. I might adjust the file to mark out for the riveted sections and try a few of those versions too. Below are a few of the jigs I used for the ladders and railings - sort of experimental. You may wonder why no brass strips for the ladder? Two reasons, brass flat strip is getting hard to find, and, using the polybacker, the laser lays out and drills the holes precisely. It worked for the style of ladder used with the DUNMORE caboose, but wouldn’t in many other cases.
