When I post info and upload pics, the words go above and below the image. I am going to post the words independently from the images from now on, to avoid this problem. The images below show the interior with the floor removed, and something neat we found painted on the frame. We had a wet and soggy work location today, Tulsa got 2 inches of rain last night.
What a fantastic endeavor! You guys are taking the time to make it right for the long haul. Dont be surprised if the RR wants it back when your done LOL. BTW I will check with a few BNSF officers I know to see whats up with that cab in Parachute for you.
Paul, Contact me if you want and I will show you how to fix the posts up so that everything shows in order. Charlie
Tom, I appreciate you checking on the caboose in Parachute, BN 12517. That caboose has the distinction of being the only 1200 class caboose to never be retired ! what a gem, it looks in great shape too. If I could get my hands on that caboose BNSF could send her to Cherokee Yard, haul her to Sapulpa on the local freight and interchange her with Tulsa Sapulpa Union and we could restore her on live rails and she would never leave the track. Just repaint her and turn the wheels back to round or replace the wheels if there too bad. That would be an awesome day !
Sandblasters worked for 9 hours today blasting the frame and all the brake components, it is slow tedious work getting around all the rods and levers, etc. Tomorrow we will spend an hour or so removing all the loose sand from the caboose and spraying some primer on all the exposed metal. Most of the blasting is completed now, only the roof and external walls remain and they are big flat easy targets. The galvanized roof does not hold paint well and several areas on the roof have the paint gone already. When we blast the roof we will be sure to etch it well with the sand so it will hold paint better than original. Next weekend may be rainy according to the forecast so it could be a couple weeks or more before we get to do more blasting since the TSU guys are only available on weekends. I owe those guys a lot of gratitude since they are working 7 days a week in order to help with this project. Great guys, they arranged for me to ride along with TSU last Wednesday and it was a lot of fun.
Is there a primer you could use on the roof after deeply sandblasting into the galvanized metal? Could such a primer ultimately give better metal adhesion as well as better protection? I know its use would certainly not lead to an authentic restoration, but possibly a more durable one. Deep sandblasting into galvanized metal raises the risk of removing too much protection. I am sure you have taken this into account.
A couple shots of the primered frame, ready to blast the roof and the sides now ! I will be excited to see the green paint disappear, but with rain in the weekend forecast it may be a couple weeks before any work is done.
Got our 1 to 1 set of Microscale decals today ! The HO caboose in the pic is for size comparison. These were made from the original emblems that we pulled out of 1291. All the size data was recorded and stored so if anyone needs a copy we have the dimensions in printable form! I still feel very lucky that the logos were still there on 1291. The "SL-SF" and "1291" should be done by weeks end. Now I am comfortable enough to blast all the paint from the sides and erase the original logos. Fun stuff !
Paul - Wow! You sure must use up a lot of Micro-Set and Micro-Sol to put those decals on the caboose! (I'm kidding!) Well done, neat work. Ken
That's funny Ken ! I thought it was neat that they look like decals, but really they are stencils. There are 3 layers to these. The bottom sheet is white, and that's what you see as the lettering. The middle sheet is yellow with the logos cut out, and the top sheet is a foggy clear full sheet. The top sheet will be removed and we will carefully cut away the white and will be left with a stencil that we will tape to the caboose and then hand draw the outlines and paint the logos by hand onto the caboose. Fun stuff.
I thought you would paint the caboose body color, peel off the white back layer, apply the yellow and clear layers to the body, remove the clear layer, mask off the areas outside the templates, shoot the paint color of the letters and coonskin, then peel away the masking and the templates. Apparently there is no type of adhesive on the yellow backing?
Keith, the yellow does have adhesive, and the way you described the process is exactly how they were intended to be used......but they are a bit intimidating because of the sheer size, if I get one side started wrong the whole sheet will be wrong, and it would be difficult to make any adjustments. I like your idea the best, I may have an extra "ship it" logo printed and have a test run on the side of my tool house, the exterior walls are smooth steel plating just like a caboose. Hopefully its not as difficult as it seems.
Paul, one of the secrets to applying that type of stencil is to use a spray bottle filled with water that has a drop or two of detergent in it. Spray the surface with the mixture, place the stencil where you want it, the water will allow the stencil to float and slide. Place some tape at two of the corners to hold it in place and then use a squeegee to work the water from under the stencil beginning at the middle going outwards and get the stencil to adhere to the surface, paying close attention to the edges that are going to mask the spray paint. Once the stencil is stuck to the surface the cover film is carefully peeled away. I have applied a few large film appliques to automobiles and trucks during my career with Toyota, including large Hybrid Synergy Drive appliques on two Toyota Camrys that were used as NASCAR Pace Cars at Kansas Speedway. The compound curves made the job interesting.
Our sandblasting and painting crew have not been back in almost a month, they have been busy working weekends with TSU to get caught up on some things. They expect to return about midway through January. Looking forward to blasting and primering the rest of 1291. We have almost finished our shed to house 1291 for painting and finishing out the interior.
Good news, the paint crew from TSU called today and said they could come out over the New years weekend Friday, Sat and Sunday to finish blasting and priming the caboose. They should be able to get that all done by Sunday afternoon. Monday I will be painting the trucks, frame and platforms black as original. If all goes as planned, we can lift the body back on her trucks and move her in to the building Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about getting all that done and finally seeing the green paint gone and some major changes in appearance. I will be posting progress pics as it happens. Fun stuff.
