Bachmann caboose to British type brake van.

Y

yb281

Registered
Some time ago Steve at Back2Bay6 was offering Bachmann cabooses (cabice?:bigsmile: ) for just £15 (in fact, when he was in the old shop, so at least 12 months ago). Anyhoo, I bought one with the idea that it might "come in handy one day".

Then Dave Hub posted some pics of the excellent Shark type brakevan that he had made using one of these same cabooses and which I was able to inspect first hand at one of Whatlep's play days - sorry, serious testing sessions...................

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Dave had collected enough parts to make a second Shark, but had decided to stick with just one and very kindly agreed to send me his spares for my project.

I was short of brake vans (you can never have enough brake vans IMO) especially for my permanent way trains, but I'm afraid I bottled out of the full Shark conversion. Instead I decided to go for a pretty simple conversion into a double balcony model.

I used the plasticard duckets that Dave had sent me and made up new ends from plasticard and Evergreen 3/16" square tube.

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This was a pretty cheap and quick conversion job using the following materials;

Bachmann caboose
New ends - plasticard, evergreen square tube
Running boards - plasticard strengthened with coffee stirrers
Buffers - Left over from an IP kit
Duckets - from Dave (not really sure duckets would be essential with all those windows, but I like em)
Glazing - from old glass slides kindly given to me by Fred (Dragon)
Chuffed2Bits lamp irons
Paint and glue

So I reckon the whole thing cost less than 20 quid. Not bad I reckon largely thanks to the kindness of forum members :thumbup:.

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Very nicely done, I have the same chassis and will also be building a British brake van for my line, nice to see how this can be done using the stock bobber caboose. Do you where Dave got his buffers from ? I'm bashing them currently using styrene and thumbtacks, some off the shelf units would be nice.
 
Excellent conversion job Mel.... :thumbup:
 
great job-has its own character and i really like your paint job
 
korm kormsen said:
are you talking about this type of caboose?
if yes, please explain, what you did, that it does not derail frequently.
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Yes, that looks like the one Korms. Mine doesn't seem prone to de-railing, not that I've really done anything other than add a bit more weight. Having said that, there's really no compensation designed into the chassis, so I can see that that could be an issue. How about putting it on a piece of glass and checking that everything is flat/straight?

Thanks for the comments guys.
 
yb281 said:
....Steve at Back2Bay6 was offering Bachmann cabooses (cabice?:bigsmile: )....
Click to expand...

I think that should be 'cabeeses' Mel....:laugh:
 
The concensus appears to be cabooses.


Has the caboose been cabashed? 8|
 
Looks great Mel very nice:thumbup:
 
vsmith said:
Do you where Dave got his buffers from ? I'm bashing them currently using styrene and thumbtacks, some off the shelf units would be nice.
Click to expand...

Hello, just to let you know the buffers on my EWS caboose bash came from Cambrian models
http://www.cambrianmodels.co.uk/16intro.html

they are these: NA12 Coach/wagon Sprung Buffers £3.30

they are good buffers and springy too, not a bad look considering they are supposed to be for 16mm.

hope that helps
 
Oh and sorry to be rude, Mel that looks like a lovely job especially the planking on the ends. I'm glad you could use the spare bits and pieces.
 
id have to say 10/10 in all fields.....

thought thr window bars on the sides just dont seem to fit britains brakevans...

and maybe straight grab irons :D

But still looks a loverly Bash
 
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