Micro-Trains Cabooses
Two of these Micro-Trains N scale cabooses have been in my collection since Micro-Trains was part of Kadee. This body style is a fairly accurate representation of a Southern Pacific C-30-1 wooden caboose. The third car is a newer release. It is factory decorated for one-time SP subsidiary Texas & New Orleans.
Micro-Trains Cabooses – TNO 383
My two older cars were originally decorated for Southern Pacific. I repainted them into a fictitious railroad scheme some years ago. They remained that way for quite a few years. I ran across them again more recently and decided to change them back to Southern Pacific.
I started by disassembling the two older cars. I had used Microscale Micro Kristal Klear to make windows. It took some effort to remove that. I stripped the old paint off the cars by giving them a bath in Scalecoat paint remover. Once the paint was removed I washed the parts in soapy water and set the shells aside to dry.
One of my cars had damaged end handrails. Fortunately Micro-Trains sells replacement parts for these. These parts are made of a slippery plastic that does not take paint well. Before painting I used my Badger hobby sandblaster to dull down the shiny plastic surface. I’ve found that doing this greatly improves paint adhesion on this type of plastic. I washed these parts to get rid of any residue from the sandblasting.
Micro-Trains Cabooses – SP 199
When all the parts were dry I painted everything with a primer coat. I use either flat white or a very pale gray for this. Either will work. I airbrushed the ends of the Micro-Trains cabooses with SP orange (probably Scalecoat but I honestly don’t remember). After the orange was dry I masked the ends. I sprayed the shells and handrails with boxcar red.
When the paint was dry I airbrushed a clear gloss coat on the shells. I used Microscale decals for the Southern Pacific markings. I use Micro-Set (blue label) to position the decals. Once they are in place I use Micro-Sol (red label) to soften them and make them conform to the paint. If I see any bubbles or silvering I use a sharp hobby knife to poke holes in the decal and apply more Micro-Sol. I keep doing this until the decal is fully adhered to the surface.
I decorated caboose 199 in the SP Gothic lettering style. SP 741 got the more traditional Roman-style lettering. Both were done following prototype photos.
Micro-Trains Cabooses – SP 741
After I was satisfied with the decals I sprayed the shells with a clear matte finish. I have not weathered these cars yet but the matte finish will provide a good base for doing that in the future. I installed Micro-Trains window kits in both of my older cars and added a bit of weight before reassembling them. The weight helps to keep the coupler springs taut in a train.
All three Micro-Trains cabooses ride on Fox Valley metal wheels. I prefer metal wheels to the point where I will not allow plastic wheels on my track. Plastic wheels seem to make the track get dirty faster.
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