Building a Flat Car from a Red Caboose Kit

Links to items mentioned in this video. (Note: I am NOT endorsing any particular product(s), nor am I compensated by or connected to any of the companies mentioned.) I do NOT guarantee that these links will give you the best available price! Consider these links to be a starting point for your search.

Historical note: KC brakes are K brakes with the cylinder and the air reservoir combined. The AAR approved the AB brake style in 1933 and required all new cars to be built using AB brakes. They also gave the railroads five years to convert their existing fleets, but with the depression, and World War II, and postwar shortages, that deadline was extended several times. All K brakes were finally barred from interchange service in 1953.

Crafter’s Pick Ultimate: http://www.crafterspick.com/

AB brake components: http://www.accurail.com/accurail/part... These cost $3 for two sets or $25 for twenty-five sets.

Rio Grande Modeling and Historical Society: http://rgmhs.org/ Their data on the Rio Grande flat car roster can be found here: https://rgmhs.org/resources/1887-1959...

Northeastern Scale Lumber: https://www.northeasternscalelumber.c...

Vetero stains: https://www.besttrains.com/vetero.html The video shows Aged Barn Wood and Shadow Gray. I didn’t like the final color, so I tried Murky Brown and Shadow Gray as explained in the narration. That’s the color I ended up using.

Northwest Short Line Chopper: https://nwsl.com/collections/the-chop...

Distressing and weathering a plastic flat car deck:    • Flatcar Deck Weathering Tutorial  
Realistic Flat Car Decks:    • 3. Realistic flat car decks for model rail...  

Kadee 2-56 drill and tap set: http://www.kadee.com/shop-by-category...

Alternately, A-Line makes a deluxe drill and tap jig set: https://ppw-aline.com/products/copy-o... This set includes the #50 drill and 2-56 tap, and includes brass jigs which allow you drill and tap holes for mounting coupler gear boxes with #2-56 screws.
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SPECIAL NOTE: Observant viewers will see cobwebs in the opening and closing scenes of this video, proving once again that the camera will show details that you won’t see when looking at your models. Clearly, I need to do some dusting!

This video was edited using Shotcut for Linux. Video footage and still images were recorded using a Galaxy A10e phone and a Nikon D7100 camera.