Building a Kitsap Caboose

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Second test run of the Kitsap Caboose kit. It performed flawlessly. The battery box and air tank need to be painted red, and the remainder of the handrails are to be fabricated and installed. Note that the roof section has been removed to allow children to ride.

by Daris A Nevil

November 2015

Equipment

Tools and Supplies

I hope this list of tools and supplies won't discourage you from tackling this kit. If you don't have one of the tools listed below then think about other ways you can accomplish the same operation with a different tool, or ask a friend that has the required tool to help you with that operation.

I started welding the kit using the Lincoln stick welder, which worked ok with the thick 1/8 inch steel floor. However, this could have been done with the wire welder as well, so you really don't need both welders. If you have to choose between the two then choose the wire welder.

I had no idea how to cut the 16 gauge roof steel (an operation step, see below). After doing some research and watching a YouTube video I decided to purchase a Milwuakee steel cutting circular saw. Wow, I'm so glad I did. This saw is such a joy to use. And the resulting cuts are so smooth and straight. It is as easy to use as a regular wood cutting circular saw. I know I will get many years of good use out of this tool.

Build Gallery

Frame

Body

Roof

Battery Box

Safety Chains

Interior Paint

Rounded Corners

Trucks and Brakes

See Balanced Air Brakes from Scratch.

Mounting Brackets

Painting and Lettering

The free program Inkscape was used to create SVG files for all the vinyl lettering. The SVG files were then converted to EPS files used by the Vinyl Cutter. All graphics (SVG and EPS) are included in the following Zip file:


Brake Wheel

Hand Rails

External Links