Wow. It's been forever since I posted to this side of the Forum. I'm usually over on the "Real Trains" side. Anyway, I didn't see any reviews of this caboose, so here are my thoughts:
I had pre-ordered this last year, and actually forgot about it. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found it on my doorstep. Of course, this model has been released many times over the years, in many different paint schemes, including this one (with different road numbers). The tooling has held up very well over the years, with nice, crisp surface detail, seams and rivets. The body color used looks a little dark--almost like a Tuscan red in some light. It should be a lighter "mineral brown." Additionally, the steps, end platforms and roof are black--technically, these should all be mineral brown as well. I don't intend on painting these--it would be too difficult to match the color of the brown used, and especially the sheen.
I still wonder why MTH installs that little vent near the front on the long end--I've never seen a picture of a Santa Fe caboose with that vent.
Like all newer cars, the couplers feature air hoses--a really nice touch. They're very flexible so they should be able to stand up to some abuse.
What I was most excited about (and people can let me know if this isn't something new) are the caboose trucks. In the past MTH used T-section Bettendorf trucks--wholly incorrect for Santa Fe cabooses. However, my new caboose has Barber-Bettendorf swing-motion caboose trucks! These are correct for this caboose! (I wish MTH would have told me it would have the correct trucks before I went out and purchased a set of Atlas O trucks for a planned conversion 
). Interestingly, the plastic leaf springs on these trucks are accurate, in that they pass through the truck side frame, and extend inside the frame. They are removable, and a couple of my springs were out of position, and needed to be snapped back in place.
There are red lamps installed under the roofs over the end platforms. This is a neat feature, but as with all prior iterations of this caboose, it's clumsily executed, with the curve of the roof "boxed-in" by the lamp housing. The red lamp was used with modern Santa Fe Cabooses, but I believe they're not prototypical for the time period of this caboose (the lettering says the journals were repacked in 1946). The housings snap out, and only minor filling and painting will be required to have a nice curved roof over the platforms. It would have been neat if MTH had included markers with red and amber lenses, which would have been prototypical. Maybe I'll make that change.
The rest of the caboose is typical MTH--lighted, semi-detailed interior, brakeman in the cupola, separately applied hand and grab rails.
Overall, a very nice model--and kudos to MTH for finally using the correct trucks--they really elevate the model's looks.
