Funaro Resin Kit, J&L Steel Coal Tank Car. Any Experience?

[gmpullman]

Funaro_Coal-Tank by Edmund, on Flickr

I'm thinking about buying one or two of these gutsy-looking Coal Tar kits.

http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/6970.html

I wondered if anyone has built this car and has any pointers, comments or experiences with this kit. I'm particularly curious about the railing work. Are those resin moldings? If so that might pose a challenge. I don't mind soldering my own using bronze wire. I just wondered what the kit calls for.

I've kept an eye out for the brass models of these cars but they usually command about $300 or so. I'm not ready to give up quite that much for a freight car, just now.

Thanks,

Ed

[NeO6874]

Didn't do that kit -- tried my hand at a flat car or a gon ... and boy oh boy was it a pain.

 

The resin molds are considerably less "clean" than styrene (ala branchline), and tended to have a considerable amount of flash that needed cleaned up... As I recall, their kits come only as the body and major details (e.g. brake wheel). The fine detail parts are up to you.

 

BUT that was ages ago, and they may have revamped things.

[gmpullman]

NeO6874

BUT that was ages ago, and they may have revamped things.

I have built a couple F&C resin kits and — yes, I agree, resin does present some challenges. Thet have made a few improvements in the quality of some of the parts, many "house" cars now have one-piece bodies but flash cleanup is still a tedious part of resin kit building.

I am still trying to glue the stake pockets on to the side sills of their PRR F22 flat car. They glue very easily to my fingers, ears and I think I had one glued to my nose. Not very many of them stuck to the car side, though.

I tried using the Tichy stake pockets, still not much luck there either. One of these days I'll give it another go...

Thanks, Ed

[7j43k]

gmpullman

 

 

I am still trying to glue the stake pockets on to the side sills of their PRR F22 flat car. They glue very easily to my fingers, ears and I think I had one glued to my nose. Not very many of them stuck to the car side, though.

I tried using the Tichy stake pockets, still not much luck there either. One of these days I'll give it another go...

Thanks, Ed

 

 

Once again, this Ed champions epoxy.  Plenty of time to align things, and it pretty much stays where you put it, instead of seeping.

Those brass J&L cars must have gotten expensive in the last few years.  They used to be everywhere for not much bucks.  Of course, there used to be dinosaurs everywhere, too.

Ed

[gmpullman]

7j43k

Once again, this Ed champions epoxy.

Thanks, Epoxy Ed. I will give that a go. I think I have some epoxy with a two-hour setting time. I will definitely give that a try.

My last attempt at the stake pockets I used the styrene Tichy ones. Very nicely molded with no flash. The ACC simply would not "kick over". So I gave a light spritz of accelerator to the joint and the styrene completely crumbled.

I like your suggestion. Epoxy is tacky enough that the parts will stay put until it cures.

7j43k

Those brass J&L cars must have gotten expensive in the last few years.

https://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/093668/HO-Brass-Model-NWSL-Jones-Laughlin-20000-Gallon-Tank-Car-JLSX-1025-Nice-Custom

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

Ed ²

[SeeYou190]

I have built at least two dozen Funaro and Camerlengo kits, including the beauty pictured below. I always find them enjoyable and relaxing.

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I never build them exactly as designed. I change details and a few locations of parts. The quality of the castings has always been good.

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I cannot comment on this specific kit. I have only built one resin tank csar kit, by Sunshine Models, and was not happy with the results. This kit had a plactic tube for the body and cast resin ends. The joint where the tube attached to the ends looked terrible. The resin frame was delicate and not suitable for operation. Walkways were extremely delicate.

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I have opted for brass models for almost all my tank cars now. Type 103 tank cars by Lambert can be had for $125.00 or less. Some interesting PENNSYLVANIA cars imported by Sunset can be had for about the same price.

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Santa Fe prototype cars, and the J&L car you showed, can shoot into the $200.00-$300.00 range easily.

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-Kevin

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[7j43k]

FWIW, from the Steam Freight Car Group:

 

"The J&L large 20,000 tank cars were mainly used for transfers of
intermediate coal car products between the coke plants at Aliquippa
and Pittsburgh Works. These would have been A&S - P&LE -
Monongahela Connecting moves.

These cars were allowed in general interchange, no evidence has
surfaced that they did."

 

Ed

 

[gmpullman]

7j43k

These would have been A&S - P&LE - Monongahela Connecting moves.

Perfect! Already got a pair of P&LE Alcos ready for the job.

RS3_Crew by Edmund, on Flickr

Thank You, Ed

[G Paine]

I have built a number of F&C kits, mostly HOn30 for the Boothbay Railway Village layout. As someone mentioned above there is more flash to be trimmed than injection molded sytrene, but that is typical of the resin moldng process. If you can not live with it, stay away from resin. Resin kits have a niche that includes shorter production runs and lower setup costs that styrene. They tend to produce kits that are more rare that massed produced models.

A case in point is this F&C HO scale B&M well car that was made for moving ships reduction gears from the GE factory in Lynne MA to shipyards on the east and gulf coasts. Something would never make a profit on an injection molded production run.

Here are some HOn30 flatcars and boxcars

 

[gmpullman]

Thanks Kevin, George

I'm familiar with a few resin kits. I finished a PRR well car a few months ago. That was fairly straightforward:

IMG_9796_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

They really are an economical alternative to brass. My inquiry was aimed more at the coal tar car itself. Well, I'll find out in a couple days when it, and a B&O fifty-foot, single-door baggage car arrive. I'll update this thread then.

Thanks again, Ed

[pike-62]

I did build that tank car a few years ago. Not one of their best efforts but it is buildable. As always have some good reference materila on hand if available as their "instructions" leave a lot to be desired. What works best for me on these kits is to read thru with all of the parts out in front of you as if you were going to assemble it, envision how they go onto the model. Sometimes you need to go thru this a couple of times to get what he is trying to descibe. As for the hand rails, the kit comes with several lengths of phospher bronze wire. You will need to buy couplers and trucks for the kit separatly.

[gmpullman]

pike-62

As for the hand rails, the kit comes with several lengths of phospher bronze wire.

Thank you, Pike. That is good to know. 

The couple that runs F&C sometimes come to the Berea, Ohio, NMRA show. I should have looked for them this year but, of course, at the time I really wasn't interested in the J&L coal tar tank car. 

I'll post some photos of the kit when it arrives next week. I've got a couple of Borden "Butter Dish" milk cars sitting on the shelf awaiting my attention, too.

Thanks again, Ed