(with apologies to Harry Belafonte for borrowing his famous song lyric.)
We're all familiar with the somewhat sneering "shake the box" characterization for kits such as Athearn blue box, the Model Die Casting/Roundhouse line, and to some extent Accurail, Bowser and some others.
While looking for something else I found what seems to be the first use of the phrase, or rather one very close to it, in the letters to the editor section of the February 1952 Model Railroader. Guy Omer, Jr.,m complained that true model building was being lost except for traction and narrow gauge, because of the proliferation of "shake together" kits. The irony is that by today's standards there were no shake together kits in 1952, and most folks would regard 1952 as being about the time of the heyday of true craftsman kits. The Athearn and Varney lines were still the metal tab-in-slot sides,ends, and roof, with an underframe that had to be built up from metal parts on a wood floor. Perhaps we would not call such kits "craftsman" kits but it was true that more care led to better results: they were more work to assemble than Athearn blue box and its ilk.
No big point to this point other than to express surprise by how early that phrase appeared -- and what it referred to at the time.
Now back to the workbench and shake a few more boxes.
Dave Nelson
Ready-to-Run has lost its meaning too.
.
I bought a "ready to run" Athearn undecorated airslide hopper, and found a completely unuassembled kit in the box. I shook the box several times, but nothing happened.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190I bought a "ready to run" Athearn undecorated airslide hopper, and found a completely unuassembled kit in the box. I shook the box several times, but nothing happened.
Shake the box upside down.
But don't overdo it or the wheels will be mounted on the top.
Paul
SeeYou190I bought a "ready to run" Athearn undecorated airslide hopper, and found a completely unuassembled kit in the box. I shook the box several times, but nothing happened. .
Thanks for the laugh Kevin!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
That's ok for rolling stock, but if there are any electronics in the unit, like a loco with a decoder, NEVER turn it upside down, all the electrons fall out.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Senora, in the title of the thread, made this thread go South quickly.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I picked up a P2K E6b, to go with the A that I have, carfully took it out of the box, picked it up by shell, being ever so gentle because of the detail parts, and the frame and trucks immediately dropped to the floor.
Previous owner didn't put the screws back in. It wasn't a powered unit, so not much damage, luckily.
Mike.
My You Tube
I had a Stewart diesel locmotive where nothing held the frame to the body.
The first time I picked it up out of the box the mechanism fell to the floor and exploded.
I gave the shell away to a member on this forum.
Dave wins the Internet with his post topic!
RTR doesn't always mean that. I check the car's coupler, trucks, and weight to ensure they all align to NMRA standards. It would be great if something out of the box worked. I can tell you about how I found that out the hard way when trying to fix a toilet...
Back in the day serious modelers didn't buy "train set" cars until AHM released their fantastic line of standard and smooth side passenger cars that edged out Walthers passenger cars that was built from a kit.
A lot of us "serious" teenage modelers would buy AHM freight cars and change the couplers to body mount and the trucks to Athearn or Central Valley trucks add uncoupling bars and air hoses. Oddily enough a lot of "serious" teenager never followed RP20.1 but,would weight those light AHM cars to match Athearn and Roundhouse car weight.
Guys,I dunno but,some time I think the pizzazz is missing from the hobby then maybe not since today we open the higher detail RTR car box and have perfection straight from the box.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
kasskaboose RTR doesn't always mean that. I check the car's coupler, trucks, and weight to ensure they all align to NMRA standards. It would be great if something out of the box worked.
RTR doesn't always mean that. I check the car's coupler, trucks, and weight to ensure they all align to NMRA standards. It would be great if something out of the box worked.
All this time I thought RTR meant 'Ready To Repair'. Boy, you learn something new on this Forum every day!
Len S
rrinker That's ok for rolling stock, but if there are any electronics in the unit, like a loco with a decoder, NEVER turn it upside down, all the electrons fall out. --Randy
He could pack up the pieces and ship it to JaBear in NZ. Maybe he could fix it and re-install the electrons. Southern hemisphere electrons are different; they fall up, not down.
LINK to SNSR Blog
Interesting to see what sort of kits the term was originally applied to.
Seems like originally it was a complaint about the comparative level of effort/craftsmanship required, whereas today -with kits being much less common- the aspersion seems to relate to simplicity in detail.
Other folks feelings about BB and similar shake-the-box models don't bother me. They make up the majority of my rolling stock collection and for me are about the perfect venn-diagram intersection of affordability, durability and detail. I build one or buy one already-built about every 2 weeks.
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
SeeYou190 Ready-to-Run has lost its meaning too. . I bought a "ready to run" Athearn undecorated airslide hopper, and found a completely unuassembled kit in the box. I shook the box several times, but nothing happened. . -Kevin .
are you sure it wasn't one of those "just add water" kits?