Hello I have F&C Jones & Laughtin 20,000 gallon steel coal tar tank car, and I am having difficulty assembling the under body. The instructions are poor at best, and F&C has been no help. Has anyone had success building this kit? Pictures?????? please. Thank you for your time.
Hi, F&C are craftsman kits, and are designed to be a step up from scratchbuilding. They require significant work to be assembled, and many details are left up to the builder to customize. Much of the assembly is unfortunately up to the user to interpretate. Its a very time consuming yet rewarding kit to assemble, however if done improperly can yield hours of frustration.
While I havent built the exact tank car you mentioned, I have built a handful of F&C kits. What exactly are you having issues with? Parts not aligning? Gluing? etc.
I built some F&C PRR Flatcars recently, here's a post to show how they turned out, in case it helps: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWUmX_urhiy/
Good luck!
Charles
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Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb3FRqukolAtnD1khrb6lQ
Instagram (where I share projects!): https://www.instagram.com/trainman440
The only F&C kit I've built was perhaps one or two steps beyond a snap-together kit...a very easy project....
banjobenne1Hello I have F&C Jones & Laughtin 20,000 gallon steel coal tar tank car, and I am having difficulty assembling the under body. The instructions are poor at best, and F&C has been no help. Has anyone had success building this kit? Pictures?????? please. Thank you for your time.
It might help us to help you if you could share some photos of what you've got and show us the point at which you're having difficulties.
Wayne
I built mine using a frame made by extending two Athearn Blue Box tank car frames.
I could not figure out the frame in the kit. I have built lots of resin kits, but this one stumped me, and I found a work-around.
If Imgur straightens out I will post pictures.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I purchased a pair of the PRR gun flats many moons ago. Like you the drawing of the underside looked like one of those ink blot pictures a shrink would show you. I emailed F&C and they were kind enough to send me a PDF drawing. It was much clearer and able to magnify. I may still have it on my old laptop. Why they won't help you is beyond me. They were very nice to deal with and talking with them at train shows seem open and honest.
Let me know if you would like me to find that PDF. The old laptop is a win 98 machine that hasn't been used in years.
Pete.
banjobenne1Has anyone had success building this kit? Pictures??????
There was a thread in regards to this car back in 2021:
https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/288373.aspx
While my F&C resin kit is still in the box I did pick up a few brass models of the same car. As others have asked, what exactly is troubling you?
Harshaw_coal-tar-tank-b by Edmund, on Flickr
There were two independent A-B brake systems on these cars.
Regards, Ed
Imgur is working again.
These pictures show how I did it with the Athearn Blue Box tank car frames.
-Photographs by Kevin Parson
Kind of crude, but it got the job done. I can do this because I am freelancing that car as a GERN (airdrop emulsified lightweight liquid flux) tank car when it gets painted.
I built a couple of them several years ago. I don't recal having problems with the frames. Unfortunatly I do not have them any more as someone was willing to pay me way more than they were worth to me. If you have any in-progress pics maybe they will jog my memory.
Dan
Posting pictures looks way too complicated for me.
banjobenne1 Posting pictures looks way too complicated for me.
Rich
Alton Junction
Again—
gmpullmanAs others have asked, what exactly is troubling you?
With or without photos it would still help to know what part of the assembly is giving you trouble.
Draft gear? Brake linkage? Framework? End sills and/or steps? Grab irons, handrails?
More information is better than less.
Good Luck, Ed