I realize there is a certain satisfaction that comes from working on a challenging kit or project. But, have you ever tackled a kit that the enjoyment just went away and it became just plain drugery trying to complete it? A friend of mine asked me to assemble about six Walthers 25' wooden cabooses for him. Each one of these has about 50 holes that need drilling in order to install all the grabirons and safety appliances. And then like most small parts these have a tendency to go flying off in some unknown direction. I have tried every trick I can think of ( magnifiers, tweezers, needle nose pliers, even a big magnet to try to find the pieces that have gotten away from me), and I still can't get them to go together smoothly. When the last one is done, NEVER AGAIN!!!. I would just as soon build a real caboose! So, anybody else have a kit or project they wouldn't want to do again?
Jim
Gotta agree with you on the Walthers cabooses. I bought a two-pack and did the first one, although the fingers were pretty tender by the time I got it done. I've yet to return to do the second one, but I'm sure I will eventually. It's just slipped down in my priority list, since I know how much work and discomfort is involved.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Some will mock the Ready-To-Runs, but when you have a frustrating kit RTR's can look very appealing!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I had to buy GCLaser's Icing Platform. I found myself struggling with all the little parts with my stubby fingers dropping pieces left/right/center---having issues with bubble level thinking"I must get it straight or I'm doomed thereby!"----it now sits amongst 'overgrown weeds and trees' another of those places that populate the deserted 'Kingsmill Spur' on my route----
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
For me it was the Keystone 2 truck shay with an NWSL powering kit. I finally gave up and the shay kit is back in its box and the powering kit components went on to power other models. It was assembling the trucks that pushed me over the edge. Has anyone out there succeeded with making one of these actually run?
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
One kit I gave up on because of it's poor fit was the McKean (I think) Centerbeam lumber-flat - it just did not seem to fit right, and to make it look anywhere good I thought would take too much work to be worth it. Hated wasting money, but I eventually just chucked it. To be fair, I read a number of messages on the web, and quite a few modelers stuck to it and got decent results - but they do indicate it was a bit of a bear to work with.
chutton01 One kit I gave up on because of it's poor fit was the McKean (I think) Centerbeam lumber-flat - it just did not seem to fit right, and to make it look anywhere good I thought would take too much work to be worth it. Hated wasting money, but I eventually just chucked it. To be fair, I read a number of messages on the web, and quite a few modelers stuck to it and got decent results - but they do indicate it was a bit of a bear to work with.
I tried one of these one time...and I agree completely with you. They were just not very well done. Another thing I found unsatisfactory was that the plastic seemed to be really brittle and cheap feeling. I think I snapped a part or two right in half trying to "make it work" haha.
Roundhouse 2 truck Shay. Even my engine builder/painter friend could not get it to run even close to reasonable.
Sold it at a big loss.
Another bad one was the GSB SD40-2. Won't do curves......
Gate 5
Athearn Blue Box boxcar!!
Ambroid 1 in 5000 (75'?) pulpwood flatcar. Almost all Northeastern milled strip and shapes, nearly all of which had to be cut to length, including some 3/64" L strips. When finished, with Kadee #5s and cast metal trucks, brass mesh decking, comes out a little over 1 1/4 ounce. Of course, the original Athearn (Globe) passenger cars were frustrating as well. Four sides, roof, and floor, and I never could find a glue that would hold everything together tight and square.
I will definitely chime in on the Walthers' caboose kits with the teeny, tiny grab-irons. After one of them, I gave up and for the next two Walthers' cabooses, just went with the Platinum (and frankly, I've got better Cabeese on the layout already.).
But as a guy who broke his modeling teeth with Athearn metal kits and their 3 gazillion pieces, Silver Streak and Ambroid wood kits that you had to assemble from plans that would make an Architect blink, I STILL say the most frustrating of the contemporary kits for me are the Proto 2000--even their "Time Saver" kits. And I've built innumerable Red Caboose and Intermountain detailed plastic kits with no problem. But there's something about those Proto 2000 kits--and I can't put my finger on it--that just drives me up the WALL!
Finally figured out that I really don't NEED them, they're not really necessary additions to my rolling stock. It's very easy to walk past them in my hobby shop, now. And I must not be alone, because the same kits sit there on the shelf month after month after month.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
A brass tender for my Bowser Challenger. I was soldering it [before CA], and when I heated it to join one piece, the previous solder joints came apart. I finally got a great model from it, but it would have been easier with three hands.
I built a Walthers Cornerstone City Station which closely resembles the station in my hometown, but it sure had a lot of timy parts and took more time than I expected.It came out looking great, but took a lot of time.I also started building a Cheyenne coal bunker kit, but set it aside.I have several bridge kits, 2 each Walthers Cornerstone double track truss bridge kits, and they have a LOT of parts!.I also have a Central Valley Warren single track 150 foot truss bridge that I can see is a time consuming kit.I just finished a Rix old style concrete highway overpass kitAnyone want to earn a free case of your favorite beer? I'll send you my kits, you put them together for me! LOL!What was I thinking when I bought these kits?
TheK4Kid
I remember the Walther's Difco Dump car when it was a kit being a pain in the butt with their snowplow being a close second. Mostly because the plastic wasn't working with any of my glues. Like the McKean Centerbeams, the plastic just kind of fought it off and they kept falling apart. But their hopper kits were awesome.
Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!
Phil;. I did get mine running years ago, when I had the patience. But it was, as I was telling my wife, the most unenjoyable 100 hours I ever spent enjoying myself. It ran great for a while, then has 'issues'. It was then parked on a siding, forever to rest.
Gary
Without question, Walters Modern Coaling Tower. Way two many tiny plastic parts for my ten thumbs. The main structure was a breeze but when it came to the coal chute assemblies, it was more than I could handle. It almost put me in the nuthouse. I managed to get the chutes themselves put together while using most of the Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television. When I got to the two piece pulley wheels and counterweights that had to be strung with a very uncooperative thread, I gave up. I left much of the fine detail off and just glued the coal chutes in a raised position. It was the only way I could save what was left of my sanity.
Well, I started reading this topic, and was thinking: "Okay, I have the 2-truck Shay (RTR, supposedly), several P2K boxcar and tanker kits, the Walthers 90' turntable kit, the Walthers ATSF wood caboose kit (haven't started on the grab irons yet...) - am I setting myself up for the looney bin?"
I may need to reconsider some of the items on my future purchases list, too... That, or do a lot of praying before I start these kits I have.
Jim in Cape Girardeau
I finally finished them. Unfortunately I lost or broke so many pieces that I had to use one kit just for extra parts. I guess I can order more parts to finish the 6th one. (Yeah Right, like that's gonna happen!!!!!!)
CadizRRfan Phil;. I did get mine running years ago, when I had the patience. But it was, as I was telling my wife, the most unenjoyable 100 hours I ever spent enjoying myself. It ran great for a while, then has 'issues'. It was then parked on a siding, forever to rest. Gary
Gary,
I'm glad to hear that you got yours to work, even if it developed issues later. I'm impressed with your patience.
I knew I was in trouble when the truck assembly instructions said "you just have to fiddle with it." There are really just two things I expect from a kit: All the parts and materials and instructions that tell me how to assemble the kit. "Fiddle with it" is not instructions. I fiddled for 2 days on one truck and I was getting nowhere; it had stopped being fun, so I packed it in. I can still assemble the Keystone kit as a static model, and I'll eventually get around to that (I'll paint it and put it on a walnut base, and use it as a decoration for my office).
Hi jecorbett
The Cheyenne coal bunker kit I started is the same way.I am attempting to put together two Walthersdouble track truss bridge kits, but the instructions seem to lack for clarity.I am trying to figure out now just how piece number 5 goes into place.Walthers makes nice kits, but the time ittakes to make these things I could use elsewhere.I wish this is one structure they'd offer assembled and ready to use.
twhite I STILL say the most frustrating of the contemporary kits for me are the Proto 2000--even their "Time Saver" kits. And I've built innumerable Red Caboose and Intermountain detailed plastic kits with no problem.
It is interesting how two different people can have different opinions, or maybe I should say different frustration levels, with the same thing. I've built at least a half-dozen of the P2K covered hoppers (the original kits, not the time saver) and had no problems. My opinion of these is that they are one of the few well thought out plastic kits where everything fits correctly. Best of all you can find them at train shows for around $6 because nobody else wants them. On the other hand, I built one of the Intermountain covered hoppers and was a lot more frustrated. I think the difference has to do with the level of detailing...there were a lot more of the miniature parts that I though would have been better served to have been cast on. I also built a number of those reefers that Long's Hardware used to sell for a friend. I think these were also Intermountain. Boy, what a pain in the posterior those were.
Now, the P2K tank cars were another story. I built a bunch of them for another friend. These were not easy, primarily because some of the grab irons and rails could not be glued from the inside. One of these days I'll master the task of getting the solvent cement to flow from the minature brush tip to the joint, rather than up the handle.
For me it was the Westerfield kits with the graphite castings. The castings were very brittle and easily damaged. I also found the Westerfield instructions very difficult to follow. Fortunately Westerfield provided photos of different phases of assembly which help me figure the kit out. Westerfield decided to cast the parts in resin which is less prone to damage.
I am extremly glad that a stuck it out with the Westerfield kits. I have 100 Westerfield freight cars and I am very please with how they looked. I also found it very fullfilling to assemble these fine kits.
My advice to anyone who has given up on Westerfield kits is keep trying, they become easier to assemble as time goes on.
shayfan84325 For me it was the Keystone 2 truck shay with an NWSL powering kit. I finally gave up and the shay kit is back in its box and the powering kit components went on to power other models. It was assembling the trucks that pushed me over the edge. Has anyone out there succeeded with making one of these actually run?
YOU TOO???
Same for me, Keystone 2 truck Shay in HOn30... AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!
Anyone who thinks the old MDC/Roundhouse Shay kit was a PITA to put together hasnt got a clue to the true meaning of that phrase. Imagine building the easy by comparison MDC Shay, only its in white metal, and getting all the white metal parts to stick togetherm then getting all the metal moving parts together without sticking, then while your trying to unstick those stuck moving parts, having all the parts that are supposed to stick together not...AAACCCKK!!!
I think this model was the straw that broke the camels back for me in HOn30, I walked away from this scale in frustration a short time after putting all this POS kit back into the closet.
Have fun with your trains
I can't quite remember the company that put this devilish little piece out but it is/was a caboose kit that has wires that you had to form into stirrups, handrails and such----I got the thing together and I put it away----far far away in my storage closet---the handrails look like they've been put into knots and straightened a few too many times-----
No one has mentioned the Roundhouse "TankTrain" tank cars. I can't even get the handrailsnout of the support sprues in one piece. Anyone know the secret to building these things?
The P2K covered hoppers are fine by me. They need a really flat work surface (I use a sheet of plate glass), good light, good music and time but they make a great model... and, as has been said, you can get them really cheap because people are scared of them.
Shayfan and VS smith,
I built a MDC 2 truck Shay, and a MDC 3 truck Shay. These were kind of fun to build and tweek them just right to get them to run good. I did purchase a a Keystone a few years back off ebay, don't ask what I paid for it. It included the powering kit and I was eager to get moving on it once I sat at the work bench. After about 10 hours of pulling my hair out over the trucks, I gave in and put everything back in the box. When I am feeling bored I dig out this kit and tinker with it. It is a tough one!
Do they even make the Keystone Shay with the powering kit still?
ICRR
The John English Yard Bird engine kit was not so bad, but the valve gear kit was a challenge and the superdetailing kit was a bit much and putting a sound and an engine decoder in it with lights was also too much. It still awaits a paint job, but it runs. I started this in 1950 and finished it last month. I will not get another one finished.
For me it was the JL Innovative water tower. The legs are made from strip-wood. Each of the little cross members was cut by hand. This was before I had invested in a Chopper II. Some months after I completed this I met Chris from JL at a trains show and mentioned that I had built this. He said that they discontinued the kit years ago because everyone complained about the complexity. His words were "You actually built that?" in a somewhat incredulous tone.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum