I have been looking at the listings for Banta Modelworks wood structure kits at the Micro-Mark site.Can anyone tell me anything about the quality of these kits?
I love to build in wood but this is a brand I am completely un-familiar with.
Admittedly I haven't built one (yet) The are well known in the hobby as being very high quality craftsman structure kits with excellent instructions and detail. I have my eye on his Cimarron Mine #1
You may wish to ask this question on some other forums that are "geared" toward craftsman structure kits, here are a few.
http://www.railroad-line.com/
http://www.kitforums.com/
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
I do not remember if I have ever put a Banta kit together. I have seen their models at Springfield and they are quite nive. There are many small kit manufacturers that are not in the Walthers catalogue. Some include: Bollinger (done 4 or 5 of their kits), Stevens Creek, Sidetrack Laser, Mount Blue Models, Stella Scale Models, Railroad Kits. Also Main Street Heritage and Bethlehem Car Works, but they are styrene.
You can find their catalogues on Google.
I've assembled 3 or 4 of their On30 cab kits. They go together very well and everything fits right. I would highly recommend them!
I assembled one of their On30 saw filers' car kits, it fit on a Bachmann flat car. Generally nice kit, but there was some missing material for the roof and another area I don't recall. Had a few other problems with windows fitting. I was able to complete the kit using materials I had on hand. I send an e-mail to Banta indicating the problems I had, mostly to let them know the kit wasn't complete. I didn't want anything. Never heard back from them at all, no "sorry", nothing. Kinda diminished my appreciation for their efforts.
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/
I admit it's been 10 years since the original post, but I'd like to add my perspective.
I have built two different kits from Banta and I own several more that I will build in the coming years. I have been uniformly impressed with the quality and the fit of the two kits I've built so far (Gas Station #2109 and Monero Depot #2137). I have asked Bill for advice during both builds - once by email and once by phone. It took him several days to reply to my email, but he apologized and suggested - very gently - that it would be better to call him because it is too easy to let emails slide. When I called him on the phone (just a few days ago) he was very helpful and patient and talked me through several ways to solve my problem. THEN, when I screwed up the part job on a couple of the parts (three doors, to be precise) he sent me replacement parts and refused to let me pay for them.
I would not hesitate to recommend any of these kits. They are easy enough that they will serve as a first laser-cut kit, but detailed enough to look good on any layout. The instructions are clear and complete and well illustrated.