Hi , I just tried to complete the walthers overhead crane model #933-3102, I have been buiklding these models for years , the most recent one I just purchase is a total nightmare. the plastic molding is so cheap it is extremely difficult to try and work with, the quality of the model in general is very poor, the instruction sheet is skimpy at best, what is going on with todays quality of models? I have had bad series of models in the past, but its getting worst, the manufacturing quality is a 1 out of 10 at best. The kit I recieved had no part ID on any of the sprus the legs were so warpped I spend an hour trying to straighten them, the bridge crane is extremely poor quality . are others noticing this trend in poorly made models?
I have not really noticed a trend in the quality of models. I do get an occasional bummer, but not very often. Mostly I am impressed with the quality of newer plastic kits overall.
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I do not have any experience with the specific model you are describing.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
To be fair to today's models, I think that that molding is like 30 years old. They've been making that kit at least since 1991. I've noticed some older Walthers production had fit issues that newer ones don't have. For instance, I put together a Merchants Row 1 that had severely warped walls and that kit dates to the same period. But had no troubles with the handful of others that were post 2010 releases.
johnnyshiloh,This particular model has always had problems with warping. I had similar troubles with the first one I ever bought and that was when I was still in high school...and I graduated in 1993. I have used that same kits in the new box at my club, and they still have the same problems they had 25 years ago.
Relax. There's no worsening of kit quality. If anything, it is far better than it was with new tooling kits. The pegs are better, there's less flashing, parts line up more often, less elbow grease is required to make things fit, instructions are more detailed, parts aren't as warped, etc. However, old tooling kits are still just that...old. #933-3102 was tooled back when Athearn boxcar kits cost just $4.00. Detail and quality is lacking compared to modern kits (ones tooled in this century), but it can be made into decent model. That and it's only $20 (which is $11.25 in 1991 dollars). I would not expect a high quality kit for $20 these days.
I had similar complaints about that kit when I built one for a friend, the main problem being that the moulds weren't properly aligned, so almost all surfaces with parting lines required extensive sanding or filing to get a reasonable appearance.On the whole, though, I think that today's kits are much better-done, with less or no flash, little or no apparent parting lines, and very good detail. I recently assembled several tank car kits from Tangent, and not only were the parts flash-free, but the kits were well-engineered for ease of assembly. The moulded styrene steps at the corners are, to me, a wonder of injection moulding, with steps and the angled braces all done as a single casting - exquisite!
Wayne
For comparison's sake to today's models, I have recently been trying to assemble a Robins Rails PS-1 50' double door boxcar from 1985 (according to the directions):Page 1:http://hoseeker.net/robinrails/robinrails50ps1boxcarpg1.jpgPage 2:http://hoseeker.net/robinrails/robinrails50ps1boxcarpg2.jpg
What a piece of junk, and a great example of the terrible tooling (and directions) from the "good old days".
For starters, note that there's no drawings or text showing the proper locations for any brake gear (consisting of an air tank, triple valve, and air cylinder). From personal experience, I can tell you that there is only one mounting hole for all three items (for the cylinder). Nice! There was a bracket for the triple valve, but there was no hole for it. The air tank? No mounts at all (I had to epoxy it to the metal weight). I had to use a Kadee PS-1 50' box to located the air tank.
The slots in the boxcar body for the door tracks were full of flashing. It all had to be trimmed out with a blade. Also, please note that the directions show only the single door car; my kit is for the double door. The door runners are different from the single door (both kinds were included), and the tops are different from the bottoms (neither is indicated in the directions).
None of the grab irons fit in any of the holes (all have to be drilled out). The ladders use tiny nubs for locating pins (which dissolved when glue was applied), but the bottom pins had no corresponding holes to go in to. One of the end ladder upper mounting holes had not been molded properly, so I had to trim off that pin.
The handbrake housing had four pins but only three holes.
The floor was so warped that I had to epoxy the steel weight to it, then put a heavy weight on top of that to get it to lay flat.
The roofwalk has twin nubs that grip and hold to each roofwalk bracket...but none of them were wide enough to do so. I had to pick out the plastic with a chisel blade.
The car is extremely underweight, and one of the plastic wheels that came with it was mis-molded with a flat spot and a messed up flange.
But the real kicker? There was only one, yes one, coupler pocket! They had managed to mis-mold the underframe so poorly that one coupler pocket didn't get any plastic in the mold. I lopped off the misshaped end of the frame and screwed on a Kadee box with two shims.
So please tell me again how much better it was in the old days in this hobby.
I built one of their 50' single door boxcars, and while it was a bit crude by todays standards, it went together fairly well and was easy to upgrade with metal parts where they were more appropriate (durable) - mostly grab irons and sill steps. I don't use kit-supplied plastic grab irons, no matter how well-formed they might be, as they seldom survive the frequent handling mine get.When I backdated my layout and sold-off all of my too-modern equipment, that was supposedly one of the first picked (according to the owner of the store where they were offered) and I got roughly four times what I originally payed for the kit. My contributions were Kadees, some finer details, and a pretty-good weathering job. Sorry, but I don't have a photo - couldn't afford the film to take photos of everything that I sold at that time.
Like Paul3 said, the overhead crane kit can be built into a decent model. Not saying the build was a picnic, but even with the flaws it filled my bill and I considered it a bargain.
There is no trend in poorly made models that I can see. Putting together a kit with good fit and finish is a pleasure, but on the other hand I find meeting the challenge of a tough build to be enlightening, even when the results are far less than perfect.
Good luck and Regards, Peter
Just tonight I was trying to finish up a Walthers 51 foot Evans gon kit from 25 years ago or so.
It has "snap on" coupler box covers with a pin instead of a screw hole. Trying to drill the peg in the coupler box for a screw deformed the peg and will require cutting the peg off completely and drilling and tapping the coupler box itself and using a Kadee box lid to get a peg.Those old Walthers car kits had the worst coupler boxes in the world, and I don't miss them.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
Hi Michael:
There is a jig available from Micro Mark that is designed to get the screw hole in the right spot. It is designed for Athearn cars but it might work in your case too. If you are planning on doing a bunch of cars it might be worth considering.
https://www.micromark.com/Bulls-Eye-Drill-Jig
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
My favourite models come with very rudimentary plans if any, and I usually have to buy the couplers separately. In fact, I have to buy everything separately!
It's called scratchbuilding and the only mistakes are the ones I make on my own!
That overhead crane would be interesting to scratch build. It's basically all straight pieces. It would take some time, but at least you wouldn't have to waste any time straightening warped castings or filing off mold marks. The downside of course is that it might cost a little more than $20.00 if you didn't have any supplies on hand to start with.
I have one of the A-Line coupler drilling jigs. Trouble is the peg is so thin in the coupler box that drilling it expands it to the point where the coupler jams.
Is the peg on the coupler cover, like older Accurail cars, or in the coupler box, like on an Athearn Blue Box car? For a cover with a peg, slice off the peg with a #17 or #18 chisel-type blade, then drill using a #42 drill (clearance size for a 2-56 screw). If there's sufficient material in the portion in the coupler box that would have accepted the peg, drill it out with a #50 bit. You can then tap it if you wish, but a 2-56 machine screw will cut its own threads in styrene.If the peg is in the coupler box, or the peg on the cover but the portion of the box meant to accept it is too small to accept a suitable screw, remove the coupler boxes from the underframe and replace them with the Kadee couplers and draught gear of your choice.Here's a Proto kit-built boxcar which I received that was partially (and very sloppily) built. There were no couplers installed, so I modified the press-on box cover, as described above. The cover was fairly thin, but I was able to partially countersink it for the screwhead by using a hand-held #19 drill bit...
Another press-in cover, on a Tichy tank car, converted to a screw (an odd size, perhaps metric, that was available at the time)...
...another Tichy...
Here's a Train Miniature floor and frame assembly with the stock coupler boxes removed and replaced with screwed-on Kadee #5s...
These were done with Kadees because I cut the cars' frames just inboard of the bolsters, then rotated the bolster sections to re-locate the bolsters slightly closer to the ends of the cars. This better replicates the truck spacing on prototype X-29 boxcars...
Here's a supposed no-no...gluing the coupler box to the car...
Never had any drop off when attached this way, and if the coupler itself failed in some way, the box would likely be destroyed during removal...simple to replace with a new one.
There are other possibilities available to deal with particular situations, but most involve using smaller screws.
I bought my Overhead Traveling Crane kit in the 1990s from a retail store. I don’t recall having any problems with it but I can tell you that nothing made in China can compare to the quality of most German made products. This kit did have some parts which were somewhat fragile because they are so thin because they tried to be the correct scale size. I broke handrails while trying to assemble it but that is not unheard of because they are so thin. You didn’t say how long ago you bought your kit or where it was purchased from. You might have bought a kit which was ‘new old stock’ meaning that it sat around somewhere for several years before you bought it. Chances are that it was warped over time possibly due to the fact that the packaging was minimal and didn’t really protect the contents especially if it had a heavier object sitting on top of it or was stored in a hot location. Sorry you had trouble. You should have exchanged it for another one.
Silly me, I forgot to paint one side of some of the legs. I never noticed it in person but the pictures don't lie.