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.
TheK4Kid
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
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).
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
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!!!!!!)
Jim
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
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.
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!!!
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?
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 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!
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.
Athearn Blue Box boxcar!!
Gate 5
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......
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.
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.
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?
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/
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.
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
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?