An old, old Kurtz Kraft PS-1 Boxcar Kit that originally cost only .79 cents! These kits were first produced in 1956! They are still considered road worthy and well detailed, although there are some minor inaccuracies.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4988375672/
Here we've added weight inside the boxcar in order to bring the boxcar up to NMRA weight standards. This weight standard is 4 1/2 oz total weight for completed car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4987775291/in/photostream/
We used Kadee couplers on this car. Car is also assembled with wire stirrup steps, wire grab irons, and wire roof grabs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4987775359/in/photostream/
Underneath, the car is assembled with wire brake rigging and Walthers Bettendorf trucks with metal wheelsets.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4988375966/in/photostream/
Here is the boxcar before we weather it and add a dull coat. Meanwhile, we have painted it and added decals.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4987775553/in/photostream/
Here is what it looks like when we finish underneath the car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4987775687/in/photostream/
Finished boxcar. It has been weathered and dull coated with paperwork on tackboards. This car is assigned to salt cake (sodium sulfate) loading. This substance is used in the manufacturing of detergents, glass, ceramic glazes, and dyes. No prototype existed for this Trona Railway boxcar, but the creator thought it would make a great "What If" car.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferroequinologist1/4987775781/in/photostream/
.
The Ferroequinologist layoutconcepts@yahoo.com eBay store: Backshop Train & China Store Facebook: Model Trains, Train Sets, Buildings & Layout Concepts
Is/was this the same company that made the Kurtz Kraft walk around memory throttle? I bought it at least 20 years ago.
Yes indeed the Kurtz Kraft cars with their separate grab irons, doors, and side ladders hold up reasonably well even by today's stanards. Cannonball Car Shops reissued those cars and kept them in the catalog until just a few years ago - you are more likely to run into a CCS version than an original K-K. The packaging for the original cars was simply a plastic bag with paper instructions. There were no trucks and, if memory serves, not even dummy couplers. They offered some interesting paint schemes. They were a steal at 79 cents back in the day.
If very carefully assembled the K-K cars built up into a very nice looking model. We did not have the cements and glues that we do now.
They had the "problem" if you want to call it that, that they called for a certain degree of skill to assemble, and when those cars were introduced so many of the modelers who possessed that degree of skill were vehemently anti-plastic. Maybe "patience" is the better word than skill. There were a number of efforts to introduce the notion of craftsman/plastic kits. Roller Bearing Models comes to mind; Silver Streak/Golden Spike had some nice plastic reefer kits. I think they all had this issue that they were a bit advanced for the Athearn/MDC kit builder but the modelers who could easily have done a great job with them were often in a "I won't permit plastic in the house" mood.
Dave Nelson
trainman 6446: I am not sure about the throttle but I know the company made a variety of products.
DAVE: I found the kit easy to assemble. I have done a number of the craftsman urethane kits and they are more difficult to assembly compared to the Kurtz Kraft Kits. A few months ago I bought a number of the up graded Cannonball Car Shops PS-1's that were from the molds of the former KK kits. I plan to get some more. You get two kits per plastic bag for $10.00. Hard deal to beat! I enjoy this type of kit, I wish more of us would get back to this basic skill.
I see no pictures...mh
Just looked at the photos. looks like an intermountian kit. details may be slightly thick, but for a layout car it would fit right in. where did you find it?
Trainman6446: I found the Kurtz Kraft kit on ebay, real cheap.
m horton: To get the pix go to the Flicker site, its on the post. Im had a great deal of difficuty posting the pix on the forum.
Many, many mooms ago there used to be a place in New York called IHC Hobby and they sold these occassionally for 49 cents each, circa early 1960's.
I used to buy them like crazy as they were beautiful cars at the time. well thought out and very "cheap", must have bought at least a hundred or so of them. Installed Kadee couplers and Kadee trucks on them and my Dad and I used to joke that we had more invested in the trucks and couplers than we did in the cars!! That being said my Dad has long since passed on and they are now on my layout, still looking almost as good as any of the new stuff on there, I have considered swapping out the ladders and grab irons for newer ones but they don't look that bad and unless you're a "rivit counter" there is no problem.
As someone said, the mentality then was "no plastic" and yet here they are 50 years later and still doing what they were designed to do in 1960, wish that could be said for more things.
I still see them occasionally at train shows and usually pick them up possible. It's hard to justify giving $10 for one when I used to get them for 49 cents each, just sounds funny, although I realize that in today's market that's a bargain.
Mark
Many thanks everyone for the info regarding Kurtz Kraft rolling stock kits. A few months ago I was given a plastic storage container of '50's HO kits of all kinds, including six Kurtz Craft kits. I've started to put one of these kits together. They're well made kits - certainly on a par with any of today's non-superdetailed kits that I've recently put together. On a side-note, the price printed on the instruction sheet is 89 cents, and Kurtz Kraft's address is listed as P.O. Box 846, Redwood City, California.
I also tried to assemble this kit. In 1957, I think it was a miraculous product that fused knowledge of prototypes, models, and toolings. I posted some other images on my blog. 4623
Kotaro Kuriu
I have some of these that I have thought of cutting down to make a 10' interior height car. There were a lot of Pullman Standard boxcar with that dimension. The flat kit would be easier to work with.
I also keep hoping that Kadee will do them.
Mark Vinski