Hi All
My first ever Red Caboose kit came in the mail yesterday. The only reason I purchased this kit is to properly size coal loads as I have had customers asking for them. Anyway, I decided to put this kit together to see what it is like. As I was puting it together I noticed that there is a pocket for a steel weight, but there is no weight. I see there is a note in the kit that you can purchase one for a price from them. I don't understand why they don't include it in the kit. For the price that the kits cost and the cost of the material I would think it would be included. Just a small rant and not intending for this to become a bashing thread.
Dan Pikulski
www.DansResinCasting.com
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I bought a RTR Red Caboose GS gondola and there was no weight in it either. After checking other Red Caboose GS cars(RTR and kit), I found that no weight was included. A real pain when the car was already assembled............
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
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
I enjoy building the Red Caboose kits, although they are a bit pricey. I usually wait until I can find them marked down, usually because the roadnames aren't all that popular around here. I picked up 5 undecorated X-29 boxcars and 6 undecorated gondolas, at different stores, for less than $10.00 apiece. I had a lot of fun building them, replacing the steps and grabs with metal parts, and painting them. I used sheet lead in the gondolas; it was just the right thickness for the space meant for the steel weight. I sold four of the gondolas, which paid for all seven kits, plus a bit extra for me!
Wayne
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehman wrote:BTW, RC kit orders have fallen off to the point where many runs now face the possibility of being only available RTR. This doesn't bother me.
I have RC kits I still haven't built and find a way to buy the new RTR stuff I need. Time is money and even those of us who like to build kits don't have enough time to build all we need for the roster.
So those who find a need to bash them for an at best minor issue will can soon complain about not being able to get a kit at all.
some interesting comments here. Again, I was not trying to bash Red Caboose as I do like assembling kits, in fact, I find it kind of relaxing. As I did start this kit the other night, and it is my first one, I do have some observations. I do like that the instructions include a schematic of the part placement on the trees (sprues). This makes locating parts much easier. The instructions could be a bit better in regards to the placement of some of the parts. It took me a while to figure out how the long bars fit into the bottom of the gon. A sharp single edge razor is a must to get the brake rigging off of the trees. I could not get my nippers in to cut these with out bending the parts and experience tells me I would have broken the parts if I used them. I also found that I need to drill out the grab iron holes. This is a common practice of mine anyway on any kit I build. As an experienced kit builder and scratch builder I am estimating the time I can complete this kit will be closer to 4 hours actual time. Being this is my first kit I am sure I could get the time down to 2 hours or less on any subsequent kit. The weight issue was just something of a small surprise. I would figure that a kit that is retailing in the $20.00 range would have the weight included. Every kit I ever purchased before has always had a weight that was included and packaged in a way that did not hurt the kit. I did find in the kit a sheet explaining how to order the weight (for a cost + shipping). Fortunatly I have access to material that I can use for a weight if I ever decide to run this car on my layout.
doctorwayne wrote: I used sheet lead in the gondolas; it was just the right thickness for the space meant for the steel weight. Wayne
I used sheet lead in the gondolas; it was just the right thickness for the space meant for the steel weight.
When using sheet lead take health precautions. Wash your hands thoroughly after touching the lead. I generally seal the lead thoroughly in multiple coats of acrylic paints so that in the future when i touch the car I won't touch the bare lead.
Several model railroaders have suffered brain damage from handling too much lead and switched to slot cars. Don't let this happen to you.
The Adair weights are in the Walthers catalog and make a good choice. I think they are a safe material, too.
By the way one reason why Red Caboose might leave out the weight, in addition to shipping costs, is that if the weight gets loose in box it can cause damage to delicate parts. I have seen this happen with other makes of kits where the weight was not properly secured. Also lots of their target market build kits without weights because they are solely intended to show at these prototype modeler meets, not actually run on a layout (where the many delicate after market parts they add would fall off). Having the weight might cost them brownie points at these meets, which are in theory not "competitive" but in actuality are extremely so. It's like high school popularity all over again!
Dave Nelson
kog1027 wrote: One thing I've discovered in dealing with the more delicate castings on sprues is to make select cuts in the main body of the sprue itself. This reduces the pressure later on when using cutters or blades to free up the castings. Mark Gosdin
I also do the same. I will cut away as much of the sprue around the part as I can so when I cut the part out I am actually just removing the gates from the part itself. I learned this trick when I put together my first Proto 2000 kit.
dknelson wrote:By the way one reason why Red Caboose might leave out the weight, in addition to shipping costs, is that if the weight gets loose in box it can cause damage to delicate parts.
Also lots of their target market build kits without weights because they are solely intended to show at these prototype modeler meets, not actually run on a layout (where the many delicate after market parts they add would fall off).
Having the weight might cost them brownie points at these meets, which are in theory not "competitive" but in actuality are extremely so. It's like high school popularity all over again!