I suppose I am a masochist, but I love those old Arbour Models kits. I have been building a C&O Kanawha now for some time. I finally found the detail kit for this engine, which is pretty hard to find. I would like to know if anyone can direct me to a source of locating some of the kits I do not have. I need the detail kit for the NKP Berkshire and have been trying to find kits for the PRR J1 and C&O T1. As most of you steam fans know, the PRR and C&O engines are very similar as well as the C&O K4 and the NKP Berk. If there are any other Arbour fans out there, I would like to hear from you. Yes, I build Bowser kits, but the Arbour kits, no longer made, offer a real challenge. Thanks!
I like to build MDC kits, but I have always wanted to try one of the Arbour kits. I haven't tried one yet because of all of the bad reviews I hear about them. Are they aSs bad as they say they are? Have you ever got one to run or do you just display them?
Hello, coal train! I suppose what you hear about any kit is sort of reflective of the skill level of the person who is looking at it. I would put Arbour Models kits pretty much at the top of the need for a lot of assembly skills. They are pretty basic, the K4 I have pretty much matches the dimensions and layout of the brass K4 I have, but there was a lot of work left for the builder to do. You need files, drills, various adhesives, soldering tools and know how to use them with low temp metals, and some scratchbuliding supplies--- and skills. Arbour gave you the basics and you took it from there. To a person who had not much experience with such requirements, they would look pretty "bad". But as one who has rescued a lot of basket cases: plastic, brass and cast metal, they represent quite a challenge to me. I do need to add that I have worked 35 years as a pipe organ technician and many of the skills that go with that profession are very helpful in model railroading. In our modern society, I doubt that there are many who want to devote the time and patience to such kits which probably explains why they are no longer in business. Bowser makes very good kits which are a bit easier to assemble and will make a creditable model, if not superdetailed, with a lot less effort than the Arbour Models kits. The only problem with Bowser is that they only offer a limited variety of prototypes, mostly PRR, and you are pretty much limited to those. I would love to see them offer some Western roads, such as the AT&SF Northerns, SP Cab Forwards, D&RGW narrow gauge engines (Roundhouse has some of these) and others. But I would imagine that tooling for such new offerings would be very expensive and they would have to know that the sales would cover the cost of such a new product. If you want to tackle an Arbour kit, you first need to find one, they pop up on eBay occasionally, and then take a deep breath, follow others advice on this site, and work slowly, carefully and know when to put it down and go do something else. I hope this rambling report is of some help. Oh, yes, I do plan to run my K4 when it is done, and double-head it with my brass K4 and see if anyone can tell the difference from a distance. Good luck with your modeling! Fred W.
In 1949 , when these cast whitemetal kits were first produced, Winton made the molds and sold them. You might search for Winton models, since they made them for 15-20 years before they were passed on to others. This would increase your chances of getting one, and the castings would be in better shape. They were all essentially, C&O prototypes originally, and include a badly fitted "Allegheny". Along with some early cast bronze Varney locos, this is about the physically heaviest 'HO' scale loco you will ever encounter. With modern power train from locomotion , or similar, they will pull more cars then any of us own. I know Winton never made a Pennsylvania RR prototype, and someone else later made a 'J-1' cab to tack on the C&O 'T-1' that otherwise was same loco without disc type drivers. Whoever got the dies from Winton, added a couple of small locos of earlier prototypes , before selling them to what became Arbour.
Hello Fred W. I inherited a partially assembled 2-8-4 Kanawha kit from my father that I want to complete. Problem is the instructions are lost. I could probably make it through except for the valve gear. He had assembled the boiler/cab, pilot and chassis. Any idea where I can get a copy of the instructions? I have previously built Bowser 4-6-2 and 4-6-6-4 , Hobbytown Diesels and MDC (Roundhouse) 4-4-2, 2-8-0 and Shay. The Berkshire is a beautiful kit, but, I understand the care required to build it. I contacted Bowser for instructions, but, they said this kit was so wrought with problems that they abandoned it to the point that they do not have any of the instructions.
