C-WW The good news about the Labelle line staying around raises a question for me. How difficult are craftsman kits to assemble and yield a good quality model? By craftsman kits I'm thinking Labelle, Westerfield, F&C, AMB, etc. I might be using the wrong term. I've looked at what's available from Labelle and Westerfield, but I haven't taken the plunge yet. I've built a good number of plastic kits with very good results - armor, aircraft, ships, and trains (particularly N scale Intermountain, DPM, and Fine N Scale). Just wondering if I should start out with something else before jumping into resin and wood kits. A lot of these models look great and more tempting with the availability of good, reasonably priced steam in HO. Thanks "Look Ahead, Look South" [ March 29, 2006, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: watash ]
At the risk of seeming biased (I'm not, really), I would suggest that if you have the background that you seem to have, you should be able to handle either type of kit with little problem. They are both different from plastic and require slightly different skills and approaches to be successful. With wood, sealing the wood before gluing and painting would seem to be best. This is different from working with plastic. However, as someone else said elsewhere, there is nothing that looks quite so much like wood, than wood. No, I have never built an all wood kit, but I certainly have worked with wood and cardstock with success. [ 23 May 2001: Message edited by: rhensley_anderson ]
Thanks for the info. I'm going to take a shot at an AMB caboose kit (wood) and a Westerfield kit (ventilated boxcar) just to try things out. If it doesn't work, I'm not out much!
I've built many old Ambroid kits (regular and "One of Five Thousand")-similar to LaBelle- and have found them to be challenging but certainly not beyond the capabilities of most intermediate to advanced modlers. There's very little metal in these kits, usually end beam castings, hand rails, detail parts, etc. The end results can be quite rewarding and you will have a car that is somewhat unique and close to scratch built.
Another real good Craftsman line of kits is the Laser Kit line. I have NEVER had a caboose kit go together so well and easy. These are a very inovative kit that uses a peel and stick method of construction. You use almost no glue in the construction! Cant waite till they bring out that N&W caboose .....Mike
