Over the summer I built six wooden laser kits: a train-order office, four speeder/tool sheds, and a combination depot. All are modeled on SP prototypes. Since I’m emulating the SP, they were painted in SP colors. Railroads had standard paint schemes so there was often a family resemblance among their structures.
Mark
Very nice work Mark! What company’s kits are they?
Matt
Thanks… The combination depot is by Sidetrack Laser (sidetracklaser.com) and the remainder by AL&W (alwlines.com).
My kit critiques.
Arbuckle Depot
The kit makes a good-looking model that goes together well. The following are my constructive criticisms.
The instructions say to install the roof shingles before applying the roof-edge trim. However, the shingles should cover the top edge of the trim, so the trim should be installed first and the shingles applied over it. I needed to apply an extra row of shingles to cover the lower edge trim so ran out of shingles.
The instructions say to use a square 8x8 for the roof peak. This, however, shows the top row of shingles unprototypically connected. I’m going to use 2x6 and 2x8 pieces of stripwood overlapped to cover the peak and the connective shingle material.
A couple of the side trim pieces were a bit short so I needed to use stripwood cut to the correct length. It would be better if the trim pieces are lasered a bit long, with the modeler trimming them as needed.
For the platform, the instructions say to apply the horizontal pieces first, and then the vertical pieces between them. Instead, I applied the top horizontal pieces, then the vertical pieces, and finally the bottom horizontal pieces, assuring tight fits with the vertical trim.
Instructions don’t appear to cover the fitting of any trim of the freight platform ends where the stairs are located. I used a bit of stripwood to cover the vertical edge of one end on the side of the operator’s bay.
I find construction is easier if (1) wood is painted before taking parts from the sheets, with touch-up painting done as needed as construction progresses, (2) windows are installed before “raising” the walls, (3) all under-roof details installed before completing the roof details (shingles and chimney) since working with the model upside down could damage the details. Also, if instructions calling for shingling the main roof were before shingling the operator’s bay, the shingle trim pieces would have been ava