how easy are american model builder caboose kits to build? i am thinking of getting one of their 33’ CGW offset wood caboose kits.
I have six of them to build for the SAL. I’ve had these for years from when they were first released and every time I open one of them up I get goose bumps - I’m frightened of them[:O]
I don’t believe that they are an easy build at all so I will slowly sell most of them off - no sense in flooding the market with these things[sigh]
To be fair though, I don’t actually know how difficult they are to build either. But you will likely get more sense out of less timid modelers than me[%-)]
Bruce[:)]
Here’s my experience with AMB caboose kits:
I’ve only built one, but I found it to be a fairly easy build. the trick is to take your time and follow the instructions. Most of the trim/detail work on it is peel-and-stick, so you don’t have to worry about holding a piece in place and applying glue. I think the hardest part was the cupola, but even that went together fairly easily. All the parts are engineered well enough that everything fits together well. All you have to do is follow the instructions, and you’ll have a nice caboose! [:)]
I have both CGW ones and an M&StL,got the trucks and the ladder kits and there it stopped.!
I’ve had them a good few years but I shifted my modelling to the East Coast roads-I suppose I may get round to building them,as stated,they look pretty easy;I always wondered if you should paint before assembling or after.
Steve
I built the NP kit, and I can only agree with Arjay1969. I even did some “kitbashing” and changed the roofwalk configuration slightly to match a particular prototype caboose. They do take a little time and effort, but the results are well worth it, and the increased model-building skills are more than worth the cost of the kit. Take the plunge and you will be pleased!
citylimits, that goes for you too!
Tom
How do you define “easy”? It all depends on your model-making skills. It is lots more than the car-in-an-evening plastic kit.
These kits aren’t particularly difficult if (1) you’ve already successfully built a simple wooden lazer kit, (2) know how to paint and apply decals, and (3) can install and perhaps fabricate handrails and handgrabs. These kits take several evenings over a couple of weeks to complete, particularly because of the painting and decal application is a multi-step process that can only be done over a period of time to allow for paint, decal, and clear-coat applications to set and dry. It would be challenging if you lacked such skills, but one can’t learn the skills without attempting.
Mark
I remember that build, because I helped!!!
At the time, an officer with the UTU would work down to Hearne as a conductor; during his layover, he would visit my hobby shop. One of the things he did was make pen and pencil holders; which included a base, a section of roadbed, and a locomotive/caboose. Somehow he talked me into building/detailing GP38-2 dummies for his pen holders. He gave them to railroad officials as gifts. He was going to arrange for a cab ride for me (never happened, btw…)
As I recall; Robert and I detailed up a GP38-2 and an AMB wooden SP caboose for a railroad president (Robert Krebs maybe???) who had started his career as a trainman on the SP. Robert did most of the work on the caboose, and I did a lot of the work on the GP38-2. It ended up looking pretty good.
We also did a project that ended up on the desk of the president of the BN and the UP as well.
I took pictures, but they did not do justice to the work, mainly Robert’s…
I’ve built a couple of ACL-prototype cabooses in HO scale.
They were not “easy” if Athearn shake-the-box kits are “easy;” but they are far from “craftsman kits.”
The instructions are very clear and I had no trouble assembling them. Taking your time is the key.
Give them a shot.
The only way to grow as a modeler is to challenge yourself, and AMB kits are the easiest way to go beyond plastic kits.
Try one of them, and if you are satisfied, you can keep going.
If not, sell the rest.
I agree with ARJAY1969. I have one of the Great Northern examples and I have gotten to the step of bending and attaching the grab irons. There is a neat little bending jig included in the kit which will be useful on other modeling projects. I think it will build into a very nice caboose.
Midnight and Tom & others. I went so far as buyng the correct - as in the prototype - KD trucks and couplers for two of the caboose kits - I think, but that is where my progress ended. My feelings about these kits pre-date my more recent efforts building craft/wood/lazer kits from Campbell, Bar-Mills, Sierra West etc., as well as some ancient wood based kits I bought on eBay because they looked as though they would give a representitive flavour to the Florida location where my model railroading is set. I’ve built these kits after I formed, as it would seem, a completely false picture of the AMB kits complexity- having six of them, probably made the task seem even more daunting in my feeble brain. On my tiny MRR world six is way too many so I may in time liberate four of them.
Many thanks for your words of encouragement and I hope I haven’t Shanghied the OP’s post too much.
Bruce[
Perhaps the thing to do would be try an easier AMB kit like a box car; that way you can learn some skills needed for a wood kit, add to your tool kit some tools that are needed, and see if you want to progress to a caboose if you like the result.
The only way to learn a new skill in this hobby is to stretch your limits; you may be surprised at the result and how much you already know. [:D]