Hi, just joined the forum the other day and I’m currently enjoying reading the past posts. I was wondering if anybody has any past experiences with kits produced by American Model Builders? Are they good quality kits? Clear instructions? I’m thinking that they are with the amount of different kits that they have to offer, I’ve just never seen any for sale here in my neck of the woods. Any repsonses would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Curtis
Curtis,
First off, welcome to the forum - lots of excellent advice here.
I’ve built 3 AMB kits - Dill’s Market, F Bruckner Woodworking and the Drinkwater House. I have a bunch more on my wish list. I’ve found them to be very good quality, they come with clear instructions and are easy to assemble. Some of the Bar Mills Basics are a bit easier for the beginner (maybe you’re not a beginner), but AMB offers a nice product. Good luck
Curtis, I’ve got 14 AMB buildings on my N scale layout.
In my opinion, they’re the best laser cut wood kits available. (and not just because they’re here in St Louis)
I’ve gotten kits from Blair Line and Northeastern and have been disappointed with the fit. I bought one “so called” craftsman kit and basically got a box of wood with cutting instructions. Not really my cup of tea. For what they cost, you’d expect them to come out ot the box painted and assembled. Forgive the previous rant.
The AMB kits are complete, down to the glazing for the windows and the roofing materials.
One thing you need to be aware of, is the need to paint both sides of the walls to prevent warpage. After some trial and error, I found that painting the walls prior to assembly worked best for me. I use Scotch double sided tape to hold the wall sections to a piece of 1/4" plywood and spray them. This minimizes the warpage and, in some cases eliminates the “need” to paint the inside. You may still want to paint the inside for asthetic reasons. If you use this method, it’s important to carefully peel the tape from the supporting board, lifting the wall section with it, them peeling it from the back of the wall section.
The door and window details are very good. I’ve found it easier to paint the door and window trim while it’s still on the sheets, prior to cutting the pieces out, then assemble them. The trim material is usually made with a stronger wood than the walls, and with the self adhesive backing, can be brush or spray painted without worry of warpage. Door and window assembly is easy, with the self adhesive backing. The trim for the doors and windows overlaps the openings in the walls, eliminating the need for additional adhesive to mount to the walls. I’ve found it easier to assemble the windows and doors to the trim, then place them int
AMB kits are very good. Also consider the kits by www.jlinnovative.com they also make some very nice kits. Having just returned from the Craftsman Structure show, I have a new appreciation for these laser cut wooden kits. Some of them are superb.
Thanks everyone for the replies.
Mike,
You do some very nice work, your layout would be very nice to see. Excellent pictures. The first picture that you posted is the kit that caught my attention while I was browsing through a website, the store is an almost exact replica of my grandfather’s General Store that he ran for 50+ years. Where you have the liquor store was the Post Office and off the otherside was a garage and off the back was his warehouse. So I bought that kit and the freight house kit to turn into the warehouse. Thanks again
I have a J L Innovations icing platform. There were a few things about it I didn’t care for. The roofing material is cardboard. That really turned me off, so I updated it by using an Evergreen styrene steel roof and ditched the cupola for some simulated roof refrigeration units. The office roof was also changed to a corrugated steel roof.
I did like that they included the ice blocks for the platform and the finished building turned out pretty well.
I guess the AMB kits spoiled me.
Here’s the finished ice house.
I have built several of AMB’s structures in HO scale, including the complex Dabler Mills. The frustration factor was zero. Everything fit, not something one can say about other lazer kits where one might encounter minor frustrations. AMB’s earliest models look a little bit cruder in design (tabs mainly), so my blanket statement might not apply to them.
Mark
Curtis,
AMB kits are very nice. I’ve put together Dill’s Market, the Interlocking Tower, and the boxcar depot. I perfer to glue them up before painting them.
Tom
All that I can add is a BIG “ditto” to everything already mentioned.
I have done all sorts of structures kits and have found the AMB kits to be fabulous! Everything fit like it should and the instructions were clear.
I have painted all of mine before assembly (with an airbrush) and haven’t had any warping problems…So Far!
Warping on any wood kit is exacerbated by the use of water based paints and stains. Since I prefer not to deal with the fumes from solvent based paints, I have learned to deal with the warping issue.
I prefer to paint my walls before construction as this makes it easier to apply weathering and distressing techniques. Here are some tips to help with warping.
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Attach internal bracing to the walls prior to painting. Clamp well and let dry. Many kits have bracing as an integral part. You can always add more if you think it is needed.
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Paint both the inside and the outside of the walls. This reduces warping significantly.
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Once dry, place walls on a very flat surface (a sheet of glass works well) and pile on some weights like phone directories. This will take care of the problem!
Some consider these issues to be too time consuming and problematic and dismiss wood kits. Personally, I think that wood kits have a texture and character that is hard to beat.
I made a step-by-step of a wooden kit build on my picturetrail site, you can see it at http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=16755888&uid=3608462 it is not an AMB, but the concepts are the same.
potsie, I too like the ease of assembly that AMB provides. I did the crossroads church for my first attempt. Then I kitbashed the Branchline Station with new rail model ultra shingles. I used bragdon chalks to make the metal ridge cap. My husband did the schedule for the signboard & station name on the computer.
Sorry about the blurriness it was one of my first photo attempts with a new camera.
The 2-story farmhouse will be my next project.
I thought that they were very simple for my first try at structures.
Sue