Hi all,
I’m new to this forum and I’ve been reading a few posts here. Nice stuff.
I’ve just got a quick question about this Branchline HO box car I’m tring to put together. Most of my rolling stock kits so far have been the Athrean style. This thing seems to have a lot more fussy parts… and brittle.
Can anyone offer suggests on this, and/or compare this product with the simpler Athreans?
THANKS,
Joey
Welcome Joey
The Branchline kits are IMO some of the best. They are very detailed, far more so than the Athearn, and are more accurate representations of the cars they depict. Yes they are a lot more difficult to make and require much more care during construction and handling. The fragility is due to the much finer more to scale moulds that are used for things like the grab irons. I personally get a lot of satisfaction from these kits making them as well as I can. But, they are not for everyone. If you are interested in inexpensive kits that are quick to put together and quite rugged the Athearns are hard to beat. The Accurail models are somewhere in between Athearn and Branchline, so you might want to look out for some of them as well.
Joey,
You’re right. Branchline - even the Yardmaster Series - is a few notches above your Athearn kit. Very nice kits but - yes - more finnicky to put together. The Blueprint Series are their top-of-the-line kits and beautifully detailed.
The trick that I’ve found in successfully removing parts from the sprue without breaking them is to support them underneath by laying them on top of a hard object - e.g. like a piece of 1 x 3 or 1 x 4 pine. I then use an X-acto knife to cut them off the sprue. The wood keeps the more brittle parts from flex, as you press down on the sprue to remove them.
Hope that helps…
Tom
P.S. Joey, I just read Simon’s comments. I agree. If you don’t want to fuss with the Branchline kits, the Accurail kits are better than Athearn and about the same price. Accurail wood and woodend boxcars are exceptional in detail. I have several in my roster, as well as a number of their 55-ton hoppers. Terrific kits for the price! [tup]
I happen to love the Branchline kits, but that’s after some prior experience. If all you’ve built in the past are the Athearn kits, jumping right to a Brnachline Blueprint kit will probably be an exercise in frustration. I second (or maybe third) the prior coments. After Athearn, move to a few Accurail kits. They are usually better detailed but only slightly more difficult than Athearn. Then you might want to try the Branchline Yardmaster kits. Then maybe some Red Caboose if you can find them - most everthing they make is RTR now. Maybe some P2k - anything but the tank car! The P2K tank cars (not the Timesaver type) has to be the most difficult kit I ever assembled, but I’ve done 3 now and it only takes me a couple hours. I say they are a bit tougher than the Branchline Blueprint boxcars I’ve done, but there are more parts so the Branchline takes longer. Other P2k kits liekt he hoppers and regualr box cars are not nearly as difficult as the tank cars. Then maybe step up to the Blueprint cars.
If you work your way up rather than jump in blind, in the end yo will have more satisfaction. I thought I was ready for that tank car after building a Blueprint car and a P2k auto boxcar, but it left me frustrated to no end, I put it away and didn;t go back to it for MONTHS. I built a few more Blueprint cars inthe meantime, then finally back to the tank car and was like, DUH.
–Randy
There is another option.Buy Branch Lines RTR cars instead of the kits.As far as Athearn vs Accurail there is NO real comparison…Accurail has a limited road name selection available and you need to switch out the trucks on the Accurail car and should you buy one of the older kits you will need to use 2-56 screws for the trucks because the older Accurail kits come with truck pins.
Of course if you want great looking cars then there is the KD line.These are IMHO top of the line cars.Also you may want to look into InterMountain line of RTR freight cars.
http://www.imrcmodels.com/ho/hoassembled.htm
For the KD cars
Larry,
RTR? Where’s the fun and learning experience in that? I’ve learned more about the make up of rolling stock by actually putting the cars together from a kit myself than by buying them RTR.
Granted, RTR has it’s place. To me, kits are more satisfying and educational. More “bang for the buck”, as someone said on the forum recently referring to the joys of kitbashing.
Tom
Joey,
I keep forgetting to say: [#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]
Tom
Ok…I fully agree that gives a modeler experiance…However,I also think RTR beats frustration for those that may have difficulties building these types of kits…
I’ve got to agree with rrinker here. Starting simple and working your way up can vastly increase your enjoyment of the hobby. I used to assemble quite a few 1:25 scale models and considered myself to be a moderatly competent modeler. My first 3 or 4 serious projects in HO scale were unmitigated disasters. It’s a whole 'nother ball game when it comes to detail parts. Once I cranked back my “level of competence” in my own mind, and started assembling kits that were more along the lines of what I was capable of assembling, I quickly found my frustration level dropped. I was enjoying it much more, and also building up my skill level as I went. Now, 5 or 6 months later, I’m assembling those same kits that caused my stomach to knot up last time I tried.
Best of luck, and a big [#welcome] to the forum,
Mike
Larry,
Agreed. You’ll get no argument from me on that point. [:)]
Tom
Well,
Thanks for all the great advice. What a wealth of info!
I got it together and it looks OK. I did not like the wheels and replaced them with smoother ones. Thanks again, and I hope ito share more here from time to time.
Joey