I was at the LHS on Saturday, love my Saturday afternoon trips to the LHS, and I had a list of things I “wanted” to buy, even had the committee’s approval to spend up to $50, YES!! But I digress. So anyhow, I was looking for a covered hopper for my brewery but I wasn’t willing to pay between $12-24 for a car!!! Prices are getting a little out of control, but that’s for another post entirely.
Anyhow, after looking over the entire stock and not finding a covered hopper that I liked and wanted to spend money on, I ended up purchsing a Branchline 50’ box car in…yep, you guessed it, PC road. God I love those. I really had no idea what I was buying until I got it home and realized that it as truely a model. It was broken down to it’s smallest parts, from the air tanks and break lines on the undercarrige to the ribbed ends. Wow. I gotta say I kind of like this and depending on how this one turns out, I may just go that way with future freight cars.
Does anyone else use these Branchline kits exclusively? Can you give me some feedback about them??
I assume this is the Blueprint series and not the simpler Yardmaster series - if you’ve never built a car kit before I strongly advise you to start with something a bit easier. They’re not impossible - but certainly more difficult than say an Accurail kit. Take your time, handle with care - the finer parts are quite delicate - and think out each step in the instructiosn before blindly sticking things together. If you take your time, the finished product it well worth it.
I have two of their B&O heavyweights and they are really nice. Their is a lot of detail but I think they are quite easy kits to put together. They don’t take long and turns out great. The only disappointing thing in my mind(and this is not because theirs are bad) are the trucks which I just some how don’t like. But as I said, they are nice, easy and fast to assemble so I plan to get more in the future.
Yeah, sorry, it IS one of the “Blueprint” series. Gonna take some practice but I think I can get better at these. Sheesh, you weren’t kidding about the delicate parts. Why do they start you out with the small undercarrige stuff right off the bat. To put it to you this way, if this were a prototype car I woudln’t count on the brake system. LOL
I’m going to build it a little at a time. Try to teach myself some patience too. But I kind of enjoy it so far. I can sit at my chair in the living room and work on it until my eyes go screwy or if I’m trying to work with all thumbs I’ll just pack it up until the next evening.
From the Blueprints series from Branchline I have am L&N shadowlined HW car kit. There are many, many small detail parts that I am sure will make up into a very nice model when assembled. I have to admit to this project being a bit daunting and I may not start building any time soon, but the thought of the finished result is always a good incentive to make a start.
Test fit, test fit, test fit! If the small parts don’t go right in, you may want to get a pin vise and some small drill bits (#61-80) to enlarge the holes ever so slightly. You can use a regular pin too but I like to drill the holes out myself. Enjoy the kits as they build up into very nice models.
Take your time and it will come out right. Take extreme care when glueing not to slop the glue where it will show. Go easy when cutting the tiny parts off the sprue lest they break. Take more care to avoid dropping them, 'cause they will completely disappear. If holes are too small, you can ream them out with an Xacto knife.
I will reiterate what seveal others here have said - take your time. Rushing through one of these assemblies will result in frustration and broken parts. That said, the quality on the kits is very high. I’ve built 9 or 10 of them, and they’ve all been high quality products once I got done. If you plan to build a lot of these, I do recommend getting a 2-56 screw tapping set and tapping out your own screwholes for the couplers - I find that the pressfit covers don’t always hold the couplers in place as well as I would like. Kadee makes one of these sets (part number 246) at a very reasonable price (I picked mine up at my LHS for $6)
I’ve put together 2 or 3 of the Blueprint Series reefers and one Yardmaster Series boxcar. As has been mentioned already, some of the parts are very delicate. I agree with the advice given so far: Take your time!
As far as removing the delicate parts, I’ve found that a small block of wood (e.g. 1 x 2 x 3") makes for a nice brace to support the sprues with. I place the junction where the part and sprue meet along the long edge of the wood block and, using a #11 X-acto knife, cut the part free. This comes in handy especially when removing the handgrabs and stirrups. (Otherwise, there’s a good chance they will break.) Thankfully Branchline provides a few extra for you.
The only other advice to pass along to you is don’t bother with attaching the curved brake hoses on each end of the cars. They end up interferring with the rotation of the trucks.
Echoing Randy’s advice, I was glad that I had a few kits under my belt before tackling a Branchline kit. I had done a few Accurail boxcars but also a Proto 2000 8k gallon tanker. The first Proto 2000 tanker took me 8 hours to put together. [xx(] The 2nd only 3 hours. So, when I tackled a Branchline “Blueprint Series” reefer, I wasn’t overwhelmed.
For me, the Branchline kits are slightly easier than the Proto 2000s. Even so, they both are beautiful models when they are done right.
AJ, make sure you post a pic when you’ve finished putting it together. [:)]
I know how you feel. I got a couple of Inter Mountain covered hopper kits from Don Z and I can’t believe all the little detail parts in these kits! I’m almost afraid to start on them.
I’ve been thinking about checking pout a couple of those Branchline heavy weight kits. They look really nice.
Take your time and enjoy. Regardless, your next Branchline kit will go together easier and faster. I classify these as car-in-an-evening kits. They provide the greatest short-term result for the effort in this hobby, I thinks. There are a lot more challenging car kits out there (Westerfield, etc.). Just look at what future challenges/frustrations/joys lay ahead! I even recall spending a summer working on a single kit, a D&RGW narrow gauge snow plow… Anyway, I have a lot more affection for an imperfect model I put together than a perfect one a manufacturer assembled.
Lot’s of good advice here, particularly about patience.
Another thing to consider is getting some sprue nippers. They work better in preparing parts for me in many cases than using an knife. Parts are not as likely to launch when separated.
I’ve also heard of people using a plastic bag to work within, thereby preventing any stray parts from going very far. I’ve never done this, but it could help you.Everyone once in awhile, I find myself thinking “I should’ve done that!” instead of spending 15 minutes looking for the part around the workbench. [#oops]
I would like to agree with all thats been said. I purchased a new sprue cutter capable of cutting smaller parts, just for these kits. I’ve done a billboard reefer, and the stirups are VERY delicate. You said you build until your eyes go blurry? This is not good for your eyes. I would get some magnifiers to wear. I couldnt live without them. O yeah, I failed to mention I still have 4 more kits waiting for me to scrounge up enough patience to finish them.
Thanks for the great advice everyone. I’m very excited about this kit and I am anxious to have the completed model on my layout, and if it looks as good as I think it’s going to then I’ll invest in more of these and hone my skills at assembly. I may look into some sprue nippers for these models. The very small detail parts, like the brake lines I mentioned, are hard to get the tiny sprue tabs off of them without accidentally cutting through them, so something that would give me a clean cut on the part would be great.
I’ll try to get some pics as I assemble it. Right now I got the bottom, the trucks, couplers(which the trucks and couplers should have gone on last in my opinion), and the ends. I’ll see what I can do for pics, maybe for this weekends WPF.
Thanks again everyone, glad to know that these are popular with other as well.
I’ve built a few of the Yardmaster kits and while they are pretty nice, I do have one complaint. The sprues on my kit ran into the face side of the ends & doors. I cut them off as neatly as possible, but then had to touch them up. I have 7 commercial versions of the “boxcar brown/red” paint, but none looked like the exact match. So I wrote and emailed Branchline and they never answered me. I attempted to get ahold of them a couple of times after that and again, no response (I had valid addresses).
After having wonderful experiences dealing with Athearn, Walthers (proto), Bachmann, and a few other model RR companies, my experience with Branchline left a bad taste. To be blunt, they would have to come out with a very special item before I would buy from them again.
Hey, that’s just my experience, you may have a much better one!
Interesting, my Branchline Yardmaster kits had the door sprues to the edge like normal. What’s being discussed are the Blueprint kits though, these are a whole different level. Yardmaster is about the same as Accurail as far as level of difficulty, Blueprints have pretty much every detail part such as grabs an aldders as seperate parts. The Blueprint passenger cars border on insanity - they have safety chains that you build up link by link!
Using the Draft gear that comes with Kadee’s #158 gives the cars a much closer to prototype appearance. I find if the Air hose interferes with the trucks, you can just clip off the offending part under the car and still have the nice detail showing. I also use handmade cut levers. Plano Brake stands and Plano roof walks (that is not the Plano roof walk in the second photo). Taking your time is the key.
The Branchline kits build into very nice cars, IMO–both the Blueprint and the easier Yardmaster series. I’d certainly agree with everyone’s hints about building the Blueprint series–time, patience, test-fit and make sure you have nippers and some small drills to ‘finish’ out the mounting holes.
One thing, the weights provided are a little ‘shy’, so you might want to augment them with some small pieces of sheet lead or automobile tire ‘stick’ weights to bring the car up to correct weight.
Also, I’ve found that their wheels sets sometimes tend to be out of gauge. Have an wheel-gauge handy to test them.
But I like them. Even the Yardmaster kits (which have the ladders and grabs molded on instead of being separate castings) look good and go together smoothly.
These are great kits but not for the first time kit builder. The test fit is a must especially for the roof walk and roofs on the 50 foot cars especially. I have built many of these. Also it is important to leave the parts on the sprue until ready. Many parts look alike but they are not. The tank cars are the most difficult followed by the covered hoppers. The XMs and Gons are easier. Just my two cents you can’t go wrong with these. Oh yes, use the special sprue cutters if you don’t want to break the grabs etc.
I wonder if they are going to release any new schemes or have we seen the last of them???
I really had no idea what I was buying until I got it home and realized that it as truely a model. It was broken down to it’s smallest parts, from the air tanks and break lines on the undercarrige to the ribbed ends. Wow. I gotta say I kind of like this and depending on how this one turns out, I may just go that way with future freight cars.
