I just picked up an Eastern Car Works kit on a whim, mostly because the kit looked like an interesting challenge. About what can I expect from these kits, in terms of quality and how well they assemble?
I have built several of the ECW kits. For the money they are fine. The details are marginal but I have never had any problems with the fit of the parts. All the ones I built were “flat” kits with individual pieces for the sides, ends, roof, floor, etc. They are very light and need weight. I don’t recall them coming with wheelsets but I remember they all had sideframes & bolsters for the trucks.
The covered hoppers really turned out nice. The streamlined passenger car kits aren’t as nice and I liked their heavyweights better. I also put several of their N&W H-2a hoppers together and they were not a problem as far as assembly but they had several detail issues that weren’t correct.
I think for the money they were fun kits to build and are especially good for beginners.
Hope this helps.
Roger Huber
That does help some, thank you. I probably wouldn’t have thought about needing to add weight until it was too late.