I got an n scale car kit yesterday and its my first time building one so any tips? and what tools and supplies should i get?
Wood or plastic? What tools do you already have on hand?
Also are we talking Boxcar or Automobile car? who made it and what is it? curious minds are now curiouser!
Chuck & Heather
it’s n scale intermountain railway company’s ACF Type 27 Riveted 8,000 gallon tank car. plasitc and i really don’t have any tools.
This may sound idiotic, but read the instructions thoroughly before even starting the kit. Understand what each part is that they are talking about. Everybody says this, every instruction book says this; too few of us DO it.
Work under good light and consider magnification, either worn on your face or a magnifying glass large enough to show the work. Make sure the floor and surrounding area is clean so that if something drops to the floor it can be readily found.
A fine tweezers is helpful – I like the kind that are closed and have to be pressed to open, as opposed to the traditional tweezers you have in the bathroom. Xacto makes the ones I have.
I like to work with a foam rubber cradle that holds the kit in place. I am sure someone makes on for N.
I assume your kit has plastic parts on a sprue that need to be cut off. Either use a good knife such as Xacto with brand new blades, or what is known as a sprue nipper, a sort of combination of fine wire snip and pliers, which cuts plastic flush to the sprue. Never twist a part off the sprue, use a knife. A small file to clean up the edges where the plastic part was cut off a sprue and flash, if any, is a good idea, although in a pinch the emery boards you’d use on your fingernails would also work. By small file I mean one about a 1/4 inch wide. Again Xacto and other makes sell them. An Xacto that takes #11 blades and a supply of fresh #11 blades is a good idea.
I like a liquid cement applied with a brush such as Tenax, rather than the thick “airplane model cement” that Testors still sells. [Testors also makes a good liquid cement for plastics]. But if the thick stuff is all you have, apply it with a tooth pick – do not try to apply it to the model
i planed on reading the instructions. thanks for the list at the end. also what is ACC?
Thats what they call super or crazy glue these days, makes it sound cooler and hip!
Chuck & Heather
Gee tough crowd, lol.
Super Glue and Crazy Glue are trade names. ACC is the generic name, so is CA, and in fact, what I was suggesting is a gap filling ACC or CA such as Zap a Gap.
There are other makes. I find gap filling ACC a little more useful for most modeling purposes since our surfaces to be mated often need the slight gap filling properties of that kind of ACC. Both kinds of ACC do an excellent job of gluing your fingers together, or gluing your eyelids shut, so be careful. I mentioned magnification in my first post and one adva
scn:
Go down to your local discount store and pick up some cheap steel (not disposable) cookie sheets. (Well, they may be jelly roll pans. They’re the big flat kind, with a low 3/8" upturned rim.) Then put all the kit pieces on that. Also save jar lids, which you can put in the pan and use for the tiny pieces.
This keeps the pieces from getting lost, and you can set the whole tray aside, in a safe place, when you get too annoyed with the project and need to take a break for a few days. I use these cookie sheets for all my kit projects and small-appliance repairs. I got the idea when I worked at a motor shop, and we had lots of little rolling carts for disassembled equipment - one cart per job, one job per cart. Great way to keep all the loose bits together, so I adapted it to smaller scale stuff.
First of all, never do kit construction on the dining room or kitchen table, without plenty of protection for the surface Do all your kit work on either a piece of plywood, or, (as I do), use an old wooden drawing board, that is disposable. When using an x-acto knife to cut straight lines on plastic, use a steel triangle or some other metal straight edge, and protect your fingers, since the blade will slide on the plastic surface.
Some others suggest using Crazy glue. Personally, I prefer to use Testor’s Liquid Glue “for Plastics”. It comes in a 5-sided black bottle, with a needle-nose metal spout, (which is ideal for gluing small surfaces). It actually dissolves the surface of the two pieces of styrene plastic. The liquid becomes tacky enough to meld the two pieces together, but the pieces can be adjusted and separated, if necessary. One bottle of this glue is adequate for several kits.This glue is intended for use,"strictly for styrene plastic), and will not glue other materials.
I use plier-like track nippers, (from the hobby shop), to cut rails and sprues. Or better still, is a pair of tiny jawed hobby wire cutters. Use these to cut nails and wire. The “track nippers” are fine for cutting nickel-silver track, but become nicked and dull, if used for cutting nails or wire. As suggested, keep all the sprues "for tubing,etc., and for junk piles!
I find that a cardboard egg carton makes an ideal receptacle for storinjg small catagorized parts. It can be snapped shut, between kit building stints. I use a small needle-nosed tweezer, to pick up and hold small parts that are being glued. I also, use rubber bands to hold together parts while the glue hardens Incidentally, do they supply you with Kadee Magnetic Couplers, in your freight car kit? The curved “air hose” must be adjusted with a special cusp-shaped needle nosed pliers, so that the end just clears the track. Be very careful when hadling the “centering spring”. It must be placed (as directed), in the coupler pocke
Don’t have a beer before you begin building a kit. Save that for mowing the lawn or chain sawing. You need to be clearheaded and careful for train kits.
Take your time. You don’t have to finish a one-evening kit in one evening, particularly at first.
Think about painting and decalling, including weathering. Some things are easier to do before assembly, particularly painting small parts that will NOT be the same color as the rest of the model. You can generally paint plastic parts while they are still on the sprue. Don’t be afraid to go back and give something a second coat of paint. In fact, plan for it.
Get a few small paintbrushes at an art supply store. I use a piece of cheap cardboard as a palate, so I can throw it away when I’m done with a few models. For me, the perfect cardboard is the separator between the upper and lower decks of a 30-pack. So, there’s an excuse for another purchase. But don’t forget my first rule, OK?
i’m only 15 so that is not a problem.
I’m glad to hear that. For too many, it is a problem, even at your age. I’m glad to see that you’ve found a way to occupy your time constructively and creatively. Welcome to a great fraternity.