My first Bowser Kit

I assembled my first Bower kit this afternoon - a NYNH&H caboose. If I had to do another one, I would do better. Here’s what I learned:

  1. I should have waited until the caboose was finished before attaching the steps. I ended up breaking one off, but the kit included a spare.

  2. There are two sets of coupler pocket covers - one with a resessed screw hole and one with a protruding screw hole. I first tried the resessed one, and the screws were too long. It left a whitish spot on the body of the caboose where the screw stressed the plastic. The second set of covers was perfect. Note that I installed Kadee #5’s with centering springs.

  3. The crash frames should be installed before the couplers and the pins trimmed so they don’t intefere with the coupler pockets.

  4. The catwalk should be installed before the roof is attached to the body.

  5. I needed to file down the bolsters a little so the trucks would tighten up properly.

  6. The holes for the coupler screws were too small for the screws and are not tapped. I enlarged the hole for the first few thousands of an inch of depth (maybe 30 thousandths) so I could get the screws to self-tap into the holes.

The directions could have been a little better, but all in all, it ended up working out ok. In addition to the couplers, I also put metal wheels on it when I put it together. Not as nice or convenient as the RTR Atlas or Athearn cars, but I like that the kits are made in America.

Jim

I was looking at some Bowser kits at a show last year. They looked really good for the $$$. I’ll have to get some when I get some extra $$$. Do you think they’re better than blue boxes?

I’m building 3 Accurail kits right now.(autoracks) Their direction aren’t very good either. First one turned out so,so…Second one looks great! Can’t wait to finish the third one. I guess that’s what they call a learning curve.

I’m highly disappointed in the Bowser kits I have. I have 3 of the Pennsy stock car kits and 1 hopper car kit. Where do I start to complain? Well…

There’s extra parts that have no use in this kit. The stock car has cast-on doors and separate doors are supplied for what I assume are a double-door box car kit. These doors have no use on the present kit.

Cast-on details. Absolutely the pits, especially if you are used to separate grabs and ladders, even if those parts are plastic (P2K) and not fine detail metal. My Micro Mark detail carving-off tool is getting a work out on these cars. The problem will come when trying to get the cast-on stuff off the corrugated ends of the stock car.

Brake rigging - no lines at all, just a brake cylinder and a couple of other parts.

The instructions are for both the stock car and a box car, but more oriented for the box car and not what the kit is for.

Upsides? Good paint job and lettering.

Why’d I buy these? I wanted a couple of foreign road cars on my layout, and I wanted to see what the Bowser cars are all about from a personal point of view. And right now, that ppov is they are aptly named - they are real bowsers (dogs)!

I have four Bowser kits, 70-ton open covered hoppers (kind of a contradicting name), and have only assembled one. What I liked about it was how easy it seemed to come together, even with the somewhat vague instructions. I checked, double-checked, test fitted, and re-checked some things before glue was added, just to be safe. I am impressed with how nicely the car looked after I finished it and I am ready to tackle the other 3 with more confidence. I recommend these cars to anyone.

Jim22, your step 5 is something I didn’t think about and I need to do to my car since that is the only problem I’m having with my model. The trucks end up very loose, so the car wobbles a lot as it rides the rails. I tried adding kadee shims but had no success. I did have some success by changing the trucks to Athearn Genesis? trucks, the ones with the moving roller bearing cap. It fixed the wobbling problem and the coupler height was on the spot. The only problem was that the hopper is not prototypically equipped with 70-ton roller bearing trucks, so they came off. I will do your step 5 asap.

BTW, I’m having an “issue” with these cars and have posted a question, all of you gents’ help would be appreciated.

I got several double door boxcars in VGN scheme; they would work well for the South Norfolk Ford plant run, but then they lost me when they came out with red N&W and VGN coal hoppers. Did anyone think to do maybe just a little research? Both roads used BLACK.

I’ve built several hundred Bowser kits- hoppers, ore cars, roadrailers, flats, trailers, and cabooses. I’ve never had a problem in assembly, either with instructions or difficulty.

Buyer beware on the paint jobs though- they pay little attention to photos, though there will be an occasional surprise.