G’day all, Having built a small layout based on a Japanese interurban line, I thought I’d like to do something similar based on an American prototype. I see that the La Belle wooden kits are once again available, and that Bowser also make metal interurban kits. Now, I know that traction modellers are a minority, but even so I’d like to hear from anybody who has some experience with either of these manufacturer’s products. (Here in Australia there is no-one I know of who has ever even seen these models, let alone built one!) I’m wondering how much work these kits require to build to a reasonable standard? Are they worth the effort, or should I stick to scratchbuilding? Cheers, Mark.
I just completed a La Belle refrigerator kit& it’s almost like scratch building. It’s Colorado Midland 4 door . Quite a striking model when finished, but a lot of work. The newer kits may be easier ,I had this one for probably 25 years in the attic. Good luck. jerry
I haven’t built LaBelle’s interurbans, but years ago I built their flatcar kit. To add to jerryl’s comments - the only difference between scratch/parts building is that you have all the parts, wood and directions in one box. I really liked it. If they made their kits in S scale I would buy them.
Enjoy
Paul
Only built a couple Labelle. they are basically just a box of sticks and everything has to be cut to fit. My personal opinionm is most wood kits are not worth the trouble as styrene makes a better model. The bowser kits are diecast froom a long time ago. There is a great deal of cleanup required on the body, but make up nice when done.
I have a Bowser PCC car. I suppose it’s nominally a “kit,” because there are a few parts that need to be assembled, but mostly it’s ready-to-run. It only comes undecorated, so some painting and decalling is a must. It’s unpainted, bare metal in the box. I found the casting to be very clean, and required almost no cleanup.
The car had some electrical pickup problems originally, but I was able to clear those up myself. I added a decoder, LED head and tail lights and window glazing, and put in a driver figure as well. This is my favorite shot of the finished project, although it’s as much a shot of the subway station as it is of the PCC car.
I’m still planning to replace the original brass wheels with nickel-silver. The brass ones seem to be dirt-magnets, and it’s the only engine I have to clean frequently. The car has all-wheel pickup, but only the front truck is powered. Since it only has to propel itself, thought, that seems fine, and it will climb the 5% grades in and out of the subways with ease. It runs very smoothly and quietly, as befits an electric.
The old saying is, “If you want to learn to scratchbuild, build a Labelle kit.” They are, as mentioned above, basically a bundle of sticks and a plan. In most cases, unless it’s some special kit that has them, things like trolley poles, trucks and motors are not included. They are definitely a challenge of modeling skill and the next best thing to scratchbuilding.
Bowser is a bit less like scratchbuilding. Their metal kits are heavy and chunky, normally you have to have some modeling skill to clean up the kits (they have a lot of flash) but they paint up nice. There are also modernized power kits for Bowser locomotives (which can also be adapted to scratchbuilding projects or bashed into use on Labelle kits or other equipment) which feature nice can motors and good gearing ratios for slow operation.The options are more limited: basically, they produce a PCC, a Brill and an Indiana metal-sided interurban car. One plus of the Labelles is that they have lots of more obscure models, including limited run kits that pop up from time to time.
If you’re willing to do a repower, Suydam and other manufacturers’ brass equipment isn’t too hard to come by, and while it’s not cheap it is generally cheaper than brass steam locomotives.
One thing to note about LaBelle kits is that they are in the process of being upgraded by the recent new owner with many laser-cut parts. This is an ongoing process. Not all parts actually are better done by laser, so only some of the parts are being redone this way.
In the case of the HOn3 Rio Grande caboose, the entire model was revised, as the original kits were about 10% undersize – it is now correctly sized, with many laser-cut parts.
I’m not a traction modeller, so I can’t tell you if this program has changed anything there yet. These are high quality kits and do take some skills to build, but make nice models.
re electric cars MrBeasley said"It runs very smoothly and quietly, as befits an electric."
I used to ride those cars while I was in the Navy and stationed in Boston in the 60’s. They weren’t too bad on the straights but the curves and brake sounds involved a lot of screeching and groaning.[:D]
I know. One of the items on my list is a couple of fixed-base sound modules. I want some screeching brake and wheel sounds that I can trigger when the trains enter and leave the subway stations. You’re right - they may not huff and puff, but they can sure raise a racket inside a closed, reverberating tunnel.
Hi , a couple more quik notes on the Bowser’s. In addition to the Brill, the PCC and the Indiana, you can still find their freelanced Jewett Car and the Liberty Bell power car and trailers.All of them have the new can motor drives available in them as well. If you do buy a labelle car spend the extra couple bucks on the roof rounding kits which they sell as an extra part, you will thank yourself latter.Also their power trucks are not the best, my suggestion would be picking up a Bowser power truck or a Northwest shortline spud truck which. are available again. You may want to look at some of the Bec kits and parts from England as well, they have some interesting kits and parts available as well.
http://www.btinternet.com/~beckits/
Rob
Many thanks to all of you who replied. I’m about to head off to work, so I’d like to respond to you individually when I come home. But there was one post I must comment on. MisterBeasley reckons electrics are quiet. Well, I’d agree that PCC cars can be quiet, on well-maintained straight track. But at work I run 8-car MU trains, and when they hit 120kph going down the 1 in 75 grades from my outdepot towards the city, they fairly HOWL! It never fails to make me smile! Cheers, Mark.
If I were going downhill at 120kph in a PCC car, the howling you’d hear would be me screaming in terror. [:O] I don’t think the ones on the Boston system ever got above 50 or 60kph. The rail lines weren’t designed for it, particularly the old, narrow, curvy subways. But, that’s part of the charm of this old system.
Compare this to a system like the people-movers in the Atlanta or Detroit airports, or a modern rubber-tired rapid transit system like Montreal or the Disney monorails. They’re quiet and frankly, completely boring. (Yes, I want all airport experiences to be boring. The last trip I took, they let me take my burrito on to the plane, but they confiscated the salsa. True story.)
Sound for an electric is a very different beast from steam or diesel. Because of sharp curves and the lack of engine noise, the screech of wheels on track steps to the forefront. Another common noise on electrics is the sound of an air compressor: one can simply (if loudly) be simulated by simply turning on your air compressor (assuming you have one for airbrush or power tools) but a sampled air-compressor sound would be an interesting addition to an electric-locomotive sound system.
The screeching and groaning was the scrapiong of the wheels around the curve. I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia near a PTC (precurser of SEPTA) PCC line that went around a curve at the corner I boarded. The noises disappeared for a day or two when a track crew came along and greased the track flanges. Since this only occurred every two weeks or so, the flanges were dry and noisy most of the time. The wheels could not roll around the curve smoothly, Instead, they skipped around the curve in the same manner, in discrete steps, as the movement of the second hand on a quartz-driven analog clock that skips around the dial. The resulting wear pattern in the flanges was a series of flat spots along the rail.
The screeching and groaning was the scrapiong of the wheels around the curve. I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia near a PTC (precurser of SEPTA) PCC line that went around a curve at the corner I boarded. The noises disappeared for a day or two when a track crew came along and greased the track flanges. Since this only occurred every two weeks or so, the flanges were dry and noisy most of the time. The wheels could not roll around the curve smoothly, Instead, they skipped around the curve in the same manner, in discrete steps, as the movement of the second hand on a quartz-driven analog clock that skips around the dial. The resulting wear pattern in the flanges was a series of flat spots along the rail.
The screeching and groaning was the scrapiong of the wheels around the curve. I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia near a PTC (precurser of SEPTA) PCC line that went around a curve at the corner I boarded. The noises disappeared for a day or two when a track crew came along and greased the track flanges. Since this only occurred every two weeks or so, the flanges were dry and noisy most of the time. The wheels could not roll around the curve smoothly, Instead, they skipped around the curve in the same manner, in discrete steps, as the movement of the second hand on a quartz-driven analog clock that skips around the dial. The resulting wear pattern in the flanges was a series of flat spots along the rail.
The screeching and groaning was the scrapiong of the wheels around the curve. I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia near a PTC (precurser of SEPTA) PCC line that went around a curve at the corner I boarded. The noises disappeared for a day or two when a track crew came along and greased the track flanges. Since this only occurred every two weeks or so, the flanges were dry and noisy most of the time. The wheels could not roll around the curve smoothly, Instead, they skipped around the curve in the same manner, in discrete steps, as the movement of the second hand on a quartz-driven analog clock that skips around the dial. The resulting wear pattern in the flanges was a series of flat spots along the rail.
The screeching and groaning was the scrapiong of the wheels around the curve. I grew up in Southwest Philadelphia near a PTC (precurser of SEPTA) PCC line that went around a curve at the corner I boarded. The noises disappeared for a day or two when a track crew came along and greased the track flanges. Since this only occurred every two weeks or so, the flanges were dry and noisy most of the time. The wheels could not roll around the curve smoothly, Instead, they skipped around the curve in the same manner, in discrete steps, as the movement of the second hand on a quartz-driven analog clock that skips around the dial. The resulting wear pattern in the flanges was a series of flat spots along the rail.
Alright Mr. Silverman, we get the point!!![:)][;)]
Actually I have done the same thing.
MisterBeasley wrote: <“If I were going downhill at 120kph in a PCC car, the howling you’d hear would be me screaming in terror.”> Yeah, me too! I should have qualified that statement - the trains I run at work are double-deck suburban cars, not trolleys. http://marknewton01.fotopic.net/p4345834.html The only PCC I’ve ever run is an ex-Muni car at my local tramway museum. http://marknewton01.fotopic.net/p20883085.html (Sorry about the non-clickable links, but the new “improved” forum isn’t compatible with my browser…) What exactly was in the salsa??? Cheers, Mark.