After looking online, gazing at the pictures and waiting for the UPS guy to arrive with a package I finally opened my WS detail white metal cast kits, after some pondering and disapointed huffing and puffing I began to file off the ‘flack’ or mold burrs or whatever you want to call them.
Some of the pieces were more excess metal than detail ! I got 7 or 8 of these little kits and they all seem to have pretty much the same amount of ‘disfigurement’.
I’m not opposed to putting in the time and effort to get a result that looks vaguely similar to the pics in the magazines, but I feel like I am basically hand carving, trimming and filing alot of the pieces looking at the picture on the box for guidance.
Maybe I’m too used to plastic kits where the pieces are generally perfectly formed apart from the sprue attachment. Are all white metal manufacturers items like this? Is there a good trackside detail manufacturer I havent found yet without all the cr@p on the pieces?
Before I get any ‘smart’ replies, yes I know the hobby is modelling and I know in the past some guys could make pretty much anything from 15G wire, 1/4 dowel and a toilet roll. I’m just having a grumble because I wanted to put some stuff together and have it look good, I guess I’ve found another learning curve to ascend.
You have discovered the main drawback to white metal kits!!! I spend more time filing than I do assembling or painting. When you finish one and put it on your layout, you will get the urge to do more…
No. 1: project: set time aside to trim excess metal from every piece of every kit, do nothing else ! ! this is a project in itself, now put everything back in the proper boxes and “magic” ------it’s as if they just arrived. now slap this stuff together.
Whitemetal kits are often like this - usually when the moulds are aging. It’s possible to get good, clean castings in whitemetal but some manufacturers seem better than others - I’ve used kits with very neat castings (like the cab car conversion that’s currently on the workbench), but also found kits where the castings looked more like mis-shapen lumps of whitemetal than part of a train!
The very first layout I ever built was the Woodland Scenics Grand Valley. It came with a ton of
white metal detail parts and a one page sheet to show what’s what. Some of the parts had
so much flashing that I could not even tell what the were supposed to be. Some were excellent
pieces. I still have the parts, and one day the will get cleaned, painted and put on the newest
layout. Good luck, Dave
Karl -hi as an ex-pat Brit you may remember GEM and Ks whitemetal loco kits from the sixties and seventies --more flash and distortion than a metallica concert,and even if you could get it built you still had to find wheels,motor and couplings....I guess weve all been spoilt by this new generation of shake-the-box precision moulded kits -stick with it ,as someone mentioned earlier,when you finally get it done the sese of acheivement will make it all worth while,regards,nick[a fellow Brit!]
Well yes excess flash is a headache in H.O kits. G-scaler’s are luckier having many choices in parts using the Ozark Minatures line,these are totally flash free and of course a size that’s much easier to work with
I do believe that “Flash” is an intergal part of modeling. Plastic has it as well as metal although not so much. I have built a number of “shake the box” freight cars that have WM bottoms, and the first step is always to clean the castings. I have invested in some small files, drills, and taps for this. Some manufacturers are worse than others. I do do some scratchbuilding, because I find it quicker and easier to just layout and start from scratch. I do rember the TYCO kits, and they had pretty clean castings.
I feel that ;you made your choice, paid your money, and should expect to enjoy the construction. However, ALWAYS reserve the right to gripe!! [soapbox]
I think you more or less get what you pay for. The Woodland Scenics kits are generally lower priced, and you pay for their ability to mass produce them by having lots of fla***o file off. I have most of their kits, and while filing off the flash was a lot of work, I did not look at the effort as a great chore.
Buy more expensive kits like those by Rio Grande Models and others and see what a difference they are.
Several years ago I purchased a box of about 20 MDC kits from the 1950s. They are white metal castings with printed car sides. Like you say, tons of flash! They clean up nicely, however. No need to add weight either. Kadee #5s won’t fit 'em, but #4s will. The problem has been coming up with a paint mix for the pot metal that matches the colors on the printed portion. The refers in the lot have sides that are somewhere between “Reefer Orange” and “Reefer Yellow” and I have never figured out the mix.
Once cleaned up, however, I have found these kits look decent, go together well, and produce a feeling of satisfaction for having “stuck it out” and completed a nice car. I have never used the particular WS products you refer to, but would like to see the end results when you get there. Please share them with us.
Thanks for all the encouragement guys, I plan on sticking it out and although I do have a little gripe and a groan every now and then I do enjoy the effort needed to put in for a good result. Sometimes my impatience gets in the way as I am sure many of you understand, well I’m off to get filing or filling or tree planting or structure building or structure painting or… man I’ve got a lot to do.
Karl–stick with it, my friend, because the result is going to be a really handsome model. I just bought the WS ‘Flagstop Station’, and like you, I was unsure as to where the flash ended and the part began. And like you, I spent hours filing away until I had the parts finally looking like something. About 1/2 hours later and some gap-filling CA, the station was done and it’s really CUTE! And just what I needed for that particular area. And like some of the other guys said, one white metal kit just whets your appetite for another. I KNOW I’ve got some places for some other WS white-metal kits–here we go again, LOL!
Tom [:D][:D]
That’s part of the Flagstop Station next to my big L-131
A little bright, but here are three kits by three different manufacturers: a “Grusom’s Casket” kit by IHC (originally Pola, I think), cut down to half-thickness, a Woodland Scenics ticket office, and a DPM “Pam’s Pet Shop” kit.
Although the flash is kind of too bright, it shows the interior and details pretty well. They do clean up nicely, once you’re done cleaning them up!
Well guys I persevered and filed away and this is the result. The parts are painted and ready for assembly and then weathering (when I ever figure out how to do plausible weathering). My morale is perking up with these things, maybe I’ll get some more.[:D]
Anyway here are the pics so far, apologies for pic quality.
Looking at that last one reminds me I must replace my exacto blades more reularly.
Looking good so far! Might want to tone down the gloss on the pieces that are supposed to be wood, looks like you used a high gloss paint. One reason that I use Floquil paint for such subjects - it dries nice and flat, ready to take washes of darker colors to highlight the items.
Also if some of these pieces are to be glued together remember to remove the paint where they will be joined.
Thanks for the tips Bob, I was planning on using a dead flat varnish after assembly before weathering. The paint was Testors ‘wood’ I assumed it would be a flat finish. Like someone said to me once… ‘never assume anything…’
Those pieces don’t look like “lumps of metal” to me!!! Great job!! Of course looking at the photo of the pond scene in your posts, it’s not surprising!
Karl, ya done good, man. And… I’ll bet you now look back and realize you had a lot of fun. It probably helped that you had a lot of fans and encouragement here, but what the heck.
the ‘pond scene’ Dave is actually a small river coming from a waterfall which winds under the trestle, its just kinda hard to tell from my sig pic so I’ve update with a new one after re-re-repainting the ‘pier’ again as it was too white before. Its kinda cramped with the river/waterfall right next to the trestle and mainline but I’m trying to learn and cram as many new techniques as I can into this 6x8 to bring into the next layout.
Here are a few pics from behind the layout where the backdrop is that give a better interpretation of the area.
