Walther's Cornerstone Building Kits

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey guys, it comes to my understanding that the Walthers Cornerstone Kits leave alot to be desired. I was looking into these kits: New River Mining Co. ; Lakeview Warehousing ; and the Northern Light and Power kits. I have read that there are large gaps, even if built by some master builder.

I was just wondering if anyone has some tips or precausions to take on the Cornerstone products.

THanks,
Spit

2

The quality varies among the different structure kits; Walthers sub-contracts much of their manufacturing work to Heljan and a few other companies.

I’ve built about a dozen of their Cornerstone kits (including New River). As for advice, I can’t think of anything you haven’t already heard:

  1. Read the instructions before you start

  2. Get an inventory of all the kit parts to make sure nothing is missing

  3. Obtain all the necessary tools and supplies (exacto knife, sprue cutters, clamps, glue, etc…)

  4. Re-read the instructions; look closely at the numbers embossed on each part - sometimes two pieces look identical at first glance but have subtle differences (this could greatly affect how they fit to their adjoining parts)

  5. Take your time, don’t rush it (I can preach this one better than I practice it…!)

One additional thing I do is: Pre-paint various pieces before assembly (while they’re still on the sprues), so I don’t have to worry about masking them later. But I always need to do some touch-up work on certain areas, usually along seams.

Hope this helps…

3

Not having built any other than the New River Mining company, I cannot speak for the other kits you mentioned. But, the New River kit has large, long walls. Some tools that I bought and they proved to be lifesavers (well, at least, kit savers), are the Right Clamps (available from the company of the same name), some angle plates (available from Micro Mark), and some small plastic clamps to hold pieces to the plates while gluing. The Right Clamps hold the pieces at right angles and have access slots to allow you to apply cement to the inner corners while clamped. Check out the link below for pictures of assembly and painting. Hope this helps.[:)]

http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b247/momarlon/Buildings/New%20River%20Mining%20Company/

4

So that’s where I go wrong! [:P]

5

Hmmmm…“Right Clamps”, eh? I wish I would’ve known about those before I started! I googled them, I think this is their website: http://www.coffmaneng.com/default.cfm

I also recommend using this styrene cement:

http://www.testors.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=1455

The applicator needle made it much easier to apply along seams. I also like it because it doesn’t dry too rapidly - allows time for “fiddling” and ensuring the correct positioninig of joined parts.

Me too, James! I’m mostly preaching to myself here…[(-D]

6

In some cases, the kits Walthers sells are recycled kits that have been sold under various brand names over the years. Many of the newer kits are Walthers originals but as you say, the manufacturing of these kits is subcontracted. Walthers is a distributor, not a manufacturer.

7

Tell me about it!, when i was assembling my fuel and oil kit It wouldn’t go together right, so then I read the instructions! [(-D] but it all worked out ok! [:D]

8

I have built several of these buildings and what works for me is studying the plans,checking the parts,good glue and above all taking my time to insure every thing fits even if that includes sanding imperfections off.If a part is warped I gently straighten it out and use a Carmel apple stick for additional support if needed.

9

Thanks CSX RoadSlug for the site and Marlon for metioning them. BTW, I really do hope that it isn’t 20.95 for 1 clamp…

Thanks everyone else for the tips! I’ll be looking forward to more!

10

Maybe I’ve been lucky in the choice of the dozen or so Cornerstone kits I’ve built, but I’ve had no problems with fitting parts together. They have all been good kits. Can’t say that for the photo-etched brass kit I’m working on right now. Poor instructions and poor fit.

11

I’ve built quite a few Walthers kits, can’t recall any real problems. Like any plastic model kit, sometimes the parts are squeezed in the box pretty tightly, so if you buy a kit that’s been sitting on the LHS shelf for a couple of years there could be a warp in some of the longer pieces that you would need to get bent back into shape. Hmmm now that I say that, it occurs to me I still have two Walthers ore dock kits sitting in the boxes unopened that I still have to build, wonder what shape they’ll be in ?!?![#oops]

12

Glad I could help, Spit! BTW it was Marlon who actually used the RightClamps, I just grabbed the link. At $21/ea, I just might stick to my original methods![;)]

13

I have built a few Corner Stone kits - they are all nice so far. Open the box at your LHS if you can and check that all the parts are there - I have had three kits that were incomplete - in 2 of them I got a load of extra parts though - this just forces you to kitbash a bit - ha ha!! I use MEK to build the kits - be careful when filing/sanding - the Walthers plastic is a lot softer that DPM, Kibri and other plastic kits. Use glue sparingly and don’t use CA on the windows - they fog up something special.