model construction

Woodie

Active Member
Hi All,

Just want some ides on what other prefer as building structures. Of the commerially available ones, you can get injection mouled, cermaic moulding and card. Some of the rolling stock kits use ceamics on the mould. They end up quite heavy, and really think, when it comes to puting in the windows etc. The injection moulded rolling stock comes up very light, and the stuff is pretty easy to work with. Next is the card kits for buildings. Are these worth it to get a good reality look from them?

TOOT!
 

George

Member
Woodie,

Several years ago, I purchased a "Kombi" kit in Germany made by a reputable manufacturer of a franconian style building which was part of a pedestrian bridge. It cost a good bit at the time and I was looking forward to having it as an attractive addition to what I already had.

To my disappointment, the kit was not made out of inject molded plastic parts, but of CARD STOCK.
mad.gif
The printing wasn't bad, and there's even texture embossed on the paper to enhance it's appearance. Hence, "Kombi" meant Kombination zwischen papier und Plastik!

Trying to be a good sport, I assembled it and put it up. The roof, windows and sills are plastic, as is the base and a few small details. When I tried to put it up against kits of the same manufacturer which were all injected plastic parts, there was a VERY noticeable difference. It was so pronounced that even visitors nailed it immediately as "looking odd for some reason", so we had an urban renewal project on that lot and the poor little building disappeared.

Some answers came while reading an article in a publication from the manufacturer, touting this "innovation" as a cost saving method of making such structures affordable. I wondered how such artisans could ever have made such a sacrifice in quality.

By itself, the structure would be fine, either nestled in the woods, or surrounded by other kits of the same card stock run. And even then, I would place it as far BACK in a scene as possible. I'm thinking this time of putting it up on a mountain or somewhere, by itself.

I'll stick to injected molded parts. They look better, and perhaps a lot has to do with the fact that it's what I'm used to.

I must say that I've never seen or heard of ceramic rolling stock. Do tell more.

George.
 

Woodie

Active Member
George,

I made on of the "card" kits last night. Made a mess of it, cuase you have to use super-glue. Hate working with that stuff. Stick to everything else, but where you want it to!
The ceramic kit that local manufactures have come up with have far fewer pieces that the injection moulding. The ceramic/resin mould can be 3 dimensional, so the are basically two parts. The body, and the under carriage. Of course you still need to detail the kit, however the upper body is already made. I'ts is some sort of goo, that they just pour into the mould push it up the sides, and let it set. can be up to 1/4" think, which make the effort of puting windows in flush with the window opening a bit of a horrid task. Plus, if they "run off the rails, and off the end of the earth...... KER SMASH... shatters into a thousand pieces, just like a coffee mug does.

One good thing about the card-stock structure, is that they are already painted in quite good detail, be that detail 1 dimension (flat) or not.

TOOT!
 

George

Member
Woodie, how do the ceramic kit prices compare with the plastic?

I think were someone to try selling something like that in North America, even Europe, it would be laughed off the market - KER-SMASH!

Are they cost effective for putting in the rear of a yard?

George.
 

Woodie

Active Member
George,

I have used both types in my kit built rolling stock. The detail is quite good on the resin.ceramic mouldings, however its very brittle and subject to warping, especially if the weather is warm, or the model is left in the sun. refer the pics on my website. The "W" class passenger stock is injection moulded, and the "Tait" red suburban stock is the single piece resin stuff. PRice alwasy depends on the production numbers. If you are looking to model specific Oz city/state rolling stock, the demand would not be that great, so production numbers are low, hence the higher cost. A fully made up 4 car suburban Tait set sells for around $2,000 AUS ($1000 US) The fully made up W Class cars sell for around $400 each. The kit are $100 each for the Tait set and $45 each for the W class stock. The commercially made stock for OZ prototypes, for say a passenger car is around $40. (Lima, Athearn etc)

TOOT!
 
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