I would like to try my hand at building a railcar of some type. Are there any kits out there that would be less challenging than others? The type of car or road is not so important. I just would not want to be overwhelmed with my first effort. Any suggestions woud be appreciated.
Norm
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I would like to try my hand at building a railcar of some type. Are there any kits out there that would be less challenging than others? The type of car or road is not so important. I just would not want to be overwhelmed with my first effort. Any suggestions woud be appreciated.
Norm
The Inter mountain O AAR box car kits are fairly simple and that would be a good start.
Doug
I concur that Intermountain kits are a great start. The parts' fit is perfect. No drilling or additional fabrication is required, and painting is minimal if required at all. There are a few suggestions:
The IM kits have a lot of parts and details, but as they say they are simple. It just takes a little time and patience to install all the small parts.
You can find many older kits at very reasonable prices at O Scale 2 rail shows.
Norm,
I recently built an IM boxcar kit.
Read the instructions while looking at the parts.
I used MEK to glue the parts, keeping the glue off the painted surfaces is the trick.
I actually had fun putting the trucks together 
Do what Matt suggested and leave the roof off until the end, makes it easier to apply glue to all the little pieces from the inside and add weight.
The underframe details are fragile and confusing if you're like me and don't know what goes where.
Once together it makes a fine model.
I used MEK to glue the parts, keeping the glue off the painted surfaces is the trick.
This is a popular tool among the plastic model builders frequenting our shop (LHS) for single-drop application, neat builds, etc.....
There are several other choices of applicators in the M/M website/catalog...go to Adhesives:Applicators.
FWIW, always...
BTW, re the original thread inquiry....I'm a build-a-holic for the old Athearn, Menzies, Ambroid, All-Nation, etc., wood & metal kits. With all the improved detail parts available to really dress these up, a careful paint job to match pre-painted sides, free-rolling trucks from Weaver, MTH, Atlas, and Lionel...I've built more than a dozen cars that mingle well with the made-in-China RTR products. Of course, as a septuagenarian in this hobby, I cut my teeth, so to speak, on this sort of thing in HO as well many many years ago. Building kits in this hobby of any sort is an old phart's thing, I guess. Therapeutic for moi, though.
In fact, diagnosing malfunctions of modern electronic wizardry in my latest multi-hundred dollar purchase???.......PITA!
(My 'magic wand', always at the ready, is a 10-pound maul in the bottom drawer of the workbench!!
)
However, building, say, an old Ambroid caboose kit, adding LED marker lights, painting/decaling, modifying coil-spring trucks with leaf springs to create a more appropriate caboose truck, adding San Juan AB brake system details/levers/piping to the underbody, etc.......??????? Pure, pure relaxation and reward!!
TEHO, though.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
KD
Interesting. I've been thinking about getting a kit for a while but haven't looked for one until now. The link below gives the appearance that there are a LOT of kit manufacturers-
Agree, Intemountain O Scale cars a good start, they marketed boxcars, reefers, tank cars and coal cars in the past. Overall, their assembly instructions are well written, if you have some knowledge of car components, such as crossbearers, crossties, body bolster, etc. it is beneficial but not essential. After assembling many of these cars the boxcars and reefers are the easiest to built, next the tank cars and finally the coal cars. You will need microdrill bits and a drill holder, masking tape and I recommend a plastic glue with needle applicator such as Faller and a sprue cutter, detail parts are fragile.
The masking tape is used to hold the roof assembly to the car body when the glue is applied, also consider adding weight to the inside car floor before gluing the roof assembly to the car body. The boxcars and reefers are 10 inches long, I went to Lowes and purchased steel rectangular strip, 11 Ga.(.120inch thick) by 1" wide by 6 or 8 foot long, I recall I cut 9 inch lengths of this strip and used RTV sealant in gluing this strip on the longitudinal floor centerline, after the RTV setup and confimed the strip was rigidly held, the roof assembly was applied.
There were weights available for the tank cars in the past, consider contacting Rails Unlimited(Elgin,IL.) at 847-697-5353/5366 for availability or purchase round steel bar 1/2 or 5/8 dia., cut to length and glue in position using RTV, finally for the coal cars use wheel lead balancing weights that are glued into the center sill assembly also consider coal loads to increase the weight of the car.
Finally, Weaver Bettendorf trucks were applied to all of the Intermountain cars.
Red Caboose also marketed in the past O Scale reefer, tank car and flat car kits, assembly instructions are good, same assembly procedures and truck application as Intermountain.
"Are there any kits out there that would be less challenging than others? The type of car or road is not so important. I just would not want to be overwhelmed with my first effort. Any suggestions would be appreciated."
Depending on what material you'd like to work with the common kits are: Intermountain, plastic with lots of fairly easy parts to install, mostly fine glue work, no or very little painting needed. Atheran/All Nation are metal sides, ends, and roof over a wooden core, less parts but they are all metal and much more sturdy, more drilling and miniature blacksmithing involved, sides are factory painted but ends and roof needs to be painted . Ye Olde Huff N Puff are wooden with metal details ,requires gluing the body then drilling and installing the detail parts, sides are factory painted but roof needs to be painted. you can find them all on ebay for a few bucks if road names don't matter so not too expensive to try one of each .....DaveB
Norm, the timing of your post/thread is perfect as I just purchased my very first freight car kit at a train show yesterday. It's an InterMountain 40' AAR Boxcar in Erie livery. I returned from the show yesterday afternoon and then saw your thread last evening. Great coincidence!
I had many of the same questions as you...and now thanks to this thread most have been answered. I do have a few more...
MEC glue seems to be the choice amongst those who have responded here. Why MEC and not CA? I'm sure there is a good reason, but due to my being new at this I don't know why!
Would Plastruct-brand solvent be an acceptable choice for the job at hand? I ask because I have some on hand. Any tips on how to properly apply it without messing up the paint? I'm assuming the brush that comes attached to the lid is not the way to go?!
Thanks for posting this Norm...I will keep you posted on my kit assembly progress once I get started.
"Why MEC and not CA? I'm sure there is a good reason, but due to my being new at this I don't know why!
Would Plastruct-brand solvent be an acceptable choice for the job at hand? I ask because I have some on hand. Any tips on how to properly apply it without messing up the paint? I'm assuming the brush that comes attached to the lid is not the way to go?"
CA glue bonds by sticking the parts together so it leaves a residue where it seeps out of the joint while a liquid glue like MEK works by melting the two parts together so once it evaporates there is no glue residue. Plastruct works fine on plastic parts. Small amounts won't hurt the paint as long as you don't touch it till it dries. For small parts just a tiny drop is all that's needed, things like grab irons just need a tiny touch of the brush before inserting them, if the holes go thru the body then it's best to put the parts in place then touch the glue brush to the inside of the shell and let it wick into the joint. I use the brush in the bottle with no problems but I've had years of experience with it so you might want to start with a smaller artists type brush....DaveB
Thanks for your responses. I'll be making my purchase later this week.
Norm
I use the brush in the bottle with no problems but I've had years of experience with it so you might want to start with a smaller artists type brush....DaveB
While i do not use MEK - can't stand the smell - I routinely use dichloromethane (TENAX) and almost always use as small a brush as possible, preferably one that's somewhat older that I can afford to dedicate to this use and then toss into the trash at some later date.
The MEK actually melts the joint together. From what I can tell from using CA, it just sits there on top of the material (doesn't absorb into the plastic).
Martin, I lost my sense of smell 10-12 years ago (probably from using MEK!), I can still kinda smell things but they don't smell the same. I can't describe what a wood fire or someone grilling smells like and all the expense women's perfume...smells like dirty mop water when they walk by 
Oh, from what I've been told MEK is not available in every state. My local Tru-Value hardware carries it in quart and gallon cans.
Bob,
I assembled numerous Intermountain cars using Faller 170492 Expert Plastic glue with needle tube applicator, Testor Model Master glue also has this applicator, Intermountain kits I believe are styrene plastic, Plastruct Bondene Solvent should also work.
John
The MEK actually melts the joint together. From what I can tell from using CA, it just sits there on top of the material (doesn't absorb into the plastic).
Correct. It will not seep into the styrene, which is a good reason to use minimal amounts when using such glues on non-porous surfaces.
Martin, I lost my sense of smell 10-12 years ago (probably from using MEK!), I can still kinda smell things but they don't smell the same. I can't describe what a wood fire or someone grilling smells like and all the expense women's perfume...smells like dirty mop water when they walk by
Sorry to hear that as the sense of smell is integral to taste of food and many other activities. I'm sort of hyper-sensitive after decades of chemistry lab time - "wrong" smells are like an alarm going off for me.
I wish there were more kits available. I like the Inter-mountain kits....but kinda drying up. I scratchbuild too......a box car is pretty simple.....but maybe not a first project.
Inter-mountain
The GN kit was badly butchered but un-assembled when I got it. But is was $4 at a train show. Was able to salvage it. Hopper kits are a little more work than the boxes.
"While i do not use MEK - can't stand the smell - I routinely use dichloromethane (TENAX) and almost always use as small a brush as possible, preferably one that's somewhat older that I can afford to dedicate to this use and then toss into the trash at some later date.'
I don't use MEK either, I don't like to have larger quantities of solvents around. A small bottle of Tenax or Plastruct lasts me for a year or more. I also like Testor Model master for things that need a bit more glue, the needle applicator is handy for laying down a nice even bead. I do save older smaller brushes to use with the liquids when doing very fine work but most of the time for routine joints I just use the brush attached to the bottle cap .....DaveB
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