Ordered 10 Ameritowne buildings and they arrived today. Nice buildings, simple to put together with the old fashioned glue tabs, just my speed. They will accomplish what I need and look great. Time to break out the air brush and get to work. Pretty nice looking buildings and easy for an old guy who does not what to have to fight with the more "expensive" not necessarily better (for me) kits. I figured the more expensive kits would just go together easy, was I wrong. Why with something that expensive should you have to adjust and re-engineer things. Not my idea of fun. Thanks Ameritowne.
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I enjoy assembling the Ameritowne buildings, they are just about my speed as well. However, I have made some slight modifications to each one I have assembled, just as a FYI here. Some I thought were needed to make things fit properly and some I made for my own preference. They are really very nice, sturdy buildings and also very reasonably priced. They also offer additional parts and things for improving or customizing the existing kits. Great stuff. I had good luck with Testors Model Master Liquid Cement For Plastic 1 Fl. Oz. with needle tip applicator part #8872C. It worked very well for me.
It's also good to know the more expensive kits are more difficult to work with. That will probably save me from trying them down the road. This needs to be fun stuff. Some folks here have no problems with them, but they are also much better at these things than I am.
Thanks for posting about this.
Craftsman kits are a problem for the average guy IMHO. I purchased 2 quality (?) kits and was very disappointed. The windows each had to be trimmed to fit, why not make them to size? I built all of my houses myself, I am sure I could have done it. However, this is supposed to be fun, those were not. RTR12, I know some love the craftsman kits, that is great for them. I do not want to work that hard when I am supposed to be having fun. I can't be that picky myself when my trains have a third rail. Even though I have to have scale trains. To each their own, that is why they make different kits.
I certainly agree about all this being fun, which the Ameritowne kits have been for me. I am also switching to more scale equipment, I started out with Railking and have now decided the Premier line is more for me. The 3rd rail doesn't bother me at all, in fact I actually kind of like it. It's what I had as a kid and just seems like that is the way it should be. I built a lot of model car kits when I was a kid in the '50s-'60s, but the thought of an air brush sounds terrible to me now. Maybe I will come around someday, but for now I much prefer the old paint brushes.
Hope you enjoy the Ameritowne kits!
Air brushes are easier and more fun than a brush. Don't be afraid to get one, easy to learn how to use it.
That was supposed to be 'kid' instead of 'lid' above, must have fat fingered the 'k'. I fixed it...
If I ever get caught up on all the projects I have started and partially finished I may look into an air brush. My hands with a brush are not quite as steady as they once were either. Ahh, the benefits of old age!!
I too love the Ameritowne kits! I actually used them to practice various techniques I learned from this forum so I could do more difficult kits later on! I always add bigger loading platforms and platform roofs, more roof details, Korber or riverleaf water towers because they have more detail. I also experiment with acrylic washes to change the brick color! Then I add Korber outside lights and interior led stick on lights from Micromark! These kits look great as they are, but when you play with them, they can be phenomenal and for little money!
I really like them but I am kind of disappointed in a couple things: 1) the warpage of some of the walls and the fact that on some buildings you have to glue both halves of the front/rear walls together. Why can't they ship you a put together wall instead of 2 parts. I like them a lot. Those things just bother me. I will have to figure out how to take the warp out of some of the walls.
Jim, I read once, I think on this forum, that if you heat the walls carefully with a hair dryer,then lay them flat, the warping goes away! I have done it twice and it works! Just an idea! I have not run into the back wall issue yet and I have done several kits! It would annoy me too!
Forgot to mention that after you heat them and lay them flat, put an even heavy weight on them. I use a heavy cookbook! Hope this helps!