Your most challenging kit?

[skytop35]

For me it was this SDL39 kit. I had two but sold the second one after it took me several years to finish the first one due to inertia on my part at several stumbling blocks along the way. First was the mechanism, an Atlas RSD 4/5 that required lots of frame milling. Only tools I had were hacksaw, dremel motor tool and files. One end required so much material to be removed that the screw was eliminated that held the frame halves together on one end. The shell helps hold everything together!  Once that major hurdle was leaped, I needed a break. Coming back to the project I detailed and decorated the shell which wasn't too bad for me but work ground to a halt once again when I needed to add handrails. I never did brass handrails before so this would be a challenge especially on a one of a kind model like this, screw up the shell and that was it since they were no longer available. I finally bit the bullet and slowly but surely got them finished. They looked so nice that I started adding brass handrails to my other hood diesels and the ModuTrak guys have never forgiven me for raising the bar in that area! About this time, I switched to DCC and needed to find room for a decoder. More metal removal, ugh...   All in all it was a challenge the whole way with several stops to recoup my sanity but it was worth it (but not enough to complete the second kit)

[randgust]

Well, what drove me to this post was Bob Knight's (TrainCat)'s EXQUISITE brass NYC/PC/CR N9 transfer caboose kit.

It's all etched brass, typical high-quality etchings.  One thing I've learned with most kits is that rule that 'if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail'.   If it's a metal kit, it's all metal, even those things that probably shouldn't be metal - same rule holds for plastic and wood.   For instance - the frame - is all etched pieces - two girders, crossbearers, crossbearer caps, bolster tops.... wow.   The frame build alone was like 30 pieces and you can't see any of it.  Directions say that you can use thick ACC, but even the remote potential of derailing/dropping the finished kit made me decide to solder up as much of it as I possibly could for strength.

Really got all the way through the body and it was difficult but not frustrating.   http://www.randgust.com/CRN9E01.jpg

Then I got into the rails, which on an N9 are the distinctive features.   OMG.   You've got .008 phosphor bronze wire (upper and middle) going into STAINLESS etched stanchions with .009 holes etched in them.   If you follow the directions you rapidly find out there's not quite enough wire supplied.   You have to fold each stanchion on itself to come up with a .010 thick assembly - like 20 of them - and then thread both wires through two holes on every stanchion.   Then, after all that, you try to ACC the six rail assemblies to the deck - no soldering here because they are stainless.   The base of the stanchion is a folded-back tab section about .040 x .040 - that's all that holds it.    Folding the stanchions over with tweezers wants to make them fly across the room, and once threaded onto the handrail wires (that are basically springs) also wants to fling them around the room as well - spent more time than I care to admit on the floor searching for a non-magnetic stanchion.  I have two rail assemblies done...but nerve-wracking is an understatement - a solid 10.0 on my degree of difficulty.  I'll go back to several evenings of windshield wipers and lift rings for relaxation after this one. 

I think that in this case, stainless was a mistake because brass could have been soldered to the deck for strength - these want to break loose at the slightest shock load using ACC.   The other inexplicable things are mention of a etched wood deck for the N9A version that apparently isn't furnished (but don't need but is shown on instructions) and a nice big etched hole in the roof but no furnished smokejack and nothing mentioned in the instructions.  The brake wheel and stand is...three etched pieces, a mounting wire, and a two-piece-layer stainless wheel that has to be aligned by the spokes.  Also cast parts supplied for the brake reservoir, etc. but no indication of where they go - just on the underbody.  And some big etched piece with tabs on it that has no apparent purpose at all, and end roof pieces that ARE necessary but aren't mentioned in the instructions anywhere.  Again, 10.0.   I think I can, I think I can...   I'll have to come up with my own extra details for the propane tanks.

It will be a great model for sure.... everything is dead scale size .... but I have to keep walking away from it because I find myself holding my breath so long I'm getting headaches!

[chicken45]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

This was challenging to me because I had to come up with ways to solve multiple problems.
Also, it was tough to file, sand, and square the deck pieces. I wish I had an N scale planer and jointer!

[randgust]

Wow, Josh, just went onto the N scale kits web page, and you're apparently the only one that's ever beaten it and has photos to prove it!

Looked at the Worcester Union station kit too...wow.... doesn't help it's a triangle.   I've taken a train to there and never noticed that one.

I did just check Spookshow for the N9 and he's using Bob's photos.... if anybody else out there has ever successfully assembled this kit through painting I'd sure like to hear about it.   They were rare to begin with.    http://www.spookshow.net/freight/traincattransfer.html    You can see the handrails I'm talking about, and also that wonderful hole in the roof.

The only one that might be rarer is this one:  http://www.spookshow.net/freight/tcsf.html   but the good news is that the Intermountain cars appear to be just as good.    I'm thinking even the photo of this one is HO instead of N looking at the wheels.

I'm also thinking the ultimate winner of the difficult kit battle just might be the TrainCat Canyon Diablo Bridge.   Bob had started an assembly thread and never finished it.  I'd been talking to him about getting one but OMG, the sticker shock was enough to stop me cold, let alone the basic stats of the kit measured in POUNDS of etched brass for a 42" bridge full-size.  With what Bob ran into on the home front I'm not sure he even ever got to finish his pilot model.   https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=28138.0

[peteski]

Well, what drove me to this post was Bob Knight's (TrainCat)'s EXQUISITE brass NYC/PC/CR N9 transfer caboose kit.

It's all etched brass, typical high-quality etchings.  One thing I've learned with most kits is that rule that 'if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail'.   If it's a metal kit, it's all metal, even those things that probably shouldn't be metal - same rule holds for plastic and wood.   For instance - the frame - is all etched pieces - two girders, crossbearers, crossbearer caps, bolster tops.... wow.   The frame build alone was like 30 pieces and you can't see any of it.  Directions say that you can use thick ACC, but even the remote potential of derailing/dropping the finished kit made me decide to solder up as much of it as I possibly could for strength.

Really got all the way through the body and it was difficult but not frustrating.   http://www.randgust.com/CRN9E01.jpg

Then I got into the rails, which on an N9 are the distinctive features.   OMG.   You've got .008 phosphor bronze wire (upper and middle) going into STAINLESS etched stanchions with .009 holes etched in them.   If you follow the directions you rapidly find out there's not quite enough wire supplied.   You have to fold each stanchion on itself to come up with a .010 thick assembly - like 20 of them - and then thread both wires through two holes on every stanchion.   Then, after all that, you try to ACC the six rail assemblies to the deck - no soldering here because they are stainless.   The base of the stanchion is a folded-back tab section about .040 x .040 - that's all that holds it.    Folding the stanchions over with tweezers wants to make them fly across the room, and once threaded onto the handrail wires (that are basically springs) also wants to fling them around the room as well - spent more time than I care to admit on the floor searching for a non-magnetic stanchion.  I have two rail assemblies done...but nerve-wracking is an understatement - a solid 10.0 on my degree of difficulty.  I'll go back to several evenings of windshield wipers and lift rings for relaxation after this one. 

I think that in this case, stainless was a mistake because brass could have been soldered to the deck for strength - these want to break loose at the slightest shock load using ACC.   The other inexplicable things are mention of a etched wood deck for the N9A version that apparently isn't furnished (but don't need but is shown on instructions) and a nice big etched hole in the roof but no furnished smokejack and nothing mentioned in the instructions.  The brake wheel and stand is...three etched pieces, a mounting wire, and a two-piece-layer stainless wheel that has to be aligned by the spokes.  Also cast parts supplied for the brake reservoir, etc. but no indication of where they go - just on the underbody.  And some big etched piece with tabs on it that has no apparent purpose at all, and end roof pieces that ARE necessary but aren't mentioned in the instructions anywhere.  Again, 10.0.   I think I can, I think I can...   I'll have to come up with my own extra details for the propane tanks.

It will be a great model for sure.... everything is dead scale size .... but I have to keep walking away from it because I find myself holding my breath so long I'm getting headaches!

I also thought that using stainless steel for delicate parts was a mistake due to inability to solder SS. But then I managed to tin and solder the railings of TrainCat's AutoRamp.  I used TIX liquid flux (Zinc Chloride) and turned down the soldering iron's temperatures way down (I usually have it set to 700 deg. F).  My failed attempts were using the hotter iron. I'm not sure why I thought about lowering the iron's temperature.

First I abraded the SS surface using an abrasive disk in a Dremel too. That removed the oxide coating from the surface.  Then I dabbed some flux on that surface and touched it with a tip of the soldering iron which had some solder deposited on it. That easily tinned the the stainless steel.  I was really surprised and very pleased that it worked. I was then able to solder the railings to the brass part of the model and the joint is quite strong.  See the construction thread here.  I again failed to make notes about the procedure, so I don't recall the specific temperature and which solder )Tix, 60/40 or silver-bearing) I used.  I'm bad that way

[u18b]

While not a KIT......

I have vivid nightmares about installing that brass bell in the frame of a Kato Mikado.

 

[mu26aeh]

My most challenging kit is still in it's protective plastic case.  @randgust CF7 kit    But I'm sure his 30+ pages of directions/examples and a couple emails will make it bearable.  Hopefully when I'm done, it will resemble this...

20170419_103356 by Adam Henry, on Flickr

After which, @Ed Kapuscinski will see it and say " I MUST HAVE IT " 

[chicken45]

Wow, Josh, just went onto the N scale kits web page, and you're apparently the only one that's ever beaten it and has photos to prove it!

"No...there is another."

@towl1996 , maybe?

[Spades]

NSN piggy packer assembled it but was falling apart while painting it.  A club member offered money for it, took it in a heart beat. 

Henderson Hobbies Auto rack overweight and  born to string line. on 26" radius curves.  Each derailment would remove the delicate resin details, became an expert at filling. pinning and and building auto rack ends from Brass and styrene.  The RC and CC racks were lead to their retirement.

[mmagliaro]

I've had some toughies, but hands-down I would have to pick my Traincat Pin Connected Truss Bridge kit.

It took a couple of months for me to finish.  800 separate pieces of lovely etched brass.
But I don't regret it at all.  It is a magnificent centerpiece on my layout.

[Lemosteam]

(Attachment Link)

This was challenging to me because I had to come up with ways to solve multiple problems.
Also, it was tough to file, sand, and square the deck pieces. I wish I had an N scale planer and jointer!

Aww c'mon. that Generator load kit is only 4 pieces!   

[thomasjmdavis]

A lot of youngsters here.  My own personal least favorite kit was manufactured about 40-45 years ago, and according to the box and advertising, it was a small foundry covered in corrugated sheet metal siding. I don't remember the manufacturer.  While I am of the school of thought that you never, really, complete a kit (there is always one more detail that can be added), and have a whole lot of projects somewhere between beginning and almost done, this kit was the only one I ever gave up on completely.

Opening the box, one discovered several pieces of cardboard, some strips of aluminum foil (with some kinda process in the instructions to corrugate it) 2 pieces of drinking straw for chimneys and some odd bits of thread and a couple of door castings (for entry doors, the loading doors were to be fabricated from foil and cardboard, IIRC).

I actually made pretty good progress and patiently manufactured my corrugated siding.  It was the cardboard parts and midwest humidity that really did me in.  Plus, I think that was perhaps my first experience, at least in N scale, with Walthers Goo.  Anyway, I never could get the parts to warp in the same direction at the same time.  No matter what I did to reinforce or brace it, after a few days, it would pull itself apart.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have coated all those parts in several coats of Krylon primer before trying to assemble anything.  Once I got the siding on part of it, the disaster only got worse, because in trying to repair the cracked joints or bits that fell off, I damaged the siding, which left me with more bits to repair.  It finally went into a box for a couple years, and when it came out, one long wall had pulled away at both corners and was more or less U shaped.  I finally threw the remaining bits out when packing trains before my last move.

[Wutter]

I did just check Spookshow for the N9 and he's using Bob's photos.... if anybody else out there has ever successfully assembled this kit through painting I'd sure like to hear about it.   They were rare to begin with.    http://www.spookshow.net/freight/traincattransfer.html    You can see the handrails I'm talking about, and also that wonderful hole in the roof.

Just finished a Traincat N-6A last week, not a perfect copy of an IHB transfer caboose but with similar NYC/PC heritage:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Gluing the stanchions to the deck was definitely the worst part of the entire process as they kept shearing off and the old ACC residue had to be shaved off. I didn't follow the lengths specified in the directions as it wasted a lot of wire going into the body, and I also replaced all of the etched stainless grab irons with wire grab irons for better scale size. Similar to you, I soldered all of the underframe parts to keep it rigid, but it took a lot of heat and flux to get the ribs to flow along the main frame.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

For the underbody parts I just used a 40 foot boxcar to reference approximately where parts would go, drilled holes in the underframe and glued them in place. The propane tank is just a piece of wood dowel with rounded ends.

[wazzou]

My worst kits were any of those made by Western Railcraft, particularly the Sawmill.  Old folks will remember the name.
I don't even remember what became of that kit.  I know I didn't finish it.

[peteski]

Wutter, your photos do no show up (I see lots of open space and "do not enter" symbols).  Host photos locally and eliminate this type of a problem.