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:Blue Box Kits, again, from Mike, PLEASE?

Hi, If you haven't built one for a while you're in for a very big shock! This is what I experienced: If you haven't assembled an Athearn Kit in one or more years, you are in for some big surprize. There were obvious changes in the assembly methods, but not reflected as such in the parts or the the plans!!!

The doors included one box car kit are designed to fit in a groove for sliding. I had to cut them short and glue them flush to the side!!! They look terrible! BEcause? There were no grooves or material with whih to form the grooves!!!

I just couldn't install the roof hatches on the reefer. After a forever long a time I gave up and cut the hinges off with a fine razor and glued the hatches down. Perhaps, if I had not seen the other kits, I might have given it another gung ho try!

Along the top of the outside walls of a reefer over the fixed doors but immediately under the roof edge, in the center, there's an opening about 1/16" wide and an inch ling. It just makes no sense. Obviously it was designed for a prior kit and something changed since, and the parts were excluded from this kit and theplans. Something goes in that slot...but what? Andthe opening now looks stupid.

Another car had little clips at the bottom of the doors that were to wrap around a strip beneath the door openings. They fit on the strip, but did not lock on...thus, no sliding doors. I had to glued them down.

On the cattle car, the doors were designed to fit in a track. There was NO TRACK!! I had to cut a few parts below the doors and glue those down as well. And so far, I have NO WORKING DOORS OR ROOF HATCHES.

I know that one of the nasties will reply and say that I'm just not a modeler!! And they'd be right! I could have, myself, fashioned whatever parts did not fit or were not included.. with a lathe, sheet metal, plastic strips, sheet plastic, paint, etc. Sure! I'm not a modeler!

Mike The trouble with this world is that there is too much apathy. But who cares, anyway!

Reply to
Michael P Gabriel
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I have built at least a 150 of 'em, and there is at least a couple hundred at my club that I maintain. In the past month, I have built 4 Blue Box kits of recent vintage: an ice reefer, a boxcar, a mech. reefer, and a tank.

The only changes I have seen in the past 15 years have been the addition of cheap knuckle couplers. What is true is that I have seen more flashing on the parts these days, probably due to the wear and tear on the tooling.

Do you mean the oversized "claws" on the doors that slip on the lower door runner? Or do you mean the runners themselves, top and bottom? Either way, it's a relic from the old days when all cars had to have operating doors.

Yeah, they can be a pain. They are also out of scale, and another relic from the olden days of operating doors. If I have a problem with the hatches (which are not usually painted, either, like they should be), I use a small jewelers file to take off the hinge pin on the hatch. Then I glue it on, either open or closed. Athearn, IIRC, is one of the only manufacturers that makes reefers that you can prop the roof hatches open.

Yet another relic from the operating doors era. See, the original kit from waaay back had operating side doors. These always broke off, and were a huge pain in the butt. So, Athearn reworked the old tooling a long time ago to eliminate the doors, but had to keep the oddball roof and ends piece (or otherwise spend a lot of money getting all new tooling made). You absolutely should not have a gap above the molded on doors. If you notice, the roof has a tab that goes in the slot on the side of the car. The best way to assemble this part is to put the roof on, and spread the car sides, allowing the tab in the middle of the roof sides to drop behind the open slot. When the tab is lined up behind the slot, squeeze the sides on either side of the slot. It should snap in with a click. Sometimes, there is some flashing that needs to be filed off, but it may not be that critical.

Ok, these are the door "claws". Sometimes, these need a little work with a sharp knife to get them to fit properly. No doubt due to the wearing of the tooling.

Did you buy these used? Or new? These runners come on the model straight from the factory these days...

If you are not a modeler, then why are you buying kits? I don't get it. It'd be like buying a 1:32 scale airplane kit and expecting not to do a little work on it getting it finished.

Paul A. Cutler III

************** Weather Or No Go New Haven **************
Reply to
Pac Man

(snip)

Intermountain, Red Caboose, Branchline Blueprint, C&BT Shops and Tichy reefers can all be built with the hatches propped open. The Blueprint models include a representation of the ice bunkers, so that you dont just see an empty car when you look inside the hatch!

(Much easier than building your own out of Evergreen scribed siding.)

Reply to
Mark Newton

return them I decided to try my hand at it. Not good! I love to design and scratch-build my own buildings. For this I will do ANYTHING to complete a building. I am a modeler, I just can't deal with abject frustration!; Well, I could deal with frustration, it's just not in my person to stuggle days, maybe weeks over one kit! I hope you can understand!.

Reply to
Michael P Gabriel

News to me, as I have never bought any of the above cars in a reefer. That's good to know, thanks.

Paul A. Cutler III

************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************
Reply to
Pac Man

Oh, sure, I understand. These kits can be frustrating if you don't know the tricks, which is why groups like this exist (the directions, such as they are, are not all that comprehensive). Ask specific questions, and you will probably get specific answers. If not here, than somewhere else. Almost every model railroader has built at least one Athearn blue box in their life, and therefore has at least a little knowledge for a newbie to pick up...

Paul A. Cutler III

************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************
Reply to
Pac Man

Paul "Pac Man"

I've been doing blue boxes for probably twenty years, but I still found your post to be very helpful. It just goes to show that everyone can learn something from someone somewhere along the line.

One thing that you didn't mention that recently gave me fits was the plastic window inserts on some of the "blue box" passenger cars, both standard & streamlined. The windows themselves have to be cut apart into smaller strips as they don't all fit perfectly right out of the box. That was just one of the little tidbits that I learned in assembling about a dozen of these cars recently.

Thanks for the very informative post.

dlm

Reply to
Dan Merkel

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