Batch-building freight cars - 6
kit (hopefully with different car numbers) from your hobby
shop or by searching on eBay. Highly detailed kits include
Intermountain, Red Caboose, Proto 2000, Walthers Goldline,
and Branchline Blueprint series kits. Most of these kits were/
are sold in sets of up to 12 different car numbers.
To start, Proto 2000 (P2K) kits stand out as a good choice for
batch-building. They are well-designed, highly detailed kits that
flooded the market in the early runs. They build up into crafts-
man-quality models. They have great metal wheelsets, and the
proper amount of weight is included in the kit. Look for tank
cars, stock cars, boxcars. gondolas, flats, war-emergency hop-
pers and PS II CD hoppers from the early runs. A good starter
batch might be a set of four P2K cars, or perhaps a set of four
Branchline Yardmaster series boxcars if you want to start out
with something easier. For the first attempt at batch-building, I
recommend staying away from unpainted kits.
Batch-building steps
First I will outline the basic steps of a batch-build and then I’ll
take you through a build of four Proto 2000 Stock cars.
The steps can be summarized as follows:
1. Study the directions and identify the subassemblies
2. Assess the trucks, wheels trucks, and couplers
3. Sort and unpack
4. Cut out and assemble
5. Road test and adjust
6. Add a little weathering
Now for a closer look at the various construction steps:
Step one: Study directions and identify
subassemblies
Study the instructions to familiarize yourself with the specifics
of the kit construction. Typically kits are put together in sub-
assemblies: The roof, the underbody, the car ends, and then
usually the body. I generally build one kit first, or build up the
subassemblies ahead of the batch, just to make sure there
are no surprises. It’s far better to make an error once, instead
of four times (or 12 times, if the batch is big)! This also elimi-
nates mistakes in the directions about the order of assembly.
Plan to include weathering as part of the construction process,
since it is easier to weather certain parts of the cars as they are
put together as opposed to taking them apart after assembly
(especially wheels and trucks).
Step two: Trucks, wheels and couplers
Now is the time to assess the quality and reliability of the
trucks and couplers, if they are supplied with the kit. Since the
9: A few reefer body assemblies await roofs.
9
MRH-Mar 2014
