# Wood kts?



## AZ_Ron (Dec 27, 2007)

Hey all... I figure I'd try to shorten my learning curve by asking opinions
on which wood kits are good, and which to shy away from, if any.
What recommendations do you all have for wood kits?
I've got plastic modeling experience, and some woodworking experience,

but I've never built a wooden model before.

I've got some buildings now and a few of them need some repairs. Some are plastic, Pola, 
and some are scrathbuilt wood. I figure I'll learn a few things doing them. 


Ron


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Ron: I have a Hartford Products kit for a Carter Brothers flat car. Have not built it yet, but it looks super nice. Lots of nice detail. All the wood parts appear cut and ready to assemble. There are a large number of detailed white metal that would go together with epoxy. the drawings are very well done too. The kit is somewhat pricey, but it will be a very nice car, if I ever get around to it.

It appears Hartford is undergoing a business rebuild right now. Go to their website and maybe give them a call. 




http://www.hartfordpr.com/


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## CCSII (Jan 3, 2008)

Wrong Hartford, that link goes to the old site, currently out of business. 

This link, either activated by a kind poster, or cut and paste into your browser: 

http://www.hartfordlargescaleproducts.com/Home_Page.php




... takes you to Bob's new business.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Bronson Tate has some nice kits: http://www.bronson-tate.com/index.shtml


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## steam5 (Jun 22, 2008)

Ron, 

I think it’s best you just have a go, it’s not all that scary. If you get stuck at some time post a particular question here, we will lend a hand. 

One of the best tips I can give you is make sure you spend time prepping the wood by giving it all a good sand with a fine paper. Some times it my also be good to pre paint some items, sand back to remove any imperfections then use in assembling the kit. Most of these kits will have metal detail parts, make sure you clean them all up, nothing gives away model more that casting flash and mould marks. 

What scale do you model? 1:24, 1:22.5, 1:20.3, 1:29, 1:32 or other? Knowing this will narrow down you kit choices. Have you been eying of a particular kit? 

I’m not aware of any you should stay away from, but I’m sure some are easier than others to put together. I have only put together a Phil’s Narrow Gauge kit in large scale and I think it went together quite well. 

Alan


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Ron,
The Phil's Narrow Gauge Kits are well engineered and go together nicely. I wrote an article here describing the process: Building a PNG Reefer Kit


The Hartford kits are much more involved. I've got some pictures of the construction on my web site. Building a Hartford Caboose


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## CCSII (Jan 3, 2008)

Neat work Bruce. 


The easy Phil's takes eight pages and the hard Hartford takes one page. What are you hiding?


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

I put together a Smith Pond Junction (http://www.spjrr.com/spjrr/index.php) barn kit- 










Simple kit- cheap, lots of wood (cedar) and good plans and you provide any hardware needed (hinges, door knobs, etc.). Lots of cutting and gluing. 

It has held up well but I usually don't leave it out during the winter. 

-Brian


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Hehehe. No hiding. I was just inclined to write an article for some reason. It's all in the timing.









The Smith Pond kits are board by board. They say don't leave them out, but I've had mine outside for about 5 or 6 years now. No worse for wear. It's a bit dirtier now than it was back then:


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## Fritz (Jan 11, 2008)

on which wood kits are good, and which to shy away from, if any. 
What recommendations do you all have for wood kits? 

All the wooden kits on the market are very good. But there are modellers, which can not handle them. That´s why you see mainly ready made plastic in these forums. 
If you want to be on the safe side, built a wooden plane or boat. If it fliies or does not sink, you are ready to built everything from wood. 

Laserkits are a very good starting point: 









Made in Germany 

[url]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Kraehwinkle/Gn15%20Passagierwagen/DSCN6635.jpg[/b][/url]
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Made in Argentina 

Have Fun 

Fritz / Otter 1


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## AZ_Ron (Dec 27, 2007)

Wow, lots of great advice, thank you!
As far as what scale, that's not terribly important at this point. We had several pola buildings, 
and some scratch built pieces at the moment. We're not going for accuracy on this buildup... we want
to learn and have fun doing it. When we move into the house we'll be owning, then we'll put more thought into
sticking with a particular scale, but one of the nice things about 'G' scale is you can use a few of the 
different scales together, as long as there's a bit of separation to them and not worry too much.
The Smith Pond site was the one I was trying like **** to find, thanks for that!! I like to read and learn, hoping
it'll give me a little bit of an advantage when I actually go to get my hands dirty! 

Thanks again guys!!

Ron


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## Bruce Chandler (Jan 2, 2008)

Ron,

The other place you might want to look is Garden Texture they have some really nice buildings. I haven't done any of the buildings, but I have done a few of the bridges. Great instructions and very well engineered kits.


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

I should also add the Timberline Station log building kits - http://www.timberlinestation.com/ 
They are well designed, sturdy and fun to put together - 



















-Brian


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