First Time Kit Construction

Having done some previous boxcar kits before, but never seriously, I decided it was time to do a real kit project, and do it the "right way".  I bought this kit a few years ago at Maritime Hobbies & Crafts for a mere $10.00, and figured it was time to stop moving the box around with all the parts in it without assembling it.

Well to be blunt, I understood why the price was listed at what it was.  As I began to piece the tank halves together...well I got quite frustrated but was determined to get through it.  The halves were slightly warped, enough so that it took more than just CA to cement the two together.  After multiple attempts, my wonderful wife suggested I use elastics, as she must've sensed I was getting close to taking a hammer to the darned thing, and it worked well!

My wife's brilliant idea of using elastics to hold the tanker halves together.

The rest of the assembly was not too difficult, and the two photos below show the almost car on my module.  All that is missing in these photos is the stirrups...

The tanker assembled minus the stirrups.

The CN SD70i coupled up to the RAIX tanker, again, complete minus the stirrups.

I saved the stirrups for last, as mentioned above, and I know why.  What an absolute royal pain in the butt.  Needless to say, the car has three of the four stirrups on now.  I say three and not four, because yesterday as I took one last peek at it before storing it away...one of the stirrups snapped off.  Before it goes into service, she needs a heavy dose of weathering along the top, and the final stirrup added.

Overall I enjoyed this kit, and like always, learned lots!

On another side note, this is my second post within the past seven days, possibly a positive sign of things to come!

- Caleb