For those of you who might be interested, I have nearly finished my first ever wood rolling stock kit project. It is a Deerfield River Laser wood hopper kit.
It was:
1) easy to assemble
2) had good directions
3) turned out better than I thought it would (not because of the kit - rather it being my first attempt to build something in wood)
4) went together quickly
Without glue drying time, staining the wood prior to assembly, etc, I could easily assemble one in an evening.
If you wanted a fleet of these I would build one first just to get the feel and then assembly line the rest of the kits.
I will be using San Juan Car Company archbar trucks and KD couplers. I mount my couplers at the On3 coupler height and to my delight, Deerfield River Laser has taken this into consideration by providing multiple shims for the bolster, my guess being to aide in the process of coupler height adjustment.
The kit comes without trucks and couplers and is available direct from Deerfield.
Kevin S.
I followed your link and made some wonderful discovery.
I might build some of these kits myself. They probably will fit right in even though the 1880's is a tad early for my 30's road.
I was thinking how good it is to get away from HO scale and generic large distributor/China factory shipping and deal directly with little mom and pops around the USA who are making On30 stuff right here at home.
My little road is a short line that has managed to adapt and survive into the early 1960s (when my grandfather took me for my first ride on the Silverton). The tourists have discovered it and it now looks like it might survive.
The hopper will be used for MOW service to spread ballast. That's my story and I am sticking it to it!
For EBT fans out there, Deerfield River Laser has and EBT caboose kit in O scale.
The bare wood is quite... kitty.
What to stain or prime with before assembly?
I used a product called Weather-it. I just brushed it on with a brush and let it dry about 30 minutes between coats. The more weathered effect you want, the more applications.
Then I "dry brushed" a red acrylic paint followed and/or mixed with a burnt umber acrylic paint. I like the effect and would post a photo but no digital camera until the daughter gets home from college.
It was easier than dealing with styrene or resin.