BurlingtonNorthern
New Member
Due to the limited availability of ‘S’-scale equipment, both in kit form and ready-to-run, I’ve found myself building many of the old “box of sticks” wooden models to produce a desired piece of rolling stock.
Since there are so few of these kits remaining, and I may want another car of that type (either now or in the future) I’ve begun making wood and styrene copies of many of the old “box of sticks” kits, leaving both the original kit and one set of currently produced parts, and the jigs used to make them, untouched.
Having become moderately skilled in this form of kit production, I’ve actually begun producing whole kits from scratch and, like before, leaving a master copy for latter reproduction.
Some of the kits I’ve produced in this manner include a Russell steel plow (the blades are made from brass sheets set into jigs) and the taconite ore car modifications I described in another post ( http://s542.photobucket.com/albums/gg436/BurlingtonNorthern/ ).
Also, a friend of mine who models the Durango & Silverton (a narrow gauge railroad) in HO has asked me to use my technique to reproduce some of his kits so that he may construct them at a latter date.
With the aid of my directions, one of these “box of sticks” kits can easily be transformed in an exquisite model by a reasonably skilled modeler.
Given the popularity of my kits among my friends and fellow club members (all experienced model builders), I’m starting to wonder if their might be a market for these kits if I set up a website offering them.
Were I to only sell those models I’ve made from scratch (thus avoiding copyright issues) and include a detailed, illustrated set of directions, do you think there is a market for plastic and wood “box of sticks” models of equipment not currently available???
I’ve already run a cost calculation and believe I could offer something like the taconite modification kit for around $5.00, a complete car (minus trucks and couplers) for about $25.00 and more advanced piece of equipment like the Russell plow for $45.00.
Since there are so few of these kits remaining, and I may want another car of that type (either now or in the future) I’ve begun making wood and styrene copies of many of the old “box of sticks” kits, leaving both the original kit and one set of currently produced parts, and the jigs used to make them, untouched.
Having become moderately skilled in this form of kit production, I’ve actually begun producing whole kits from scratch and, like before, leaving a master copy for latter reproduction.
Some of the kits I’ve produced in this manner include a Russell steel plow (the blades are made from brass sheets set into jigs) and the taconite ore car modifications I described in another post ( http://s542.photobucket.com/albums/gg436/BurlingtonNorthern/ ).
Also, a friend of mine who models the Durango & Silverton (a narrow gauge railroad) in HO has asked me to use my technique to reproduce some of his kits so that he may construct them at a latter date.
With the aid of my directions, one of these “box of sticks” kits can easily be transformed in an exquisite model by a reasonably skilled modeler.
Given the popularity of my kits among my friends and fellow club members (all experienced model builders), I’m starting to wonder if their might be a market for these kits if I set up a website offering them.
Were I to only sell those models I’ve made from scratch (thus avoiding copyright issues) and include a detailed, illustrated set of directions, do you think there is a market for plastic and wood “box of sticks” models of equipment not currently available???
I’ve already run a cost calculation and believe I could offer something like the taconite modification kit for around $5.00, a complete car (minus trucks and couplers) for about $25.00 and more advanced piece of equipment like the Russell plow for $45.00.
