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I'm in the process of making my Christmas list for the family. I need to purchase a few automobiles for my town. The era I'm in is 1920 to 1930, give or take a few years. Scale is HO. I'm thinking of a few Model T's, Model A's, a Mac chain drive truck, and a few horse drawn wagons. This is a small rural town in the middle of no where. The only company that I've seen that offers these items at a decent price is Jordan Minniatures. I've heard that the kits are rather diffecult. What I'm wondering is, how diffecult? Do they come in twenty pieces, or just a few? I'm looking for any opinions or advice on the subject. Thanks.
I've never built a car, but I've built a couple of their wagons. The pieces are really small. You cannot pick them up without tools. That is the main challenge. But the models come out really nice.
I love the Jordan Miniatures products. Yep they are "Fun" to put together. Tools i suggest you have before you start working with the kits: several sizes of small tweezers, single edged razor blades and Exacto knives, an Optivisor, Flush cutting sprue pliers, nerves of steel (very steady hands), and a lot of patience........ I actually do enjoy working on the Jordan kits and feel like I have really accomplished something when the kit turns out. Their directions are very clear and straightforward.
Some of the 1920's Jordan vehicles I have done:
Fordson tractor: About 25 parts in this kit. Each rear wheel is 5 different parts........
Mack Chain Drive:
Ford Model T and a Model TT one ton truck:
Small parts? The cranks on the vehicles are about 1/16th of an inch long. Be very careful cutting off the very small parts as they have a tendency to go.... boing........ and disappear. Ever spend 3 hours trying to find a 1/16th of an inch long crank that just flew off into the unknown? I have.........
Ray, those are great looking models. It looks like I need to learn a little more patience before Christmas! I hope mine turn out half as nice as yours.
I've built a few of these kits in my time and, as Ray says, you really need the tools to do the job right. I haven't found the instructions to be very good and had to refer to the picture on the box a lot of times to figure out where things go. I spent an awful ot of time looking for those little parts that flew off into space also. You do get a feeling of accomplishment putting one together but I'd sure buy it assembled if it was available in plastic or die cast if I had the choice.
Apologies Corey,
As you can see the kits are very detailed and some of the parts are fairly small so two pair of tweasers would be a good idea, a heavier nose and a fine/pointed nose for fine detail. Also if you buy a drill bits set be sure it's listed as either a High Speed Steal set or says HSS as to the typed of material the drill bits are made from. Plastic sure doesn't require HSS bits but when you want to drill metal their what you'll need. If your looking for a source for these Enco is the place to go for all machinest tools.
