I built a pilot model of this kit, and the underframe had a couple of issues. First and worst, it was badly bowed. I tried oven treatment several time, and the frame flattened nicely when hot, but bowed when cool to room temperature. I tried hot water treatment, with the same result. Finally, I cut the stringers partway through at several points along the length of the frame, and glued the stringers and sill back together on a flat surface. You can see the wavy appearance and hot water distortion of the finished underframe in one of the attached photos.  I suggested using the 3D printed underframe as a master for a resin casting. Apparently, that didn’t happen. The other issue with the underframe is that the brake components are too small and improperly placed for the SM-18. The second issue was that the frets were stacked without a spacer, and the nickel silver fret shagged one of the brass  frets, and bent the sill steps and ladders. I straightened them as best I could, but I couldn’t eliminate all of the kinks completely. I suggested paper spacers to prevent this sort of damage. There are several other issues with the kit design, e.g. the roof extends too far over the sides and ends, the end fascia extends beyond the side fascia, the handbrake mounting tab is part of the roof, the sides don’t match the cross bearers and cross ties, etc. A added several enhancements to detail the kit beyond the basic materials supplied. Comparing the attached photos with prototype photos is the best way to evaluate the fidelity of the model.

I built this model last winter, and I plan to media blast it together with a group of tank cars this weekend. I’ll past pictures after the car is painted and decaled. Speaking of decals, there were no decals in the pilot kit, but I have a stash of SM-18 decals from the 24 Sunshine kits I built years ago.

Nelson Moyer