50 tonne Flat Wagon type SSys
Battalion Bits Kit #BT-3
1:48 Scale
Review by Terry Ashley
The set contains 60 parts in light cream resin plus a short metal strip and lengths of plastic rob and tube for the axles. The quality of the resin parts is well cast but there is a lot of excess resin film to be removed and some parts are cast with a backing film that will require sanding on a flat surface to remove, but make sure you don’t remove too much resin during this process.
Some of the parts are in different coloured resin and this along with the resin film gives the impressive of poor quality parts on first look but once the resin film is removed the parts are cleanly cast without any other blemishes, especially the large flat top and side frames which are all perfectly straight.
There is also two decal sheets with all the stencilling found on these rail cars and this is a welcome inclusion as these stencils are a prominent feature of these otherwise quite plain looking flat cars.
The detail included on the parts is very good with well detailed axle boxes with separate brake shoes on each wheel, these shoes have different detail on the outside so make sure you assembly these the right way around.
The other well detailed feature are the hook and link assemblies used to join additional cars, there have separate links, turnbuckles, hooks and shackles that make quite delicate assemblies that look very good.
The instruction sheet has extensive text notes on the assembly with some side view drawings of the assembled flat car to show the positioning of the parts. There are no sequential assembly drawings for the axle assembly to the lower bogie frames and you will have to study the text notes carefully before assembly to understand the process but there doesn’t seem to be any problems if the notes are followed.
A parts layout diagram shows all the parts which also helps identify the parts during assembly plus a photo of the real links assembly to further assist with things.
The positioning of the many decal stencils is clearly shown in a large side view drawing of the full flat car and there shouldn’t be any problems applying these.
Conclusion:
This is a well detailed flat car but is not for the inexperienced modeller
and you wouldn’t choose this set for your first resin kit, but the
end result will offer something different to display you model and would
make an interesting diorama accessory.
The only thing you need is a set of rails to sit the flat car on and US O Gauge
is equal to 1:48 scale so this should offer these.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to Battalion Bits and Frank Berger for the review set.
Page created 15 May 2005