Union Station Products N Scale

[Iain]

Anyone here do builds with Union Station Products n scale core kits and sides?  How'd it go?

[Tad_T]

I’m interested in this as well.

There are a few cars that I would like to have that are not available anywhere else.

[OrangeAnon]

Here's a Surfliner I finished.


Takeaways: fluting is rather thick, as it's another layer on top of the side. Detail relief was inconsistent. Be extra careful with your glue, the sides will warp if you look at them funny.

Here's a dome coach I gave up on after Lowell Smith announced his.


Takeaways: slab siding is just one plain surface, you'd need to scribe in the panel lines yourself. Detail relief was fine, though there isn't much to begin with. Learned my lesson with glue this time.

Overall, they'll give you a decent car if you have the skills. I've since then started a car with etched metal sides, and I greatly prefer the experience. Pieces are more robust, details more fine, and you can try again if you glue something crooked. Can't do that with plastic if you use the wrong glue.

[OldEastRR]

O the doors and windows on the brass sides come recessed or are they separate pieces the modeler glues in?

[OrangeAnon]

There's three layers to them. The doors and inner window frames are the first layer, the outer frames and main side with rivets is the second layer, the letter board and belt rail are the third layer. You can see an image of the fret here. https://kvmodels.com/kv-1509n/

[Sokramiketes]

I've built a couple USP cars.  While you can hide the thickness of the fluting panels with some cars, the main issue for me is that the windows are consistently oversize.  Like they were measured from the car framing opening and are missing the frame and gasket to bring them into appearance range with a Kato/Railsmith/Etc.

[thomasjmdavis]

Let me start by saying I am a fan of Union Station.  The sides they make fill some of the gaping holes in N scale passenger car consists. And, while one has to be careful with assembly, they are not difficult for an experienced modeler to build a nice model.  But, that said, I am going to try to address the OP question on use of cores and sides.

On their core kits... I only had one experience, and that not good.  Which... I will post a picture of... BUT... I purchased this kit very soon after USP made its own cores available several years ago- this may have been a prototype for all I know.  The ones pictured on their page now appear somewhat different, and include interior bulkheads- so may be revised and/or may use different resin or a different printer.  The floor was so flexible, I tossed it out and used a spare ALM from my parts box. The roof was stiff enough, but, when it arrived, it had a kink in it- a sharp bend of 5-10 degrees a couple inches from one end.. I put it in hot water... and the roof flattened out almost instantly.  Let it sit for a week, and... still flat, so I assembled a model using some old JnJ baggage car sides.  Project went into the 'to be painted box'.  Not a priority... so it was still there this summer.  Beginning of the summer, I had the box out, it looked fine.  Last week... not so much.  Here's what it looks like now (I don't know how this happened, but roof developed a severe twist and broke the glue joints to the brass)...

sorry about the angle- I tried twice to 'rotate' it in the gallery edit function, but without result.

I've built a couple USP cars.  While you can hide the thickness of the fluting panels with some cars, the main issue for me is that the windows are consistently oversize.  Like they were measured from the car framing opening and are missing the frame and gasket to bring them into appearance range with a Kato/Railsmith/Etc.

I wonder if perhaps this varies between runs, or is more a problem with some of their sides than others- I haven't noticed an issue, but... now I will be taking a closer look.  One of the articles I read years ago on building car sides (USP, M&R, BCS, etc) recommended using a fine tip paint marker to simulate window gaskets.  When I measured one of my USP (ACL) diner windows against an early Kato Budd diner (glass out, just the side), the Kato measured 4mm and the USP measured 4.01 mm (and .01 mm = 4/10000 in, or 0.5 scale inch, if I am doing all the math right).  Window heights vary.  The cars I've received from USP look pretty good compared to photos, but I admit I haven't compared them to blueprints.  I've also noticed that some manufactured cars have windows that appear too short in one or both dimensions.  I am now tempted to take my calipers to all the various plan 4140 10-6s in my collection, to see how much variation there is between several manufacturers of the same car.

I have been very happy with the smoothside cars I've built using USP sides.  The assembly of the sides takes some getting used to if you've been spoiled by the old Des Plaines Models smoothside kits, but the USP sides are available in such a wide range of prototypes, the extra work is worth it for those who are prototype conscious. The fluting on a USP car does stand out- I find this most difficult to hide on Budd cars, where the construction techniques Budd used better integrated and leveled the sides, where on a PS car (especially early fluted cars), the fluting was essentially an add on (hence the difficulties later on with corrosion between the fluting panels and the corten steel).

For heavyweight cars, I agree, the best sides are the KV models (often available, coincidentally, from Des Plaines Hobbies, which sometimes still has stock of cars when KV itself is out of stock).  #2 would be the ones made (now out of production, AFAIK) by M&R- which are single piece sides, or single sides with add on doors, but well detailed (Roberto's first prototype for a heavyweight side had separate window and door pieces that created more depth, but he found it very tedious to assemble)- the KV solution- keeping the windows together on a sheet, solves that problem)   I haven't tried a USP heavyweight, but given the amount of archer rivets required, it would be a time consuming proposition.

For fluted cars... M&R (or Des Plaines fluted kits which include M&R sides), when you can find them. While known for ATSF cars, he also made UP, SP, several PS sleepers and (IIRC) some IC cars.

For smoothside- Brass Car Sides or M&R if you prefer metal sides.  If you prefer plastic- the old Des Plaines kits are my favorites, followed by USP.  I have tried to build some Laser-Horizons kits, but I find the thin sides need a lot of reinforcement.  Last on my list would be the "Laser-kit" from AMB- essentially clear acrylic, with the "laser" part bring masking paper that has been cut for windows- left in place until you are done- trying to get the tape up without scratching adjacent paint, and hoping that no paint seeped under.

[nkalanaga]

I have a couple of the AMB acrylic kits, now retired, built decades ago.  I didn't have any problems removing the masking, but there is one issue that is hard to correct after painting.  The sides still look "clear" after painting, unless they're primed first with a truly opaque paint.  Mine were both UP prototypes, and the yellow looked very odd on a clear side.

[Iain]

Thanks, y'all.  I pulled the trigger on sides for three SRR cars.

[nickelplate759]

I have a couple of the AMB acrylic kits, now retired, built decades ago.  I didn't have any problems removing the masking, but there is one issue that is hard to correct after painting.  The sides still look "clear" after painting, unless they're primed first with a truly opaque paint.  Mine were both UP prototypes, and the yellow looked very odd on a clear side.

I did an IC 12 11 br car,  painted NP green and it came out fine.  Opaque paint for sure!
With the AMB sides I also round the bottom edge of the skirts if there are any.

I've posted it before, but here's the same (poorly lit) picture again.



TruColor paints, Microscale decals.   Rosco filter gel for window tinting.

Also did an IC baggage-dorm painted IC brown & orange, but don't have a picture handy.

[Sokramiketes]

That's a great model, George!

[nkalanaga]

Off topic, but why would the Illinois Central have a sleeper painted NP Green?  As far as I know, the two roads didn't even have an interchange, since the NP stopped in the Twin Cities.

[nickelplate759]

Off topic, but why would the Illinois Central have a sleeper painted NP Green?  As far as I know, the two roads didn't even have an interchange, since the NP stopped in the Twin Cities.

It was leased to NP.  IC did the painting, so it uses their lettering style.

IC in turn leased sleepers from NP in winter (peak season for IC).  Lowell Smith has two of those coming soon.
<edit>  Here's a link to the Lowell Smith offering: https://lowellsmith.net/product/railsmith-n-p-i-c-sleeper-pair/"

IC leased cars from other roads too (not just NP) for their winter traffic in the 1960s.   I've got a UP 4-4-2 sleeper (not coach as I said before) in IC paint (from Centrailia) as well.

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