PLEASE READ BEFORE ORDERING
Our card kits have gained a high reputation, and many repeat orders, which is a testimonial to our satisfied customers, but we find that a few purchasers have not bothered to read the write up.
a) The kits are printed on card, and are not READY-TO-RUN plastic or metal models.
b) Because the subjects we cover often have very limited sales, pre-cut card is NOT possible without increasing the price to prohibitive levels. This means YOU have to cut out the parts, including any windows, doors etc. If you are looking for a “SHAKE THE BOX AND IT FALLS TOGETHER” KIT, then our kits are DEFINITELY NOT for you. If you are prepared to do quite a lot of work, then you will end up with a model that has far more detail than the majority of the throw it together kits.
c) We use quite thin 160gsm card for our kits, and there are several reasons for this. Partly this is to keep costs down, but there are more significant reasons. If you look at most kits, the windows are recessed far more than they should be due to the thickness of the material, and beading or other overlays are also much too prominent, so are either omitted by kit designers or are grossly over-scale. With the thin card we use, you can get it RIGHT, but it is more work for us to design and for you to build.
d) Anyone knows that you can’t bend card in two planes, so domed roof ends are “out” on a kit. – WRONG – with the thin card WE use, it will deform to permit domed panels. By using a multi-layering technique we can cover items that are quite impracticable in heavier card. We tried various thicknesses until we found what will work. Another benefit is that two or three layers of thin card, when glued together are MUCH STRONGER than one thicker piece of card and are less likely to sag or deform.
e) With thin card, we can add a lot more detail. For example our Ramsey water tank kit depicts a wooden tank that is very weathered with rotten wood. The colour artwork on all four faces is an exact match for the original, and with multi-layering you get 3D decayed wood in full colour. How many other kits do you know that offer that ????
TO SUMMARISE – IF YOU EXPECT A KIT YOU CAN THROW TOGETHER IN FIVE MINUTES, THEN YOU WILL NOT LIKE OUR KITS. If, on the other hand, you are prepared to take some time, you can build a delightful model, and have a look at the photos of the kits in our range. The display model is built up from one of our kits, but you need to take time and put in some effort.
Best wishes
Robert & Elena
An “Elro” O Gauge 1:43 scale Card Construction Kit by Elena & Robert Hendry to build Douglas Corporation Tramways Cable Cars 79-82. The kit builds up as a static card model, but can be motorised, using commercial mechanisms. To complete the kit, you will need power trucks if you require a motorised model, plus scissors/craft knife, a steel ruler, glue, scrap card, wire, glazing material, and felt tip pens or paint to touch in exposed edges of the card.
The Upper Douglas cable line climbed steeply from Victoria St at the south end of the Promenade into Upper Douglas, and was opened in 1896 as a part of a package whereby the IOM Tramways & Electric Power Co were able to extend their lease on the horse tram service along the promenade. Loss making from the start, it was acquired by Douglas Corporation when the IOMT&EPCo collapsed in 1900. Services continued until 1929. A couple of toastrack cars were converted into a bungalow and have been rebuilt into a cable car, but none of the saloons survived. Cars were painted blue and ivory with varnished wood. The blue of the original cars and of the kit is darker than the illustration, but the lighter rendering in the picture gives a much better idea of the detail included in the kit.
In this age of plastic and resin, the use of card in a kit may seem “old-fashioned”, but card is a very versatile and convenient modelling medium, and where small production runs are called for, is ideal, as it offers versatility at low cost. To do a kit like this in plastic or resin would put up the cost 10 or 20 fold. The kit consists of several sheets of pre-printed fully coloured card, along with detailed instructions and a photo of a completed model for you to refer to during construction. It includes sides, ends, floors, roof and interior detailing, including the gripper controls, bulkheads, seats, etc. It can be built up as a simple non glazed “box” by a younger or less experienced modeller, or the windows can be cut out, and a glazed model with interior detailing is possible. The level of detail is up to you. As different modellers have different ideas as to the thickness of glazing they prefer, glazing is not included, but the kit is built to allow for approx 1mm clear plastic glazing sheet, but thinner or thicker material can be utilised if very simple modifications are made, and this is explained in the instructions. The card is quite thin, but this means that it bends smoothly but flooring, roofs and other structural areas should be reinforced with additional card that is readily available from stationers, or you can use a cornflake or similar packet if you are into recycling ! In assembling the sides, we make up a “sandwich” comprising the pre-printed side, a sheet of 1mm glazing and then the pre-printed interior. Apart from bending much more smoothly that a thick sheet of card, the thinner card we use means that unlike most die-cast or plastic models where the window frames are much too thick, the windows are not inset too far, enhancing realism greatly. The kit includes fold-up card bogies, but these can be replaced by commercially available mechanisms, so you can run your completed model on a tramway, as we do with ours.
Unlike expensive etched brass kits that many modellers find too daunting, and are not really suitable to the younger modeller, this card kit is readily affordable and is a good start to modelling, and provides a way to recreate an exceptionally attractive tramway of yesteryear. The photo of the finished model, which has been fitted with working power trucks, wire handrails and truss rods instead of the printed card items, and shows what you can be achieved with the kit. Whilst some experience of card construction kits is a help, the beginner can try his hand to gain that invaluable quality, experience.
Given the reference to CARD and KIT in the item description and in the write up, it may seem un-necessary to say that this is NOT a ready-to-run die-cast metal model, but one e-bayer bought one of our kits and then complained that the description was “misleading”, for although it included the words CARD nine times and KIT, he thought it was a complete R-T-R metal model !!! He complained about “misleading” advertising, and returned the kit. We refunded his payment in full, even though the mistake was entirely his, so he very kindly trashed us with bad feedback. Happily most e-bayers are really nice and we have quite a few customers who have bought each of our MER or Glasgow kits as it has been released, and the kind comments really do matter, but sadly one incident like that does stick in your memory.