Aristo-Craft 1:29 SCALE REEFER KIT
Manufacturer: ARISTO-CRAFT TRAINS/Polk's Model Hobbies, Inc., 346 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304. Price: ART-46200K undecorated reefer kit $29.95 each suggested list.
MODELERS TAKE NOTE: ARISTO-CRAFT's 1:29 scale freight car kits have arrived and they open almost endless possibilities for customization. The reefer is the most time consuming to assemble because it has the most parts so we chose that to review first. The result is a model as good as, even potentially better than, ARISTO-CRAFT's decorated rolling stock.
Why would the model be better? If you take the time and build carefully, you may remove the little burrs and sprue marks sometimes remaining after mass production. You may perfectly fit and align each part. And, if you prefer to body mount Kadee® couplers, you may install them without concern about marring a delicate finish since the model is gray injected plastic.
I assembled my kit with no modifications. But something about unpainted plastic seems to invite kitbashing or improvement. For example Outdoor Railroader honorary staff member, Bob Uniack, bought a few boxcar and reefer kits and already is cutting and splicing a pair of 40 foot reefers into more modern 50 footers. One will be circa 1945, the other a more modern car from the mid-1960s. The main tools he has used are a razor saw and a file.
Except for minor differences in the dimensions of the side and roof panels, the doors, and the roof hatches, the reefer is identical to ARISTO-CRAFT's boxcar. The overall dimensions are exactly the same: a scale 40 feet 9 inches over the end sills, 10 feet 6 inches wide, and 11 feet 10 inches high from the bottom of the end sill to the top of the roofwalk. The sizes of full size reefers varied but many rode a little lower than boxcars. ARISTO-CRAFT identifies no specific prototype for its model but I suspect the duplication in dimensions reflects economy in manufacturing. Tall or short, the car's appearance is convincing.
As all ARISTO-CRAFT cars, the reefers are mostly plastic. The only metal parts are the solid brass grab irons and strap steps, wheel axles, springs, and screws. The Bettendorf trucks are crisp castings with working equalization springs. The doors and their latches operate; so do the roof hatches. The flooring has simulated wood grain, the underbody detail is good and, as virtually all ARISTO-CRAFT rolling stock, all the body hardware consists of separate press-on parts.
I was able to assemble my model without so much as looking at the exploded drawing-but I looked anyway just to admire it. The illustration shows every part of the model, even the little parts making up the trucks and couplers. In case you were wondering, the trucks and couplers come fully assembled. It includes a complete parts list and you may purchase any piece from ARISTO-CRAFT; they keep an inventory in New Jersey. As an separate purchase option, the manufacturer offers blackened metal wheels.
Construction took about five hours because I spent about an hour trying to install the sturdy brass grab irons onto the body. They required a little bending to fit properly. The other time consuming step was fitting and assembling the door and roof hatch hinges. They needed some clean-up with a hobby knife at the point where they detached from the sprue and, since they were small and similar in appearance, it took about 45 minutes to sort them and fit them into position. I bonded the plastic parts in place with Tenax liquid cement. Construction was easy.
ARISTO-CRAFT's reefer kit builds into a neat, good looking, robust model. Even without modification, the addition of paint, lettering and, maybe, weathering will turn it into an eye-catcher. It is a very good product.-RR
