Merchant's Row I, A Magnuson Kit Bash

[ACL1504]

I need to start building structures for downtown Tahope. It may be uptown Tahope depending on your upbringing but for me downtown is where more of the older structures will be and they can't all be wood. But I digress. 

I didn't want to build this as part of the layout thread due to the fact I have plenty of material to show there.

I purchased this kit new in 1982 or '83 for The large sum of $39.85. The kit was Designed and the Pattern Work was done by Bob Lunde. Not sure how many Magnuson kits he did, but I'm sure there were several.

If you've never built an old cast resin kit, you may pick up some tricks here. Left in the box, as mine has been over the past 40+ years, the resin walls will settle and warp slightly or terribly.





Back in a few.

[ACL1504]

Magnuson always tried to pack the kits so the parts didn't touch each other. I believe this was due to the sticky mold release agent didn't cause the parts to stick to each other and thus hard to separate.

[ACL1504]

[ACL1504]

After 40+ years in the box, the walls were all still very tacky/sticky.

[deemery]

I have a couple old classic Magnuson kits in the stash, as well as several I've built/bashed over the years.  I'll be looking forward to hearing your tricks.

One trick I do have to contribute, though:  To flatten warped casting, get a honed stone (marble) tile (not ceramic).  Put the casting on the tile, and put both into the oven set to about 170.  "Bake" for 30 minutes, then let sit for another 30 minutes or so.

dave

[ACL1504]

And of course, every wall was slightly warped. One more than the other.



The question is how do you unwarp a warped resin wall section? There have been several opinions on how to do this over the years and I didn't like any of them. At one time is was suggested to boil the walls and then lay flat to dry. Nope, not gonna happen. Another "idigit" idea some brain trust came up with was to put the walls in a microwave. I know, I know, nothing to say here that is family friendly.

I've done it two different ways and they have worked pretty well for me.

I let the walls sit in the sun for about 20-30 minutes and then place them flat with weights until cool.

[ACL1504]

I have a couple old classic Magnuson kits in the stash, as well as several I've built/bashed over the years.  I'll be looking forward to hearing your tricks.

One trick I do have to contribute, though:  To flatten warped casting, get a honed stone (marble) tile (not ceramic).  Put the casting on the tile, and put both into the oven set to about 170.  "Bake" for 30 minutes, then let sit for another 30 minutes or so.

dave

Dave,

That's a good one as well. However, I've heard that different manufacturers use different cast resins and not all of them are oven friendly.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Dave mentioned the oven trick, although I've never tried that one. I'll show you here the other method I've used on severely warped resin walls.

The worst case I've ever encountered was the Franz Faulk Brewery kit manufactured by Master Creations. Those walls were so severely warped I found it necessary to epoxy square brass tubing to the inside to remove the warp.

[ACL1504]

It took a few months but I did finish the build. I made it an abandoned brewery.

[ACL1504]

[Vietnam Seabee]

Well now, this should be interesting.

I'll be here in the front row...hope you have some diet pepsi to pass around
terry

[ACL1504]

Okay, back to Merchant's Row I.

I next cleaned the extra resin flash out of the windows using a small metal file. I also trimmed flash off the sides of the walls.



Done for today on this.

[ACL1504]

Well now, this should be interesting.

I'll be here in the front row...hope you have some diet pepsi to pass around
terry

Terry,

Welcome to the party. Not to worry, I have plenty of Diet Pepsi and H2O for those that don't know what they are missing. 

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

Great start Tom. Hopefully you won't need the square brass tubing. I'll definitely be following.

[Ensign]

Hi Tom, I love these old Magnuson kits!
I have built some of them in the past including this one, and even have a few more to build in my stash.
I did not know about sitting the walls on a flat sufface in the sun trick.
Like Dave I have placed mine in the oven, to flatten out the walls.
I even picked up one of their kits last week at a train show for 10 bucks "Wanglies Dept. store"
You did a beautiful job on that Master Creations brewery!
I am certain you will do an equally beautiful job on this one as well.

Greg