I built my first LaBelle kit shortly after the passenger cars were introduced—I still remember the issue of Model Railroader with a photo of the introductory kit on the cover, January 1960.  I was 13 and I built the same kit as reviewed with little difficulty.  It was one of the first really complex craft kits I built.  I had few problems and it came out fine.  I think the kits are a good starter as long as the instructions are followed.  Painting will be the most difficult thing to deal with; as a nearly all wood kit it will need either solvent based paints or an application of either sanding sealer or primer before painting with acrylics to discourage warping and raised grain. 

 

I’ve found that just jumping in and doing it is the best way to get going. 

 

Good luck!

 

Larry

 

PS: According to the review that kit retailed for $4.95, postpaid.

I have 4 assembled hon3 kadee trucks, one 715 jig and 2 unassembled trucks.  $12 plus shipping, paypal friends.

lloyd lehrer, MANHATTAN BEACH, CA (310)951-9097

They aren"t that hard  to assemble , the hardest part is the roof that you will have to carve the ends ............Mike

On Fri, Sep 11, 2020 at 11:34 AM Bill Nelson <dgccandwrr@...> wrote:

Labelle kits  are  awesome.  at  $10.00 a  piece  buy  them  all.  new passenger car  kits kits  cost  in the  neighborhood  of  $60.00    These  are  advanced kits,  that  said  I  build  one 50 years  ago,  and  did  well  enough  that  it  still  lives  on  as  a  shed,  and  would  be  in  service  had  I  not  done  some  very  weird  kit bashing  to  make  it  into  a  steam  coach,   my  favorite  passenger  cars  are  all  built  from  Labelle  kits,    and  thier  freight  cars  are  not  shabby  either. 

the  materials  are  outstanding,  the  process  is  relatively  simple,  shaping  the  bullnose  at  the  end  of  the  celestory  roof  is  the  most  challenging part  of  the  build,  requiring  careful  shaping ,  they  give  you  a  jig  to  check  the  shape.    I  got  some self  adhesive  sand  paper, sand  paper  and  stuck  it  to  a  scrap  piece  of  plywood,  and  working  with  coarse  sand  paper  first    worked  bit  by  bit  on  the  curve.   In  todays  world  finding  the  appropriate  passenger  trucks  may  be  a  challenge.

Seriously  if  you  could  get  ten  of  these  kits,  you  will  be  quite  good  at  building  them  before  you  are  done.   as  a  freshly  retired  guy  with  too  many  residences, and  little  to  no  budget,  I’m  quite  jealous  of  this  opportunity,  go  for  it,  before  someone  else  does.  

Bill Nelson  (AKA Arthur, and  Willie Nelson)

On Sep 10, 2020, at 10:35 PM, silent_11111 via groups.io <silent_11111@...> wrote:

Howdy folks,

I went by my "local" (if you call 200 miles away local) shop today to pick up some gaming supplies.
I walked the train shelves and found they have some La Belle HOn3 kits. Specifically about 10 passenger car kits and a couple freight cars. 

At about $10 each, they were tempting to me as the going price for Blackstone passenger cars is "hefty"...

I looked in the boxes and all the little wooden pieces made me a bit nervous.

I've never built any HOn3 car kits or any model train kit cars.

Would it be safe to start with La Belle kits or are they more of an advanced modeller thing?

Would the MRGS kits be a better place to start?

 

Thanks for any input.

Labelle kits  are  awesome.  at  $10.00 a  piece  buy  them  all.  new passenger car  kits kits  cost  in the  neighborhood  of  $60.00    These  are  advanced kits,  that  said  I  build  one 50 years  ago,  and  did  well  enough  that  it  still  lives  on  as  a  shed,  and  would  be  in  service  had  I  not  done  some  very  weird  kit bashing  to  make  it  into  a  steam  coach,   my  favorite  passenger  cars  are  all  built  from  Labelle  kits,    and  thier  freight  cars  are  not  shabby  either. 

the  materials  are  outstanding,  the  process  is  relatively  simple,  shaping  the  bullnose  at  the  end  of  the  celestory  roof  is  the  most  challenging part  of  the  build,  requiring  careful  shaping ,  they  give  you  a  jig  to  check  the  shape.    I  got  some self  adhesive  sand  paper, sand  paper  and  stuck  it  to  a  scrap  piece  of  plywood,  and  working  with  coarse  sand  paper  first    worked  bit  by  bit  on  the  curve.   In  todays  world  finding  the  appropriate  passenger  trucks  may  be  a  challenge.

Seriously  if  you  could  get  ten  of  these  kits,  you  will  be  quite  good  at  building  them  before  you  are  done.   as  a  freshly  retired  guy  with  too  many  residences, and  little  to  no  budget,  I’m  quite  jealous  of  this  opportunity,  go  for  it,  before  someone  else  does.  

Bill Nelson  (AKA Arthur, and  Willie Nelson)

On Sep 10, 2020, at 10:35 PM, silent_11111 via groups.io <silent_11111@...> wrote:

Howdy folks,

I went by my "local" (if you call 200 miles away local) shop today to pick up some gaming supplies.
I walked the train shelves and found they have some La Belle HOn3 kits. Specifically about 10 passenger car kits and a couple freight cars. 

At about $10 each, they were tempting to me as the going price for Blackstone passenger cars is "hefty"...

I looked in the boxes and all the little wooden pieces made me a bit nervous.

I've never built any HOn3 car kits or any model train kit cars.

Would it be safe to start with La Belle kits or are they more of an advanced modeller thing?

Would the MRGS kits be a better place to start?

 

Thanks for any input.