Well, it seems that 7/8 bug just won’t go away as I occasionally find myself on the 7/8 page snooping around (The Moose Treadmill didn’t help 
).
Recently I had found an older posting from Bruce Bates about the possible reintroduction of his Boxcab, LUD and other kits. I missed the initial opportunity to purchase one of the Birdwater 7/8 boxcabs back when and have sorely regretted it since. I sent Bruce an email, pleading him to begin production. During the subsequent conversation, we discovered we only live about 55 miles apart, and Bob invited me up for a visit.
I was finally able to carve out some free-time with Carla at home from work, and headed North. Bruce has rekindled his Kit business, but this time he’s offering them in Cardstock! I remembered the fabulous paper trains from Japan a few years back and was excited to see what Bruce had conjured up! I was not disappointed.
I arrived a few minutes late (of course) due to wife errands before leaving town and was warmly welcomed. Bruce invited up to his workshop and I spent the next few min taking it all in.
We spent a great deal of time discussing the hobby, life, moving to a new home, and of course-kids. While there we inventoried some of his previous offerings and found that there remained a few Wooden Kits left. Here are a few things that just had to come home with me.
There’s the Boxcab and some future flats.
The Critter with a compliment of future stock.
(yes rooster, I’ll add wheels so they can go round)
Needless to say I was a little more that tickled! After boxing up (pun intended) the above gear along with some parts and other ‘stuff’ we then took to investigating the New (to me) Papercraft!
I’ve been following Bruce’s blog http://bwnr.blogspot.com for a few weeks now. This cardstock building intrigued me, but thought it over my head since I was more of a “wood” guy. I’m not so sure I’ll be too fearful of it now that I’ve actually been exposed!
There is a shot of the New Basic Flat Car (BFC) Kit. It’s flat for sure. There are 2 completed examples there on the table.
Here’s Bruce instructing me in the proper cutting technique (on the wife’s table!)
That’s a topview of the BFC- weathered and ready for service-that’s paper folks!
and a side view showing the ‘truck’ detail. The cars felt extremely robust and well put together! I brought home my BFC to try my hand at building one!
Alas, it was time to depart. I profusely thanked Bruce for his time and hospitality and headed back down the Saluda Grade. As you can see, I just added a few Tons of work to the queue, but I’m looking forward to getting in gear!
cale
Sorry for the poor pictures-the phone is first, a phone…
Some related reading and far better photography:
I may have to try some of those cardstock kits, might come in handy for the future