Things Nice To Know
Information regarding our kits, their manufacture, and general assembly. Plus other items of interest … at least to us – and maybe you.
All kits are treated as custom orders. While some kits may be in inventory, many are not. We do our best to assemble your kit the day after your order is received but it might take a little longer (for example: some larger 3D-print items take 12 hours to print and prepare for shipping).
Your order is usually shipped the day after it’s packaged excepting weekends and holidays. It is tracked once the shipper accepts the package.
The least expensive domestic shipping option is US Post Office Ground Advantage. Shipping price is dependent on size and weight of the package.
From the Post office web site:
“Ground Advantage packages are delivered in 2-5 days1 and USPS Tracking® service is included in the price.“
We can arrange other shipping methods if desired upon request. Additional shipping charges and handling fees may be applied.
Feel free to email us anytime if you have any questions about your order.
All sales are final. We will do everything we can to help out if there is an error with your order. If you have any questions about a product, please contact us via email or the “Have A Question?” form to the right.
Instruction Manuals: We strive to keep costs as low as possible. Manuals are expensive to produce and the weight usually increases shipping costs, therefore we provide downloadable assembly instructions in PDF format at time of payment.
If a written manual is desired, please contact us and we will provide one for a materials fee and shipping costs (usually 1st-class mail).
Guarantee – Domestic (US) orders only. If you have purchased one of our kits direct from this web site, we will replace any parts that might be missing or were damaged during shipment at no charge. There is no guarantee for kits purchased elsewhere as we have no control over such. We will request a photo of the damaged package.
This guarantee excludes damaged parts or wood. We can usually replace these items – if available – for a material and shipping fee.
We will replace damaged parts on international orders at cost.
Please contact us with any questions.
Shipping costs provided are for US addresses only. We have no objections to shipping to international addresses but international shipping costs are outrageous. A typical 1 lb, $50 kit package to Canada will cost over $61 in shipping charges alone.
Contact us (by email) for possible shipping methods to Canada, Mexico, or other international locations.
Our 3D printed parts are usually formed from Siraya “Build” resin in semi-transparent “Smoky Black”. This resin is designed for precision and detail. The cured part is hard but mildly flexible. It may be drilled, tapped, and sanded. Small parts arte fragile and may easily break.
The resin part has been cleaned before shipping but if additional cleaning is desired, a high concentration (90+%) ethanol (preferred), isopropyl, or methanol (less desirable) alcohols are recommended. Do not use acetone.
Alcohol is highly flammable. Use caution when cleaning.
Typical plastic glue does not work on this material. Superglues or 2-part epoxies work well but we prefer clear Gorilla Glue; it allows a little more “tweak-it” time and is not as messy or wasteful as epoxy can be … though epoxy is preferable where a strong bond is called for.
Other similar resins may be used on occasion.
The resin parts usually require a thin primer coat of paint.
We do not manufacture nor supply roofing material in our kits. The modeller’s choice of roofing for a particular kit varies greatly and for us to provide a specific material would substantially increase the kit price.
Roofing materials for our kits are usually wooden shake shingles, tarpaper, corrugated tin, or asphalt shingles. The particular material used is often dependent on the building type, age, and era being modeled.
Wild West Scale Model Builders, Builders-In-Scale, Northeastern Scale Lumber are among a variety of suppliers of roofing materials. Walthers is a source for the Campell shingle rolls.
We supply glazing material in the form of uncut 4mil acetate sheets. Glazing is often a matter of individual choice where materials such as microscope slide glass, clear glues, and other materials are used. The clear glues (Canopy 560 for example) work OK for small pane, “old” type windows but not for larger windows. The process involves “pulling” the wet glue to fill the pane and let dry. This is best done on a material to which the glue doesn’t stick – wax paper being one example.
Lucite sheets are an option but most sheet thicknesses are too large (1/32″ or 31 mil is 2.7 scale inches thick). The 4 mil (1/250″) acetate we supply is ⅓” scale inches thick – closer to prototype. We do not fit the acetate to windows or doors.
In most cases, alternate glazing methods and material is left to the modeller.
built 1908 by ALCO – photo circa 1991
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