As many of you know I'm rebuilding the lower division of the Jefferson Central. This has turned out to be monstrous frustrating project, more than I ever thought I would get into at this stage of my life, however, I am what I am and I do labor the point! 8>)
Last month on this list I asked for a tower kit and received a very nice kit [Building & Structure Co. - Interlocking Tower] from Bill Winans. Then Jeff Wilson of Hoquat Hobbies fame, advertised a Lehigh Valley Combination Tower/Station kit (LVM31) and I thought that would just fit right into the area I'm rebuilding, so, I purchased it and have been working on it for about three weeks. Folks, this is no kit for amateurs! It said to read the instructions and also has many cautionary notes. I read the instructions at least three times, then decided to let my 60 years experience build the kit. I can tell you that the marked parts are confusing, some areas of needed coverage seem to be missing and that this kit is like putting together a 5,000 piece puzzle. This kit requires a lot intricacy, and I'm doing the best I can. (I inserted a photo of the model as of this morning.) As you can see, the finishing up work ["polishing" if you will] is about to begin. Please don't take this as a "Downer" on the LVM31 kit. I know the kit I bought was not cut out by Frank Titman because of the work included. (Unless this was put together by Frank at his end times, before selling LVM off.) it does require a good bit of modeling experience to build to its completion. This overall rebuilding project has just taken up more time than I ever thought it would and my time is running short. I wonder how many of my fellow modelers out there have built this kit and I would like to hear about their experiences. Cordially, Your friend in our S scale modeling world, Bill (Fraley)
