Metal Earth Train ( and also a guitar)

[bh1701]

Here is a Metal Earth train that I built and presented to a friend who had worked at the BNSF railway. I did not include the gondola car that came with the kit, since I couldn't find an affordable display case that was wide enough  to let me include it.

The locomotive and cars are very close to N Gauge in size.

The kit was interesting and challenging to build, but my skills improved with each car that I built. The locomotive was the last component that I tackled. Clear caulk was used to attach the loco and cars to the display.

I think it came out pretty well, and my friend was glad to receive it.

 

Here is one other Metal Earth kit that I built for a friend (but have not presented it to him yet). He was my car pool partner for a few years and is an accomplished guitarist. The display case is an inverted kitchen counter container used for flour, sugar, etc.  Clear caulk was used again to secure everything in the display.

Thanks for looking,

Bart

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by bh1701
Added photo

[mustang1989]

Now THAT.....is impressive Bart!!! Good stuff on the loco AND the guitar.

[Jim B]

Great looking train. I like the guitar, too.

[happy grumpy]

The amount of details these little things have is quite impressive. Great job !

[cobraman]

Very cool. I may like to try one. Any tips on building one you would care to share ?

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nice job. They look great. Great presentation.

I also would be interested in any tips you can offer for building them. I have a couple but haven't gotten the courage to do them yet.

[bh1701]

1 hour ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

Nice job. They look great. Great presentation.

I also would be interested in any tips you can offer for building them. I have a couple but haven't gotten the courage to do them yet.

 

2 hours ago, cobraman said:

Very cool. I may like to try one. Any tips on building one you would care to share ?

Here are some of my tips:

I found a number of videos on YouTube that were either directly related to the kit I was building or just general tips on building any Metal Earth kit. You'd probably want to search on something like "building a Metal Earth kit" to find some of these. These gave me a lot of good tips and let me see the building processes used by different people.

Important tools:

• Some kind of shear/cutter designed for metal to cut the parts off the sheets. (I used the Xuron cutter that I use to cut model railroad track).
• Flat blade tweezer (to bend or twist the tabs that hold everything together, and to bend parts along a defined straight lines on the part - such as the caboose cupola. You can see the cupola before it has been formed in the top right corner of the photo of the parts sheet)
• To form curved/rounded pieces (like the axles on the train or the round fan housings on top of the diesel) - I used the ends of paint brushes or the end of my needle files to gently work the part into the desired shape. Basically, anything you find around the house that is round and the right diameter could be used.
• A needle nose pliers (I used the tip of this to bend over some of the tabs that would be folded over flat. Also used it to form some of the rounded parts)

Read the instructions carefully. They will indicate where the "engraved" side should be facing for the parts. They will also indicate whether the tabs are twisted or folded (I sometimes folded the tabs rather than twisting them when it seemed to make more sense to me). The instructions are a cross between Lego instructions and IKEA instructions - lots of pictures and very few words!

Don't try to rush your work!

Good luck!

Bart

[TonyK]

Excellent display for the train! I built the guitar. That one was fun wasn't it?

[SSNJim]

Nice job.

 I like the train. I've been eyeballing that for a while - I think I'll pick it up. There's a tanker ship that's caught my eye too. I've done a couple of the smaller Metal Earth models.

Was the track included, or did you come up with it? 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by SSNJim

[bh1701]

1 hour ago, SSNJim said:

Nice job.

 I like the train. I've been eyeballing that for a while - I think I'll pick it up. There's a tanker ship that's caught my eye too. I've done a couple of the smaller Metal Earth models.

Was the track included, or did you come up with it? 

 

 

The kit only has the locomotive and the rolling stock. Since it is so close to N Gauge in size, I used a piece of N Gauge cork roadbed and painted it light gray to represent some ballast. The track is actually a photo of some Kato N Gauge Unitrack I had laying around; I did stretch the image slightly in order to widen the distance between the rails to match the wheels on the train (either in Photoshop or Powerpoint - but I can't remember which one). The grass is an internet image I found and printed.

The case is from Hobby Lobby (SKU: 242917) and was reasonably priced at around $12. If you use that case, you 'll be able to fit the whole train - except for one of the freight cars.

Thanks,

Bart

[bh1701]

1 hour ago, TonyK said:

Excellent display for the train! I built the guitar. That one was fun wasn't it?

The guitar was my first Metal Earth kit. Yes, it was fun (in a way). I loved trying to form all of the little knobs on it!

Bart

[SSNJim]

42 minutes ago, bh1701 said:

The kit only has the locomotive and the rolling stock. Since it is so close to N Gauge in size, I used a piece of N Gauge cork roadbed and painted it light gray to represent some ballast. The track is actually a photo of some Kato N Gauge Unitrack I had laying around; I did stretch the image slightly in order to widen the distance between the rails to match the wheels on the train (either in Photoshop or Powerpoint - but I can't remember which one). The grass is an internet image I found and printed.

The case is from Hobby Lobby (SKU: 242917) and was reasonably priced at around $12. If you use that case, you 'll be able to fit the whole train - except for one of the freight cars.

Thanks,

Bart

Thanks! I thought the bed was cork, but the track threw me. I thought it was wire. Clever work on the track and the grass. It came out nicely.

[cobraman]

Thanks for the tips. I think I will look for an easy one to start. ( if there is such a thing ) 😀

[bobthehobbyguy]

Thanks for the tips. I looked and did see all the videos that were available. Definitely will be trying one out.

[PappyD340]

Very nice!!

[John B.]

Very cool - love the bass!

[Straightliner59]

Dig the Rickenbacker! I should build one, and send it to Geddy Lee, somehow. He may not have one of those in his collection, yet!

[SSNJim]

I did pick up the train kit at Hobby Lobby. I guess it was considered a boxed model kit, because they gave me 40% off. The train kit does come in a small box, not a flat pack envelope like most. Now to get it into the queue....

[bh1701]

5 hours ago, SSNJim said:

I did pick up the train kit at Hobby Lobby. I guess it was considered a boxed model kit, because they gave me 40% off. The train kit does come in a small box, not a flat pack envelope like most. Now to get it into the queue....

Glad to hear that you picked up the train kit! Take your time and be patient with it. I would suggest building one of the freight cars first to get the feel of building these things first. That will help you refine your building techniques before you tackle the rest of the kit. Pick whichever freight car is your "least favorite" - so, if you screw it up, you won't be that disappointed! Save the locomotive and caboose for the last 2 you do.

Find a variety of different sized tools to use to form the rounded shapes (axles, locomotive fans, etc.). Anything that has a round shape on it somewhere will work - paintbrush handles, screwdrivers, handles on small needles files, pencils, etc. Just look around the house and you'll be amazed at all the "tools" you will find!

Post some pics when you get it done!

Bart

[SSNJim]

Thanks for the advice! I like the start with the least favorite part. 

[TooOld]

You did a great job Bart , that looks excellent !  I like the display you made with the track and bed to go with it .   I just finished a Metal Earth kit and they can be quite a challenge , like you said it takes some patience and a few tools but the effort is well worth it .