Yikes...

I hit two of these - the McKean and the 2-Truck Shay, which reached the point where I did have the naked chassis running around a modular layout at the demo I was building it during. 

.... and then stopped working on it because I met a girl at that demo who pretty much had my time occupied for most of the next year. When I started to work on it again, I discovered I was missing a critical piece, and gave it to someone else who turned it into a very nice static display. 

Arbour Models 2-6-6-6

It was the first 2-6-6-6 that wasn't a $1000 (in 1980 dollars) brass model. I bought one sans reviews - in 1980 there were only reviews in MR and RMC (more or less), and that surely didn't get covered. Well, it arrived and I looked at what looked like the inside of a back shop after Waldo went and hid inside. Over the next several years, I took it out, worked on it a bit, made either microscopic progress or negative progress, and put it away again. Probably the last time I saw it was when we moved in 1986. A few years ago - about 30 years later - I could find only the box! The parts themselves are either gone or hiding with Waldo.

OTOH, I now have two Rivarossi 2-6-6-6's, and just this past weekend I got them both installed with DCC and sound.

Had Never Heard of McKean Kits

But:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mckean-HO-Train-Centerbeam-Car-Union-Pacific-RTR-217021-Free-Shipping/393109621201?hash=item5b8728c9d1:g:JK4AAOSwc4xgD7nU

https://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2011/12/hardest-kits-to-put-together.html

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/188639.aspx

That sounds harder than scratch-building.

Custom Rail enclosed autorack

I spent 20 years off and on building one, and even had to "break" it once so I could reassemble it more square.

I swore I would never build another one, but ended up buying one at a train show last month with the goal of doing it as a partially enclosed rack.

I built 2 of the Front Range center beams, and don't remember them being that difficult. It was the decals that took me forever to finish for some reason.

Craig

As a kid in the

As a kid in the teens....

Built a MDC 2-8-0. Added a can motor and better gears.  Which earned my degree.

Rebuilt a Varney 0-4-0 with can motor and super details. For my masters degree

Then got my Doctorate by building a Keystone Narrowgauge shay with NWSL power kit.  That was a nightmare.  But it ran like a charm (probably still does if I ever get narrow gauge track to run it on.  But i may as well have scratch built it. A classic example of why the NMRA MMR program is set up wrong.  That “kit“ is a lot more difficult then the so called scratch built Diesel engines/box cabs that many folks use to earn the MMR 

Oddly enough the ting that kicked my  ut was a McKean covered hopper.  The plastic or whatever that was sucked.  Glues all hated it. It was brittle and hard to cut/sand or file but broke relatively easily and it was just a bad kit.  
 

-Doug M

My dues apparently came up "short"

I think I'm paying some dues right now. Trying to track a nasty short after not powering up the layout for awhile. I could swear it was all working the last time I powered up before the layout sat dormant a few months but now I'm realizing I must have forgotten to gap the inside frog rails on a couple of Peco turnouts. Problem is, I can't find my cutoff wheels and need to go buy a new package this morning. Fifty years on and off in the hobby says I'm an MMR without needing a piece of paper from the NMRA to prove it but dang it if I don't hate DCC shorts!

Failures and Successes

My one and only attempt at installing a decoder in an blue box SW. Got a friend to do it and it works great now.

Back when I was a teen, trying to assemble a Suydam metal kit.

Did a Hon3 MDC shay. It ran great so long as the track curved to the right. It derailed going left. Still have it and 2 others never built.

Also did their oldtimer 2-8-0 and it is a great runner and out pulls Bachman's by a huge margin.

Successfully built serval NG Labelle Woodworking kits. Still working on a standard gauge one. So far so good.

Jack

McKean Centerbeam

All the comments about McKean centerbeams make me laugh - I'm on a centerbeam binge and recently considered buying some of these kits ... until I saw everyone's horror stories! Even then, I hadn't anticipated it would make so many people's Top 3 or Top 1 ... looks like I really dodged a mishap! 

The top three for me are....

3. The infamous McKeen center beams. ( Nothing is straight and they weigh less than a marshmallow. )
2. Tiger Valley metal (?) Alco diesel kits. ( I couldn’t even sell the remnants at a flea market)

1. The original Proto Power West APL Double-stack well car kits. Which weren’t really a “kit”, but about 5 boxes of pre cut styrene. Plus only certain pieces were precut, many needed filing to create the braces. I think I spent $20 in glue making that first set. 
 

I also looked longingly at those Allegheny kits. Glad I passed on those. 

Botchmann

How about trying to keep that infamous abomination Bachmann Chattanooga Choo-Choo steamer running? You know, the one with the motor in the tender? It was my first ever HO scale locomotive (not counting my Bachmann trolley, because of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood) and when it went bad, it went HARD.

Mike in CO

That Chattanooga Choo-Choo

the best thing that happened to mine was when I sold it at a local NMRA meet for $10!

Lift-up Bridge

Recently my toughest project would have to be the design and installation of my lift-up bridge 

Joe

I earned my degree as a

I earned my degree as a teen...

I built a MDC 2-8-0 with new gears and a can motor.  It was my first attempt at a steam engine kit.  Those castings were not good and the original gears were garbage so I added the gears and that led to the can motor.  So it spiraled out of control.

Then I got my master by rebuilding a Varney 0-4-0 Docksider.  This time I expected I was going to re-gear and put in a can motor and flywheel.  But I ended up adding a lot of details and working reversing constant lighting.  That was a trick to fit in such a tinny engine.

Finally I got my doctorate when I decided I wanted a narrow gauge shay...  If you think the MDC shay was problematic you aunt seen nothing.  Try a Keystone’s non operating white metal shay kit and add in the NWSL power kit (an assembly of various parts that you can “make” into a power train,  This so called kit is a nightmare, and a prime example of what is wrong with the NMRA/MRR program.  This would not count to get you your engine certificate but it is a LOT more challenging then those “scratch built “ desiels/box cabs folks build.

The Shay took forever but eventually it ran like a Swiss Watch.  Biggest issue was the white metal kit was not intended to be handled and the glues of the time did not work well so it tended to fall apart.

As for failures...  The McKean covered hopper was a nightmare,  and I started a coal loader with an open conveyer belt.  The rollers for the belt had a bent brass frame with a V cut in each end.  Then bent into a U. Then the multiple rollers and such.  And you needed a ton of them.  I had that almost completed except for the roller assemblies but those were so tedious I never did finish it.  That was my lesson that taught me to do the tedious bit first and if you don’t get it done you haven’t wasted the time on the rest of the project.

-Doug M

Way back when

Hobbytown drives were a "thing" a half-century or so back.  They had one setup which used a DC-90 motor (big and square) that just fit in the relatively new Globe (Athearn) FA units.  The drive could be linked by shafts to following A and B units that had comparable gearing but no motors.

Yes, that DC-90 motor could power all the units in a A-B-B-A consist.  Yes, the consist could pull the screws out of the walls.   And, yes, operating it was more than a bit touchy.  When it was put on the club tracks for the first time, my excitement in showing it off took hold and I turned the DC throttle up too quickly.  The high torque available from that motor immediately overpowered the weight of the engines and rolled them off the track down the side of the fill.

Spectacular demo, just not the one intended.

Hardest Kits to Put Together

I picked up one of the InterMountain cylindrical hoppers.  It wasn't exactly "hard" to assemble, other than the that the directions leave a lot to be desired and the illustrations are not very clear.  I stumbled across the https://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2011/12/hardest-kits-to-put-together.htmlsite while hoping that someone made a build guide.  Alas, I could not find one. 

  There are a number of spots where it is a bit fiddly, and a lot of really small, thin and fragile parts.  For example, the brackets that hold on the roof walks (circled in blue) are all individually applied - and there are 32 of them that need to align correctly for everything to fit.  At least they included extras of these and other small parts for the inevitable ones that fly off never to be found again.  Most pieces fit together well, but I did redrill almost all of the locating holes, as they were the slightest bit too small. 

But the brake and airline detail are great. 

All told, this took me a little over a week working on it a couple hours a day to finish.  I just wish these had see-thru roof walks.  I have 3 more of these kits that I bought before I assembled the first one.  But other projects are taking priority. 

At the other end of the spectrum...

I found this gem of a kit for a price too good to pass up at a show a year ago.  While challenging, the details are great and the instructions are well written.  This would be a great next-step kit for someone who has built a couple shake-the-box bluebox kits and wants a great looking model.  It even came with metal wheels and knuckle couplers.  

Ah the Proto2K PS-2

I still have at least one of those in a box sitting around somewhere. I built my first one from the "pure" kit, and after that hunted down the timesaver kits that had the end cages pre-assembled. 

They are nice.

Bowser steam kits

That would be the third part of the 'hat trick'.  If you've assembled one of those, you know the sinking feeling after one-too-many taps on the rivet set, and now the side rod linkage has become a not-so-kinetic sculpture.  The two weeks waiting for the replacement rivet order through the mail, gave one time to repent and reflect on one's errors.

... the file-clogging, bit-snapping Zamac castings.

... the off-by-a-thousandth misregistered casting, necessitating filing all along the mating line to try and erase it without munging up details along the way.  That's a fun way to spend a day, or two.

There's a PRR Consolidation in a box, awaiting a Floquil paint strip, removal of the Onboard decoder, cleanup, repaint, remotor and other fiddly work, that was started in the mid-80's.  The "Old Lady" kit, I'll probably tease Jim Six with it before I post it to Groups.io for sale.  It's never had the parts bags opened.

Tim B.

Blue Line dual decoder diesel models

More dues...

I just discovered that somehow while just sitting, the driveshaft on my Bachmann two truck Climax has come lose from both trucks. Sigh, I think I'm about to have to pay some more dues. This doesn't look like it's going to be a whole lot of fun. I wasn't away from the layout that long and now it seems like old Murphy is striking everywhere.

Ah the Proto2K PS-2

I just finished two of them, the second I applied the grab irons and cross over on, next to last after having to re glue them back on, the first one every time I attached another part. Looks nice if you ignore the extra glue spots. Dave

"rolled them off the track down the side of the fill."

   I had the same thing happen when I was running a MDC shay on a Christmas tree layout. The side shaft snagged some fake snow  material beside the tracks and winched the engine over onto it's side, but the fake Santa and elves all had a good laugh ......DaveB

...

BOTCHMANN???  At least we can get our manufacturer's straight...

The tender driven 2-8-0s were made by TYCO. There is also the Frateschi tender driven 2-8-0 imported by Model Power, but it's less common versus the Chattanooga motor in a box...

Bachmann made a Reading type heavy 2-8-0.  The motor was in the locomotive.

Let's not forget the Bachmann HO Spectrum 44 tonner

I went through both the older dual motor and later run single motor version attempting to get one to run decently with a DCC decoder.   The first attempt was with the dual motor version which one day decided it wanted to be a steam locomotive with one of the motors leaving out a cloud of magic smoke, which also took out the decoder with the motor.   

I could have graduated grad school 6 months earlier if I hadn't wasted so much time on the project.  I eventually got the single motor version running somewhat acceptably but it sits at the end of on one of my industrial spurs.  I put a bunch of static grass around it and I'm modeling it as a derelict locomotive.