Covered Wagon Wooden Model Kit

If you have a tremendous amount of free time and patience, then this is for you. The instructions are not Chinglish even tho' the thing is made in China, but still not easy to follow as the author appears to be confused at points. But if you read again and again and then read between the lines you pick up on a few things. For instance figure 20 shows a "rear bed section" on the front and rear. Details of layout are basically in the eye of the inventor and little more.One must keep in mind that from model maker to model maker that their nomenclature appears to be sometimes invented. With that in mind the person putting these things together can get creative on his or her own. Pieces get tossed and with persistence, glue and a lot of sandpaper you can be assured no one else will know the difference. Hey, the brakes won't work, you can't steer the thing, but who cares? Its a static model.Decent project in all if you have a lot of time and by the way I got mine at a yard sale for a buck from someone who gave up.As others have mentioned the wheels are a bit o a nightmare and I found it better to mount the hub and rim with temperory screws firmly in a backing board having first centered everything. then and only then do I cut the spokes one by one sitting them all in place and tacking them with a small dot of CA. When all 14 spokes are in place and they look good give them a final glue and wait. It pays off.

I ordered the model to learn some of the characteristics of the covered wagon that I could apply to building a similar model out of brass. The kit helped design one for brass, but not much. As far as building the kit model is concerned, I was disappointed. The parts have been punched in wood and separate cleanly. A big problem is the accuracy of the parts. Where several parts are supposed to be identical, there are big variations in their sizes and shapes. The dies used to punch the parts were, obviously, poorly made. Building this kit is frustrating. The most errors are in building the wheels. A close look at the picture on the kit's packaging will show these errors (look at the spokes.) The instructions for building the wheels require use of a provided device for spacing the spokes. Follow these instructions and you're sure to go wrong. Overall. the model is not a showpiece. It is a long exercise in gluing misshapen parts together and should be used as practice for a better project.

I enjoyed building this model. The finished project got rave reviews. There are a couple of problems however. The holes in the wheel hubs were too small and the screws were too large. Not an either or situation. If you want the wheels to turn you need a different type of screw. Also, some of the parts were not sized correctly; most troublesome was the wagon bottom. The length was good but the width was almost a half an inch too narrow. I recommend very careful reading of the instructions and trial fitting of the parts before gluing. I would have given it a lower rating but the finished projections so good. Oh, if you cut the ends of the wagon down to fit the bottom, other parts don't fit. Plan carefully.

This was an excellent purchase. All the parts are there and there are so many! I enjoy puzzles, so this is right down my ally. I love the ability I have to make this wagon just as I want. I stained it just the color I wanted and then darkened it in a few spots. I had no idea I would enjoy the process so much as I just wanted a model of a covered wagon, the finished product. I am over 50, but I'm sure a child who already loves history, miniatures and creating things, would love this kit. Nearly everything you need is in it. I used my Dremel tool, sand paper, my own glue and stains to complete the model.

I put this together with a lot of trouble with assembly of the wheels. Having to cut spokes a glue them into place, even with templates included in the kit. The wheels never did come out right but made do with them.

This product was unbelievably hard complicated and tedious to put together. Not at all user friendly. It doesn't come with glue, you need a screw driver and many parts were missing. If you buy this it's at your own peril. It will bring you to tears trying to put it together buyer beware!!!!! I wish i could give it a zero star!!!

Assembled easily with enough detail to provide a challenge. Finished wagon is such a unique and quaint display piece. We love it!

wagon was as advertised and on time