Woodland Scenics Grand Valley HO kit for a beginner Good ?? - Model Railroader Magazine

I'm working through this "beginners" kit myself, so if the recent poster, Jerseysailor, is still watching this thread, would be useful to compare notes ?

I've had this kit for a number of years now, comprising of the Woodlands River Valley layout kit, the Stucture Kit, and the Track kit.

It's an on-and-off relationship

I purchased it second hand, and had been sitting in 3 large pieces for a while.

I have re-assembled it but needed, and still needs, a fair amount of restorative work, so to speak.

The trackbed was not really smooth enough, the plaster-mesh doesnt lay very flat where it overlaps.

Most of the buildings were badly put together, and were badly painted, so I've broken them apart, re-assembled, reglazed, and air-brushed - learnt how to airbrush... sort of.

The sectional Atlas track had kinks where they joined. I've replaced most of the curves with flextrack.

The tight curves did need a touch of super-elevation. The Bachman 2-8-0 Consolidation still has an occasional derail on the front bogie. Have checked the gauge with the NMRA tool

And so on.

But I purchased this as a learning kit, and have thoroughly enjoyed working my way through the process.

And have probably spent *way* too much $$.