Looks great.
Definite improvement
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Well your 5y/o has a great eye because that looks great to me. Thanks for sharing your photos.
Joe
My painting skills leave a lot to be desired but my 5 year old is impressed so that's all that matters... :)
Matt,
Thanks for posting that picture of the original. If the new ones looked like that, I may not paint it. The funny thing is that I planned to use yellow as a base color.
In case no one else has mentioned it, you should check out the Plasticville Collectors Association at plasticvilleusa.org. There you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about these buildings, from vintage to new, with lots of photos.
John Gottcent
jwse30 The frosty bar definitely needs some paint. I didn't realize they were making them in such ugly colors. When they were made in the '50s, they were either pink and white or yellow and white. The roof and floor were one color and the walls and sign were another.
The frosty bar definitely needs some paint. I didn't realize they were making them in such ugly colors. When they were made in the '50s, they were either pink and white or yellow and white. The roof and floor were one color and the walls and sign were another.
Wow, I didn't know the new Plasticville frosty bar was so sterile looking.
Here's what the 1950s version looks like. It's the version that came with a "chrome" counter:
Mounted billboard behind the Frosty Bar. :)
I love the cheesy 50's funkiness of Plasticville buildings and kits. I had several on my America Flyer layout when I was a boy. If you painted them up, added a few details and set them in the background, I suppose the fact that they are not precisely to scale wouldn't be that noticeable.
It depends on what you are trying to create. Some like Hi-Rail layouts for increased realism and some like to re-create the trains / toys of their youth for nostalgic reasons.
The toy train approach is definitely worth thinking about if you have young children whose minds you're molding in hopes that they will develop a lifetime interest in trains both toy and real. Bringing youngsters into the fold is an investment in the future of the hobby we all love.
Nice job on the painted firehouse and police station. The frosty bar definitely needs some paint. I didn't realize they were making them in such ugly colors. When they were made in the '50s, they were either pink and white or yellow and white. The roof and floor were one color and the walls and sign were another.
There's a guy on eBay that sold a detailing kit for the Frosty Bar. It included a checkered floor and a few other items for next to nothing. I think it was all cardstock. Might be worth a look before you start painting?
If you decide you really like Plasticville, you could join the Plasticville Collector's Association. It's $10 a year in dues, and they have a quarterly magazine that might give you some ideas. Their website http://www.plasticvilleusa.org/ is chock full of information. They also have info on other makes such as Marx and KLine on their site.
J White
Ok, so I am fan of Plasticville ......:)
I added the police and fire stations as well as the Frosty Bar. The Frosty Bar will get painted as soon as I pick up some different colors.
I did find a few at the local Menards a few days ago and will check out the mentioned websites.
The fire truck is a Yatming Signature 1944 Mercedes Benz L4500F. The other two are Motomax from the American Graffiti series, 1956 T-bird and 1932 Ford.
Here they are parked at my freshly painted crossing shanty.
027_Daniel Where do you buy your vehicles and what scale do you use? It seems difficult to find a selection of 1:43 cars and trucks?
Where do you buy your vehicles and what scale do you use? It seems difficult to find a selection of 1:43 cars and trucks?
We use mostly 1:43 scale diecast vehicles.
There are lots of places to find diecast vehicles. Train shows are a good source to find cheap vehicles and deals. Other online sources include Diecast Direct, Motor Mint, and 3000Toys
eBay is also a very good source. Here is a link to their 1:43 scale diecast items:
eBay 1:43
I bought most of my vehicles at places like Kmart or Walgreens. However, they don't seem to carry much in the 1:50 ish size anymore. I think 1:43 cars look a bit big next to Lionel trains, 1:50 to 1:60 looks better to me. If there's a Rite Aid pharmacy near you, you may want to check there. They had a few cars to choose from when I was out east over Christmas. Don't know if that was for Christmas season, or if they stock them year round.
Hot Wheels or Matchbox makes a few motorcycles and 4 wheelers that look about right too.
Hope this helps,
Can't go wrong with Plasticville. Good choice for your layout. Should look really good with more buildings as your town expands.
Here's some of our layout which is heavy on Plasticville (more can be seen here: O Scale Layout):
Ok, so I couldn't leave well enough alone.
Video:
I might add that Bachman structures make good kitbashing projects. So when and if your kids start getting into scale railroading you don't necessarily have to throw them away.
Here's an example of what I did with a standard O-scale Bachman coaling tower, which I "downsized" for use with my On30 enginehouse.
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
Here are a couple of Bachmann/Plasticville representatives on my layout:
A slightly modified switch tower. I removed the landing outside the ground floor, and added a couple details like stairwell handrails, a corrigated roof above the stairwell door, and handpainted the maroon accents.
I used 2 truss bridges to replicate the old State Line entrance to the Cumberland Narrows. This is a very easy structure to modify, and I like to use Ross track, because I can attach them with brambles with the wood ties.
Based on the responses, I ordered the kits from Amazon and they seem like a great value. I'm not planing to model a scene yet and my layout changes regularly so I am not painting them now.
The water tower and freight station are sort of snap together but not very stable. The coaling station will stand up without being glued. I do not mind this and glued it together.
he kids love them and had a blast raising and lowering the coal chute and water spout. For almost an hour, the train had to stop at the water tower and coaling station on every lap.... On a 4x8 this made for slow lap times but the boys had a blast.
I plan to add more such structures like the fire and police stations and a passenger station.
Hi! I grew up with Plasticville, first with "HO" and now with "O". True, they are not really 'scaled' but their easy snap-together design works well for me and fits just right with my toy trains.
I suggest looking at www.tandem-associates.com for an idea of what is available. They list the items and their parts. Then I would search "E-Bay". Sometimes complete older stuff is less expensive that the newer stuff. (Just consider the overall price including s&h). All the best!
Also the Plasticville buildings that are showing their age and maybe some abuse are great candidates to practice your weathering techniques.
Bill T.
The police station has bars over the windows that are pretty fragile. If your boys are real young and/or destructive, you might do well to cut the bars out before you give it to them.
I didn't look at the links you listed in the initial post. Bachmann makes their buildings as kits or preassembled. The kits are about half the price, and the kids will likely enjoy putting them together. I'd imagine the kits are easier to paint unassembled if that's in the plan. I think that Atlas station is made from tooling for an older Bachmann kit, so it might fit in nicely with the Plasticville.
One thing I should have mentioned (which I don't think it really applies, especially for the three kits you asked about) is that Plasticville buildings aren't very scale sized. The doors tend to be O scale (1:48), but the buildings themselves tend to be about S scale (1:64) or smaller. The line was introduced shortly after WWII, when Lionel and American Flyer were in their prime, so they tried to make the buildings "fit" with both trains.
J,
Thanks for the info....I was looking at the fire and police stations as well because my boys are really into rescue vehicles now. I plan to add them soon....Those and a good station.
I think I like the Atlas 6901:
https://www.trainz.com/p-209628-atlas-6901-suburban-passenger-station-kit.aspx
I'm a big fan of Bachman's Plastcville line. I have all three of the kits you've mentioned, and they do just snap together. (they can be glued together if desired) Well, the water tower's tank is two halves that have to be glued together if memory serves me right.
If I might suggest the fire station as another good kit for small kids. The overhead doors open allowing them to hide things in there. It also comes with 1 or 2 plastic firetrucks that fit well on flatcars too.
Those Plasticville kits snap together without glue. They couldn't be simpler.
I did search the archives and found many good threads but not that mentioned the below kits. Has anyone tired them and what is your opinion?
My sons are are still young and I don't want to spend much on buildings that may get broken and these looked decent at a low price.
http://www.amazon.com/Bachmann-45978-Trains-Water-Tower/dp/B0006KQIK0/ref=pd_sim_t_5
http://www.amazon.com/Bachmann-45979-Trains-Coaling-Station/dp/B0006O41ZK/ref=pd_bxgy_t_img_b
http://www.amazon.com/Bachmann-Trains-Loading-Platform-Crossing/dp/B0006N73XI/ref=pd_bxgy_t_img_c
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