I was just at the Happy Grandparents model train show in Menomonie WI. this weekend. There were lots of vendors selling quite a bit rolling stock. Most everyone was selling RTR cars but they were priced anywhere from 15-45 bucks a piece. Although these were some nice looking cars, I can't afford to build a small fleet at those prices. Then I started to rummage through boxes of kits of rolling stock. I love building kits, and at 4-8 bucks a piece I can't go wrong. I don't remember all the different makers, but I do remember seeing Accurail, Athearn, Bowser, life-like, tyco. What are some of the good makers of these kit?. What are some of the makers I missed? I've been looking for 40' cars. Box cars, tank cars, stock cars, refigerator cars. Era c.1930's. Thanks for all your help.
Mike,
As far as kits, here's my experience:
Fair/Poor - LifeLike, Tyco
Good - Athearn, Accurail, Branchline ("Yard Master" series), Proto 1000 - I really like the Accurail and Branchline kits - especially the Accurail 6-panel wood boxcar.
VG - Bowser, Branchline ("Blueprint" series), Intermountain, Proto 2000, Red Caboose, Tichy
Excellent - Westerfield, Funaro & Camerlengo*
*Trucks and couplers must be purchased separately
You'll need to open the box to see what the BLT or NEW date is for each one. Branchline and Intermountain(?) usually prints the BLT dates on the end of their kit boxes.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Model Die Casting/Roundhouse is a pretty good low cost kit. A number of these should work for a 30's era.
The company is now owned by Athearn which is now owned by Horizon Hobbies. They no longer make kits, but so many were made for so long that I am sure they will turn up for a while yet.
Enjoy
Paul
tstageExcellent - Westerfield, Funaro & Camerlengo
I'm not sure that I'd be lumping Westerfield and F&C kits in with the others. The other kits you've listed are for the most part plastic kits with increasing orders of price, complexity, ability of the parts to be assembled as designed, and completeness of detail. I pretty much agree with your ranking.
On the other hand, the Westerfield and F&C kits are resin, and require a little different approach to model building. I can't speak for the Westerfield kits, but I do have a couple F&C kits sitting on the shelf unassembled primarily because the assembly directions are (IMO) poor. There was even an article in MR (I think) where the author assembled one of the F&C covered hoppers and had to result to photos of the prototype to figure out how the parts were to be assembled. So even though the finished products look real nice, I think these kits are a different breed from the others.
Just my opinion.
I've been thrilled with the P2K Mather boxcar and stock car kits. They came out at $16.95, as I recall, but the result compared with much more expensive RTR, and they weren't all that hard to assemble. They are billed as "Timesaver" kits. All the metal grab-ons are pre-attached, so you really can assemble the kit in an evening, as advertised. Of course, you might want to do some weathering, which is going to take a bit longer.
They were a limited-production item, and most seem to be gone from the shelves at Walthers. The prices went all over the place. I think I saw them as low as $16.95 for the RTRs, and $8.95 for the kits. The high vertical-shaft brake wheel marked these as pre-WW2, so they fit in with what you're looking for.
I built this one right from the box, no painting or weathering.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I've built RoundHouse, Athearn BB's, LLProto 2000, Intermountain and Accurail.
Athearn and RoundHouse- Pretty good. EZ to build, Not a lot of detail.
Proto, IM and Accurail- A bit more $$$. Much nicer detail. Much harder to build. Lots of small, fragile parts that are hard to cut off the sprues. Best built with a magnivisor.
I really like the Accurail kits for something that goes together rather quickly and still results in a good looking model. Bowser, Branchline "Yardmaster", the older Athearn and Roundhouse kits all make for good looking--if not super-detailed rolling stock.
For more detailed kits, the Branchline "Blueprint" series, Intermountain and Red Caboose are fine kits. Lots of parts, but everything seems to go just where its supposed. I'd also include the Tichy kits. They're almost Craftsman kits, but again, with care, they result in fine models.
I've only built a couple of Westerfield resin kits, and they're models I built much earlier. Fine kits, but VERY tricky. Have plenty of drills.
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
IRONROOSTER The company is now owned by Athearn which is now owned by Horizon Hobbies. They no longer make kits, but so many were made for so long that I am sure they will turn up for a while yet.
Not to be too nit picky but.......
Horizon owned Athearn before MDC/Roundhouse was aquired by Athearn - AND, while there are no current MDC products offered in kit form, there has been no definative statement form Athearn that no Roundhouse kits will return. Obviously they have just begun to revamp the Roundhouse line and RTR is first these days.
Athearn still makes their Blue Box kits and may well see a market for some Roundhouse items in kit form as well - especially unlettered versions.
Also, there is still a fair amount of Roundhouse kits on hobby shop shelves, e-bay, at train shows, etc. And, an old Wathers catalog is all that is needed to understand what was made and then search for it.
Also, keep in mind when dealing with Athearn, viewing their website, etc, "discontinued" is Athearn speak for out of stock until they decide to run another batch. Its been that way the whole 40 years I have been buying their stuff.
Sheldon
MisterBeasley I've been thrilled with the P2K Mather boxcar and stock car kits. They came out at $16.95, as I recall, but the result compared with much more expensive RTR, and they weren't all that hard to assemble. They are billed as "Timesaver" kits. All the metal grab-ons are pre-attached,
I've been thrilled with the P2K Mather boxcar and stock car kits. They came out at $16.95, as I recall, but the result compared with much more expensive RTR, and they weren't all that hard to assemble. They are billed as "Timesaver" kits. All the metal grab-ons are pre-attached,
Mr. B. there seems to have been two versions of this kit. Mine look identical, but have the brake wheel on the end, rather than on top.....but the major difference is that my kits do not have any grabirons or details pre-attached....and that is a lot of "grabironing" to do. However I am likewise really pleased with mine as I got a dozen kits for $60 on Ebay.
The local hobby shop has stacks of them in stock, but I have never checked their price.
Lots of great info guys.... Do all of these kits come with plastic wheels? I like the metal ones waayyy better, so I planned on changing those that needed it.
Horizon rolled most of the modern MDC/Roundhouse line into the Athearn line. Roundhouse is now the brand for its "old time" rolling stock.
I have built hundreds of Athearn BB, Roundhouse, Accurail, and Bowser kits. More recently, I've gravitiated toward the more detailed Accurail and Bowser kits. All these kits, came with plastic wheel sets, that I have replaced with Intermountain metal wheel sets.
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
My Proto 2000 Mather single deck stock cars come with metal 33" ribbed back wheels.....but not knuckle couplers....so I added Kadees in place of the ones in the kit.
I don't know about the couplers in the version of the kit with grabirons already molded on (molded grabirons usually are not as fine as the add-ons, but as I say there are a lot to put on in my kits and I would prefer molded-on if the price was right. The tiny grabirons often have little bits of flash that need removing.) My kits provide several extra of all the grabirons to replace those that get broken or fly off into the carpet somewhere. Thirty-six (incl. foot rails) need to be installed on each, plus the other detail shown.
The doors on my kits are not operational.....must be glued in place.
I also added some weight (can't remember if it was half or one oz.) to bring them up to correct weight.
ATLANTIC CENTRALIRONROOSTER The company is now owned by Athearn which is now owned by Horizon Hobbies. They no longer make kits, but so many were made for so long that I am sure they will turn up for a while yet. Not to be too nit picky but....... Horizon owned Athearn before MDC/Roundhouse was aquired by Athearn - AND, while there are no current MDC products offered in kit form, there has been no definative statement form Athearn that no Roundhouse kits will return. Obviously they have just begun to revamp the Roundhouse line and RTR is first these days. Athearn still makes their Blue Box kits and may well see a market for some Roundhouse items in kit form as well - especially unlettered versions. Also, there is still a fair amount of Roundhouse kits on hobby shop shelves, e-bay, at train shows, etc. And, an old Wathers catalog is all that is needed to understand what was made and then search for it. Also, keep in mind when dealing with Athearn, viewing their website, etc, "discontinued" is Athearn speak for out of stock until they decide to run another batch. Its been that way the whole 40 years I have been buying their stuff. Sheldon
Horizon Hobbies bought Roundhouse and added it to Athearn.
Since Roundhouse has not produced kits since the acquisition, but Athearn has; it doesn't seem likely they are planning any.
MPRR Lots of great info guys.... Do all of these kits come with plastic wheels? I like the metal ones waayyy better, so I planned on changing those that needed it.
My Mather kits came with metal wheels. They had non-Kadee knuckle couplers, so I replaced them with Kadee #58's.
IRONROOSTER Since Roundhouse has not produced kits since the acquisition, but Athearn has; it doesn't seem likely they are planning any.
Paul,
You are obviously welcome to assume that, but Athearn has a history of keeping their plans very close to vest.
When Athearn was bought by Horizon many said it was the end of Athearn, or this or that. And many thought because this or that didn't happen right away it would not happen. But look at Athearn today, still the major player in this hobby they have been for 50 years and maybe better and stronger than ever.
Having worked in the hobby business years ago, and met/known some of the people behind these companies and their products, I am not so quick to make such assumptions.
Even the Athearn's, Bachmann's and Walthers's of the train world are small businesses, where absorbing, revamping, redesigning and reintroducing aquired product lines take time.
Athearn has allready done a bunch the nay sayers thought could/would never happen. And the exclusive distribution afforded by Horizon has been a great thing.
Example - In a personal conversation Sam at Kadee, he let me know more than a year ago that "something" new was comming in the freight car truck line - that new product just hit the street, a year for a new pair of freight trucks.
So for it to take a few years for Athearn to sort out MDC, seems pretty fast to me. I would suggest you keep watching, I will.
ATLANTIC CENTRALAthearn still makes their Blue Box kits and may well see a market for some Roundhouse items in kit form as well - especially unlettered versions.
I noticed this awhile back on Horizons web site they are still selling and manufacturing the BB kits still, so this is a good thing. My LHS owner is really complaining about he is not selling much rolling stock anymore. He is all RTR pretty much. Some of us MR's told him to order some BB Athearn, Accurail, and Branchline kits, and put them on the shelves.
I know allot of modelers like the RTR, but the inflated prices on them is really hard to swallow. The last train show I went to I got some really good deals on some rolling stock kits, but there were more RTR kits though. Maybe the kits will make a come back with the way the economy is?
Mike:
Of the kits I've been building lately, here's a kinda/sorta breakdown:
Metal wheels: Red Caboose, Intermountain, Branchline (both "Yardmaster" and "Blueprint") But watch out for the metal wheelsets on the Branchline--I've found a lot of them to be out of gauge or wobbly. I generally replace them with Intermountain metal wheelsets.
Plastic wheels: Accurail, Bowser, Roundhouse, Tichy, Athearn (Roundhouse and Athearn RTR have metal wheels). I've found that all of these readily accept both Proto and Intermountain metal wheelsets.
Hope this helps.