Modern HO scale automobiles

[Pillarrocks]

Good morning!

I am a (mostly)modern HO scale modeler, and I'm having a lot of trouble finding cars that match the era of my layout. I've checked Walthers.com, but all I'm finding is Fords, Mercedes-Benz's, Audis, emergency, and foreign vehicles. Oh, and tractor trailers and construction vehicles. Does anyone know where I can find a bigger assortment of modern cars? I'm particularly looking for cars that will actually be found on the street. So Hondas, Fords, Hyundais, Toyotas, Dodges, Lamborghinis, you get the idea ;) Any suggestions of where to look that you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

[zstripe]

PILLARROCKS,

Welcome to the Forums,,

Just a thought! If you can afford to purchase a Walthers catalog and Reference book,,there are many,old,new vehicles and manufactures listed,with color picks,,there are way too many,to try to list,here..I believe you would find it a very useful reference book for,all items,that are out there,for Model Rairoading..

Cheers,  

Frank

["JaBear"]

Gidday, Lamborghinis???? I must live in the wrong neighbourhood. 

I model the 50s but this link may help............http://www.1-87vehicles.org/directory/directory.php 

or on a lighter note every modern layout should have at least one of these................................

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tdn/tdn90012.htm          

Cheers, the Bear.

[Soo Line fan]

Once upon a time, we used to get scale cars at Walmart for a couple of bucks each. Those days are long gone. The vehicles are still available but at a higher price.

https://www.modelpower.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=54

[chutton01]

Pillarrocks

I am a (mostly)modern HO scale modeler, and I'm having a lot of trouble finding cars that match the era of my layout. I've checked Walthers.com, but all I'm finding is Fords, Mercedes-Benz's, Audis, emergency, and foreign vehicles. Oh, and tractor trailers and construction vehicles. Does anyone know where I can find a bigger assortment of modern cars? I'm particularly looking for cars that will actually be found on the street. So Hondas, Fords, Hyundais, Toyotas, Dodges, Lamborghinis, you get the idea ;) Any suggestions of where to look that you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

I've been complaining about the selection for decades now, although it is much better than it was in the early 1990s even.
You will find several arguments here and there about the situation, such as:
1) A surprizing large percentage of model vehicles are made for collectors (the 1:87 Vehicle Modelers site doesn't always help to disprove this). They are looking for interesting European vehicles (which is why so many vehicle manufacturers are German: Herpa, Busch, Wiking, etc), and that's why you get more releases of sports cars and exotics and less mundane sedans (and not because Jeremy Clarkson is overseeing the production runs)
2) Licensing issues - these come and go, I recall lots of issues with licensing Japanese brands.  There was even a scare with GM not licensing models in HO/N because of potential choking hazards (not sure how true that really was - here's a MR forum thread from that time (2005))
3) 3-D printing doesn't seem to be there just yet (and those models NCM carved from a block of acrylic - ugh, barely worth it for (far, far) background models) - so we are still sort of stuck with building expensive molds and dies in order to cast plastic, resin, and cast-metal vehicle models, and that can be pretty pricey and limiting (to what sells best).

[Regg05]

Hey,

I definitely can feel your pain...as I have gone through the same issue.  What I did and I know some modelers will bash me for this is that I used Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars.  Then you should be able to find hundreds of modern cars.  I had bought so many that still are unopened that I had to stop myself when I went into a Walmart or Kmart. Lol   The semi's and tractor trailers are the exact same size as HO and are NOT nearly as expensive as you can get cars anywhere from .99 to $8 and look much nicer in my opinion.  I have the Walthers cars and have ordered a couple of automobiles for my previous layout and the detail was sorely lacking and they looked cheap and made of plastic.  Yes the cars themselves are a little bigger being 1:64  scale but doesn't look out of place and its what makes you happy not everyone else.  The trucks though are the same size.  If you buy a HO U-Haul semi-truck for example and then buy the one Walgreens carries they are the same size and the Walgreens model is only 3.99 and has better detail and opening doors. 

[joe323]

I have ordered some of my cars though Ebay.  these are not get looking cars but work well for background.  Some of my semis are Matchbox and I also have a fleet of 2004 and 1998 Hess Mini tankers (found on Ebay or at train shows).  I have a few Athern trucks and number of Walters containers. 

[chutton01]

Regg05

What I did and I know some modelers will bash me for this is that I used Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars.  Then you should be able to find hundreds of modern cars.  I had bought so many that still are unopened that I had to stop myself when I went into a Walmart or Kmart. Lol   The semi's and tractor trailers are the exact same size as HO and are NOT nearly as expensive as you can get cars anywhere from .99 to $8 and look much nicer in my opinion... 

Reggo, the use of Matchbox vehicles which represent larger vehicles such as trucks is a long standing tradition, even endorsed by the 1:87 Vehicles modelers' club - the two most common off the top of my head were the Ford F350 (before River Station introduced their injection molded version) and the Mack MR cab (for emergency vehicles). I tried to get the Matchbox GMC TopKick to work, but while it was about the right height and length, it was way too wide (and had a lot of ugly mold lines to boot - eh, it was worth a shot).
At least one author has mentioned bringing a HO scale figure (of an average size male or female adult) when going to Walmart or Toys R Us etc to compare scale against a potential toy vehicle purchase (I have used an index card marked in HO sizes as a ruler, since a grown man bringing a little "figure" to a general service store can look a bit, er, odd).
Heck, one web page was dedicate to "Kinder-Egg" like toy vehicle prizes which looked decent enough and were roughly the right size (1:84 to 1:90 - anything else doesn't look right on a HO layout) - what was important was a number of these were mundane modern-era Japanese brand vehicles, which are tough to find...

[BAmos]

Model Power has a lot of HO Scale modern cars you can buy direct from their website so you don’t have to resort to EBay unless you are looking for an older retired model.

The model power cars are the same as the Malibu and Fresh Cherries cars from Wal-Mart the company that was contracted by Model Power cars was also selling them under their own brands so they were ordered removed from the market.

Bill

[liba]

Hi. Yeah, I know what you mean. 

I'm n scale, cars & trucks change pretty, quick.,

my layout doesn't keep up with the Jones's, rather it goes with the flow.

You'll always see cars ,at least of many an era on the roads.

[azrail]

Try truckstopmodels.com...they seem to have the widest selection of HO scale vehicles (although some are rather pricey)

[Kyle]

All I can think of is River Point Station, they sell SUVs, pickups, vans, and fire trucks (I think).

[shahomy]

Thanks for the link... truckstopmodels.com   they got about everything!

are they all metal? and all need to be painted? there`s not much in the way of description...

[chutton01]

shahomy

Thanks for the link... truckstopmodels.com   they got about everything!

are they all metal? and all need to be painted? there`s not much in the way of description...

Which manfacturer? Truck Stop Models offers dozens of different brands, many which differ - e.g. Trucks 'N Stuff (metal and painted), CMW (also metal and painted),  Athearn (plastic and painted), Sylvan (normally unpainted resin kit), and so on.

[Pillarrocks]

Wow, thank you all so much for the great advice! I will definitely look into all those resources. Thanks again!

[Pillarrocks]

JaBear: YES. Definitely putting one of those on my layout ;) haha thanks!