Hey Steve!
I forgot to say "Welcome" to the forum!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Taking most HO vehicles apart is not all that difficult. As has been said, a few of them can be popped apart or unscrewed, but it isn't hard to drill out the rivets on vehicles like Classic Metal Works. A little CA will stick them back together just fine once the figures are installed.
The biggest problem is that most HO figures will simply not fit nicely into most HO vehicles. Getting the figures to fit usually means at the least chopping off legs. Even the figures of drivers offered by the European suppliers often need modification before they will fit. It also often means removing a fair portion of the figure's back side, and cutting off arms so they can be repositioned to look like they are hanging on to the steering wheel. Often the top of the head has to be trimmed slightly so the face can sit at an appropriate height.
I think there is a significant opportunity for manufacturers to supply suitable painted driver and passenger figures in quantity. Almost all of the current offerings that include drivers only have a couple of appropriate figures in the set. That makes buying seated drivers in quantity rather expensive. The alternative of course is to buy cheap unpainted figures and reconfigure them to suit.
There have been threads on this in the past, and 'farrella' even tried to launch a letter writing campaign to get us to contact various suppliers to try to convince them to offer more driver figures that will actually fit into current HO scale vehicles. All we got were polite responses.
So, figure makers, what the heck are you waiting for?!?
All good tips
Many Woodlandscenics vehicles come with drivers.
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
For ones that won't come apart easily, you could try "tinting" the windows more.
How easy or hard (or impossible) it is depends on the vehicle. If the body and chassis screw or snap together so they can be separated, you should be able to get people in there. I have a few plastic cars (made in Europe) that can easily be separated and people put in. Other cars are pretty much permanently connected, and may be very difficult to get a figure in.
Course you can take some of those 1950's cars from Life-Like / Scenemaster (IIRC?) that are open on the bottom, and add an interior with people to them.
There are some painted and unpainted figures on Ebay that I have used as passengers in my coaches and diners. Should be easy to cut and fit into autos as well. I did one for my milk delivery truck.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
Older thread on the subject
Look for unpainted figure sets. Model Power had a very bargain-priced set. Hopefully, someone else will pick them up, as Model Power has gone out of business. Preiser makes an unpainted "Truckers" set which includes a lot of seated figures, some even with arms that are not attached so you can put them together the way you want.
Putting figures in cars and trucks is a good application for unpainted models, because they are hard to see and any deficiencies in your painting abilities will be pretty well hidden. You may have to take the cars apart, of course, to get the figures in. If you're a fan of Jordan kits, it's pretty easy to add figures as you build them up. Don't be afraid to cut off legs and flatten out their backs and posteriors. I don't think they feel pain.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Welcome.
Yes there are passenger figures available from Preiser and other places.
http://www.rocousa.com/preiser.asp
Richard
Has anyone tried or have tips regarding how I might add figures (Drivers / Passengers) to HO vehicles? I've always been annoyed with 'empty' cars and trucks driving down the street. Thanks for any and all suggestions.
Steve