Kits or RTR

[FThunder11]

Ready to Roll is easier.

[Fergmiester]

RTR simply because I can invest more time on other areas of the hobby. I've built kits and to tell you the truth they don't give me a thrill. Kits of buildings now there's another story.

[Anonymous]

For me even most of the RTR end up being kits as I swap wheels (P2K for cars, Jay-Bee for locomotives), couplers (always KD), add detail (Detail Associates, Details West, Cannon, Keystone, Precision Scale to name a few) and paint.

[jrbernier]

I buy both. In the past I bought only kits, as I did detailing/painting/lettering/weathering and most of the typical Athearn & MDC paint jobs were not that good, and there was very little in RTR at the time(70's). I did buy some Bev Bel as they seemed to have good paint jobs and correct numbers.
As better kits became available in the 90's, I migrated to high end cars like Intermountain/Red Caboose/P2K/etc. After spending countless hours putting together a tank car(Intermountain, IIRC), I started buying some the RTR Intermountain cars. I found that a lot of train show dealers had excess inventory and I was able to buy cars RTR cars at a veery good discount.
We are now seeing lots of RTR and very little kits. I heard a rumor that Intermountain sent their inventory of kits to China and had they built/repackaged as RTR. Just about everything they sell now is RTR or seems like it. Red Caboose appears to be going the same way. P2K still has kits & RTR, but also has 'Timesaver' kits. Branchline kits are very good(I model the late 50's), but I suspect that we are going to see more RTR as the passenger cars keep getting released.
What I am leading to is that I will buy RTR if it is 'correct' and very well done. It does save time building up a working roster. I still like kits, but the biggest problem is getting correect decals now. With Champ going out of business(I just ordered about $120 from them), and Microscale always out of stock on older runs - I wind up scouring flea markets and old hobby shops for era specific decals I can use.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

RTR. I'm getting lazy. Besides, when I get it home I want to run it not build it.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

I've built kits and to tell you the truth they don't give me a thrill.

Gasp!

[Hawks05]

i noticed the samething after putting my new kits together last week. they don't make the hobby fun at all for me. maybe its because i'm a teen and want everything ready to go. i have a pretty short temper when it comes to certain things and models is one of those things so when stuff isn't working i tend to get mad.

i haven't put together any buildings yet. that will probably be a challenge.

[Anonymous]

I prefer kits. [:D] It just seems easier to modify a kit as you built it to make it prototypically correct, than to break down an RTR unit to make it right.
Besides, there is a certain satisfaction that comes from kits that you cannot buy in an RTR item! [^][^][^][^][^]