There was a die cast model maker some years back in Saco (?) Maine, that produced a series of GMC, Ford and White Truck Kits in HO Scale.
It was not Dyna Models nor Leetown...
Did anyone pick-up the tooling and or was it destroyed.
I have noticed that these kits appear on e-bay from time to time and are listed as being Ulrich Models, (the Old Ulrich of California and Wm K. Walthers and Alloy Forms) which they are not.
Please provide your input....
Sheepscot Scale Products?
These are definitely not Ulrich in any permutation.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehmanSheepscot Scale Products
Sheepscott does only resin kits, I know the owner. He might know the company that Run Eight was asking about, send him am e-mail
http://www.sheepscotscale.com/site/
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Sounds like perhaps you're thinking of Alloy Forms, a line of metal vehicle kits that has indeed changed hands over the years. You can check out their offerings/order off their website: http://scale-structures.com/
Another possibility are the metal kits offered by Wiseman Models. Look over their truck models/order from them here: http://www.locopainter.com/store/
G PaineSheepscott does only resin kits...
George,
Yeah, was aware (thus the question mark and the reference to not being like Ulrich), but the OP seems to be fishing in his memories of kits past, so was going to let him sort the rest out here...
I'm not aware of any other mfg of truck kits of any material based in that area, but I'm not local either. Just not sure who else he'd be referring to if not Sheepscot, whose kits I really enjoy. Love my Oshkosh, for instance, to which I added a Herpa boom lift and scratchbuilt bed.
Sheepscott trucks have some great looking body styles of trucks that no one else makes, but IMHO I don't care too much for the solid cast cab that you have to paint the window glazing on, without no way to put interior or drivers in.
I also see that Wiseman has finally produced some trucks that were originally made by Walker scale models, but instead of an all white metal casting they made the cab a one piece resin casting, along with some other parts. From what I've seen from the kits, they don't look any better in detail than the Walker counter part kit.
A pic' of an original Walker wrecker that I am re-doing, all paint has been stripped:
There are a few more truck kit Mfger's that no one has mentioned yet...one of them being Don Mills......they are Polyurethane resin kits that are highly detailed with engines etc, but are a little pricey for some's bank roll.
http://donmillsmodels.com/
I have a few of them. I change all the suspensions on all the kits I make and replace wheels/tires with A-Line parts so they roll. A couple of pic's of some fallen flag truck lines that I model with various kit Mfger's.......they all roll....Sylvan, Alloy forms, Don Mills, Leetown, Ulrich, Walker, CMW. I have roughly 200 hundred different truck line models of 40's to 60's era some 70.
Need any info......send Me a PM.
Take Care!
Frank
ATHS Member Il, ''windy city'' chapter.
EDIT: I forgot to add this list of MFGer's who made 1/87 scale vehicle kits/RTR from A to Z, maybe You can find the one You are looking for:
http://www.87thscale.info/manufacturers_list_part-1.htm
You probably are thinking of Ivers Engineering, they were from Maine. I think he just closed, I believe Sylvan makes the cracker box GMC and the White 4000 like Ivers made. Mike Horton
m hortonYou probably are thinking of Ivers Engineering, they were from Maine. I think he just closed, I believe Sylvan makes the cracker box GMC and the White 4000 like Ivers made. Mike Horton
Could be the one. Since the newest ad listed in that link is 1973, Ivers isn't exactly a recent closure unless you're the Rip van Winkle of RR modelers.
I think it's also pretty certain that the RTR revolution had nothing to do with their shutdown...
Ivers Engineering was the firm.
It has long been a fact of life in model railroading that certain highly valued lines of trains or accessorties are "fragile" in the sense that they are often the creation and operation of a single individual. At various times there have been proposals for "repositories" of tooling from firms which have gone out of business, so that the tooling would be held (versus scrapped or simply discarded and lost) until a willing manufacturer or owner could be found to take it on. This makes particular sense when the firm was basically a one man shop, and the surviving family members have no interest or ability to keep the business going, and don't know what to do with the assets or who is out there who'd be able to take it on. If you've ever had to close out an estate you know the feeling - let's just get this over with, please.
At one time I recall a proposal for the NMRA itself to take on that role. I suspect the NMRA would have quickly found itself overwhelmed by having to store - properly - so much "stuff" often with little prospect of its being sold or given to a new operator.
Fewer and fewer shops are set up to make cast white metal kits these days. Even injection molded plastic has environmental and workplace safety issues that make it harder for the "basement" operator to comply with. As I state in another but similar thread, the one line that really surprised me to see just "go away" was Jordan. I think we should regard ourselves fortunate that Grandt Line was kept going when Cliff Grandt passed away.
Dave Nelson
G Painesend him am e-mail
I've not had much luck receiving email responses from Sheepscot, a phone call might be better.
Mike, Nice Oshkosh. I know this is a truck thread, but your Sheepscot Bucyrus crawler crane is a beaut' too. I waited too long to get one, though I do have an Artitec one on order that I hope will measure up.
Markgro, Thanks for the Wiseman link, nice products there.
Frank, Always a joy seeing your work, thanks for the Don Mills link. Got me to droolin' over the Hayes HDX-1000 off road logger.
"Keep on Truckin'"
Regards, Peter
Thank You for Your kind words Peter!
You do some great work Yourself!
PS: I'll rap the pipes off a few times for You.........