R-T-R vs KITS

[Anonymous]

You've just made my point in a previous topic of discussion. Building the kits are just so much a part of the hobby. I just dont think that there is anything more fun than watching the piece you just built roll down the track, or sit on the hill, or showing a red signal when the tain rolls by. ......that verses placing something almost right from a box to the layout. Sure, you may get a compliment on how good your layout looks with a pre built kit, but there is no feeling of "intamacy," for lack of a better word.

[Anonymous]

I've been building Athearn and Roundhouse kits since the early 80s and have a very hard time plunking down 3x what i used to pay for the same car already assembled.
now there are some rtr's that i like.. case i point the Atlas reefers.. very sweet. but half the fun was getting the kit assembled, and ready to run, maybe adding some paint touches,weathering etc. rtr takes that all away.. what do you end up with.. receive box, open box, put car on track. done. it used to be you could spend an evening working on a few kits (for the price of 1 rtr) and have a nice sense of accomplishment, and a bunch of cars to put on the layout.

jeff

[Anonymous]

Beyond assembly I remember when spending several evenings adding details to a loco was par for the course.. and then to watch it running and how much better it looked. with p2k its all (mostly) done.. where is the fun in that? besides.. back when an athearn sd40-2 cost $25 you could afford to do one even on a limited budget. now that you have to fork out $75+ and you don't get that fun what's the point?

[Anonymous]

KITS
are for me... Since I have no track to run my HO stuff, all the fun is in building the kits.

In N scale (my main scale) on the other hand, I tend to smash more parts than I get onto the model, so I prefer "semi kit" where the item comes in a runable condition, but you add the handrails and other details...

[Anonymous]

I only buy RTR when there's no kit available for the same car. The closest I've got to a loco in kit form is Athearn Blue Box - I've seen the work involved in building locos from brass kits and wish I had the skills and funds to buy and build these - they are amazing when complete. On an economic basis RTR locos are hard to beat. I do enjoy building kits - I have a growing fleet of Athearn cars built from BB kits as well as a few Walthers cars. I would have to say that where cars are concerned I prefer the kits as they are far cheaper and very simple to build - I'm willing to put in the minutes needed to build the kit if I'm saving around half the purchase price of the RTR model!

[ClinchValleySD40]

I prefer Atlas ready to run freight cars. Otherwise I buy kits.

[rogerhensley]

Everyone always leaves out the combunation choices which most of us fit into. In my case, Kits, Scratchbuilt and Kitbash. I have very few R-T-R and most of those are train set cars that I modified with couplers and new trucks.

In other words, 'None of the Above' or 'All of the Above'.

[Anonymous]

I have a few Athearn Blue Box engines and some P2K engines, but most of my rolling stock is either MDC or Athearn kits. I like the RTR stuff as some (sometimes quite a bit)of the detailing is far better than the inexpensive kits, but the budget just doesn't allow for the expense. I am interested in buying some Atlas, Walthers, and P2K RTR as I have seen some on sale for $6-9 each. After upgrading Athearn BB kits with Kadee's and metal wheelsets, these others are starting to appeal to me. Besides, my hands aren't as steady and my eyesight not as sharp as some highly detailed kits require. I have all plastic kit-built structures, also. For me, it's a compromise based on finances. Whatever I can afford at the time, I buy. Right now, with some companies offering Athearn BB kits for $3, it's hard to pass up.

[Anonymous]

I'd only prefer RTR if its a complex kit like Proto. Those are no fun to built. All them little micro parts get damaged when I handle them. Making a simple Accurail kit is fine for me.

[Anonymous]

I love building P2K , Intermountain and Branchline's highly detailed kits. It's all about patience, the heart rate and breathing slow down, I get very focused and enjoy the heck out of it. Generally, they provide extra parts for the ones which break easily, and if I break all of them, most of the time the loss is minimal, or I can fashion a new part out of brass wire. You need proper tools to remove the parts from the sprues and if you don't have them, it's not a wonder you can have problems.

[Anonymous]

it all depends on the prototype. most types of locomotives and freight cars are available as either kits or RTR. rarely do you find the same type of loco or car available as kit and rtr. but if the same exact freight car or locomotive was available in kit form and RTR, i would get the RTR bcause i dont have very much time for modeling and kit building.

[CBQ_Guy]

I chose RTR, which may surprise those of you who have read my past tirades against them. My main objection is to the cost which I fear may keep many youngsters out of the hobby, and also because the prices have increased much faster than they should, I have observed, since they were first introduced, indicating some level of greed on the part of the manufacturers, IMO. Profit+recoup cost=fine. Greedy, NO!

I'm a "good enough" model railroader. I have a layout to build in my basement so a piece of rolling stock, or some structures I can quickly put together which, to my eye, look just fine, are welcome additions to the layout. Most of the cars I currently have are shake-the-box and fit my requirements in that light quite well. Others in my area feel similarly.

Even though a sheke-the-box kit generally goes together quickly and easily, when you have hundreds to build it can be daunting. So years ago myself and my friends expressed a "Wouldn't it be nice if you could just buy these already built?" attitude. Of course we realized it would cost more but at the time we figured we were just "what if'n". And we didn't think it would ever happen.

HOWEVER, we were wrong and it has happened. And as we expected the cost is more than a kit. But none of us anticipated it would cost several times more than we were used to paying for our kits. Thank goodness that I'm a "good enough" modeler because I feel the Athearn Ready-To-Roll series fits in with what we were wishing for all those years ago quite nicely. Cost more than a kit, but doesn't break the bank -- the perfect RTR solution.

Generally, at this point in my life I am in a position to purchase RTR cars if I need or want to, and increasingly do, but am just happy I am not starting out in the hobby with a need to start with "car-one" and build a roster from scratch.