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Looking For Walthers HO Scale Modulars

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Posted by richhotrain on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 4:46 AM

hon30critter
 
jmbjmb
Exactly.  Found out building a large structure was very expense given how they packaged the kits and how many kits it took.  Also why I ended up with so many pillasters because I had to buy all the pillaster kits as well.  Much better packaging would have been wall sections, pillasters, windows, doors, foundations, and caps to make so many inches of wall. 

Hi Jim:

I totally agree. The kit contents were poorly thought out and they were far too expensive. I built a couple of background buildings in N scale for my HO layout, but I bought all of my kits at the clearance price. The lack of sufficient numbers of pilasters was a major failing.

Dave 

Jim and Dave, I agree with both of you. If Walthers did nothing else to improve the content of the kits, they should have included the pilasters with the various wall and window/door kits. 

Rich

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Posted by hon30critter on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 4:01 AM

jmbjmb
Exactly.  Found out building a large structure was very expense given how they packaged the kits and how many kits it took.  Also why I ended up with so many pillasters because I had to buy all the pillaster kits as well.  Much better packaging would have been wall sections, pillasters, windows, doors, foundations, and caps to make so many inches of wall.

Hi Jim:

I totally agree. The kit contents were poorly thought out and they were far too expensive. I built a couple of background buildings in N scale for my HO layout, but I bought all of my kits at the clearance price. The lack of sufficient numbers of pilasters was a major failing.

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

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Posted by jmbjmb on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 10:06 PM

maxman
"Probably the most utilized kit was the Small Walls, Windows & Doors kit, sort of the basic building block of the entire modular system. However, this kit did not include pilasters and even though the kit included 58 pieces, only 4 of those pieces were small walls with "standard" window openings. So, it took a heck of a lot of these kits to build a reasonably sized structure.
 
Go figure."
 
First they suck you in with the printer.....then you have to buy the ink.

 
Exactly.  Found out building a large structure was very expense given how they packaged the kits and how many kits it took.  Also why I ended up with so many pillasters because I had to buy all the pillaster kits as well.  Much better packaging would have been wall sections, pillasters, windows, doors, foundations, and caps to make so many inches of wall.
 
jim
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Posted by ATSFGuy on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 10:27 AM

Specifically, what types of kits were you looking for?

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Posted by Steven Otte on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 9:15 AM

jmbjmb

Checked my stash of parts.  I have a blue bajillion pillasters (don't know what I'll ever do with those), ...

If you have the corner pilasters, two of them sanded so they fit back-to-back make great brick chimneys.

--
Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editor
sotte@kalmbach.com

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Posted by maxman on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 7:51 AM
"Probably the most utilized kit was the Small Walls, Windows & Doors kit, sort of the basic building block of the entire modular system. However, this kit did not include pilasters and even though the kit included 58 pieces, only 4 of those pieces were small walls with "standard" window openings. So, it took a heck of a lot of these kits to build a reasonably sized structure.
 
Go figure."
 
First they suck you in with the printer.....then you have to buy the ink.
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Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 5:12 AM

dknelson
 
jmbjmb

Checked my stash of parts.  I have a blue bajillion pillasters (don't know what I'll ever do with those), one box of the large walls with square windows, and a couple of sprues of the large walls with small round windows.  No large round windows though.  Can you use the small windows?

jim 

If you have the pillasters you have the Modulers set that many guys failed to get and would give their eye teeth to get.
 

By my count, Walthers produced 12 different modular kits in HO scale.
 
Two of the kits were roof structures (peaked and flat), and one other was foundations and loading docks. These three kits could all be fabricated with sheets and strips of styrene, so they were not crucial for building modular structures.
 
As Dave pointed out, the Wall Columns and Caps kits was crucial for building modular structures in that it was the only kit to include "pilasters", the narrow vertical brick pieces that connected walls together. Without the pilasters, you were left with incomplete walls unless you formed your own pilasters from separate brick sheet.
 
The remaining nine kits were walls and windows and doors, some were small wall sections and others were large wall sections, essentially a double width wall. To complicate matters further, some of the large walls had pilasters in place in the middle of the wall sections, others did not.
 
Probably the most utilized kit was the Small Walls, Windows & Doors kit, sort of the basic building block of the entire modular system. However, this kit did not include pilasters and even though the kit included 58 pieces, only 4 of those pieces were small walls with "standard" window openings. So, it took a heck of a lot of these kits to build a reasonably sized structure.
 
Go figure.
 
Rich

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Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 4:59 AM

NYBW-John

Glad you found what you were looking for. I checked what I had left and it was just a few small walls, none with the arched windows. 

Thanks for looking, John.

Rich

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Posted by dknelson on Monday, June 26, 2017 10:11 PM

jmbjmb

Checked my stash of parts.  I have a blue bajillion pillasters (don't know what I'll ever do with those), one box of the large walls with square windows, and a couple of sprues of the large walls with small round windows.  No large round windows though.  Can you use the small windows?

jim

 

 
If you have the pillasters you have the Modulers set that many guys failed to get and would give their eye teeth to get.
 
By the way if Trainworld fails to have the Walthers Modulars set give Matt at Green River Hobbies a try.
 
Dave Nelson
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Posted by jmbjmb on Monday, June 26, 2017 10:03 PM

Checked my stash of parts.  I have a blue bajillion pillasters (don't know what I'll ever do with those), one box of the large walls with square windows, and a couple of sprues of the large walls with small round windows.  No large round windows though.  Can you use the small windows?

jim

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Posted by NYBW-John on Monday, June 26, 2017 8:06 PM

richhotrain

 

 
maxman

 

 
richhotrain
The Trainworld website seems to indicate that they have several different kits available. Is there some way to use their website filters to verify that an item is in stock?

 

I believe that if TrainWorld shows an item on their website, they have it in stock.  You can call them and ask.  Just make sure you use the information line, not the order line.

 

 

 

Thanks, maxman. You are right. If it shows up on their website, it is in stock. The only unanswered question on their website is the number of a given item available. I called the information line as you suggested, and the lady who an answered was extremely helpful.......and friendly. That was my first time with Trainworld but certainly not the last time.

 

Rich

 

Glad you found what you were looking for. I checked what I had left and it was just a few small walls, none with the arched windows.

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, June 26, 2017 5:07 PM

doctorwayne
I much prefer the DPM stuff, but can no longer afford it.

.

I bought about $150.00 worth of DPM modulars about twenty years ago when I swicthed to HO scale. These were a massize assortment of kits, designer packs, and loose packs. I have three different window styles, and a few packs of powerhouse windows. I still have not used them because all my HO layouts to this point were too small.

.

They will be used to build a few large background structures on the next layout. I am glad I bought them when they were very affordable. I would probably still buy them now, but it would be a budget item for sure.

.

-Kevin

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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, June 26, 2017 4:03 PM

maxman
 
richhotrain
Thanks, maxman. You are right. If it shows up on their website, it is in stock. The only unanswered question on their website is the number of a given item available. I called the information line as you suggested, and the lady who an answered was extremely helpful.......and friendly. 

You're welcome.  Although I haven't experienced it myself, I've heard that if one calls the order line looking for information the response may not be as friendly. 

Found this old thread on the forum that discusses the Trainworld experience.

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/202755.aspx

Rich

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Posted by maxman on Monday, June 26, 2017 3:25 PM

richhotrain
Thanks, maxman. You are right. If it shows up on their website, it is in stock. The only unanswered question on their website is the number of a given item available. I called the information line as you suggested, and the lady who an answered was extremely helpful.......and friendly.

You're welcome.  Although I haven't experienced it myself, I've heard that if one calls the order line looking for information the response may not be as friendly.

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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, June 26, 2017 12:33 PM

maxman

 

 
richhotrain
The Trainworld website seems to indicate that they have several different kits available. Is there some way to use their website filters to verify that an item is in stock?

 

I believe that if TrainWorld shows an item on their website, they have it in stock.  You can call them and ask.  Just make sure you use the information line, not the order line.

 

Thanks, maxman. You are right. If it shows up on their website, it is in stock. The only unanswered question on their website is the number of a given item available. I called the information line as you suggested, and the lady who an answered was extremely helpful.......and friendly. That was my first time with Trainworld but certainly not the last time.

Rich

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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, June 26, 2017 12:31 PM

SouthPenn

Looks like Trainworld might have what you are looking for.

 

I saw that over the weekend but I had not yet contacted them when I saw your reply. So, thank you for that reply (and reminder). I called and they had four in stock, so I bought them all.  I am ready to move forward with my project. 

Many thanks.

Rich

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Posted by SouthPenn on Monday, June 26, 2017 11:19 AM

Looks like Trainworld might have what you are looking for.

South Penn
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Posted by SouthPenn on Monday, June 26, 2017 11:16 AM

I also have some parts and pieces stached some where. I'l dig it out to see what I have.

South Penn
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Posted by jmbjmb on Sunday, June 25, 2017 11:15 PM

I'll have to dig into my box of stuff and see.  Will check back tomorrow.

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Posted by maxman on Sunday, June 25, 2017 7:46 PM

richhotrain
The Trainworld website seems to indicate that they have several different kits available. Is there some way to use their website filters to verify that an item is in stock?

I believe that if TrainWorld shows an item on their website, they have it in stock.  You can call them and ask.  Just make sure you use the information line, not the order line.

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Posted by richhotrain on Sunday, June 25, 2017 3:52 PM

RR_Mel

Rich
 
I cast stuff all the time.  The Alumilite Casting Kit from Hobby Lobby works very good for casting small parts.  With the 40% discount the price works good too.
 
I have successfully made castings of windows and doors as well as HO figures.
 
 

Mel, I sent you a PM.

Rich

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Posted by richhotrain on Sunday, June 25, 2017 4:59 AM

MisterBeasley

Trainworld has some of the add-on kits, not full buildings, though.

The Trainworld website seems to indicate that they have several different kits available.  Is there some way to use their website filters to verify that an item is in stock?

Rich

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Posted by richhotrain on Sunday, June 25, 2017 4:35 AM

jmbjmb

I built a large mill building for my layout using them.  Turned out to be pretty expensive since as mentioned, you needed to buy multiple kits of parts rather than the parts needed.  I still have some boxes stashed but not sure what I can make of them that won't leave a lot of unusable parts.  I decided regular kitbashing was both easier and cheaper that assembling the hundreds of pieces it took.

 

jim

 

Jim, any chance that you have the Large Walls With Single Large Arched Window (#933-3734)?

Rich

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Posted by doctorwayne on Saturday, June 24, 2017 9:53 PM

richhotrain

doctorwayne

I much prefer the DPM stuff, but can no longer afford it. Bang HeadLaugh

Wayne

Wayne, do you really prefer the DPM Modulars, and, if so, why?

Rich

 
Well, I never saw too much of the Walthers offerings up here in Ontario, and of what I did see, it didn't look to be as useful as the DPM stuff, or have the same possibilities for being altered to suit specific needs.  I also thought that there were more architectural styles in the DPM line (mainly regarding doors and windows), but, as I mentioned, I possibly didn't see the full range of what Walthers may have offered.
I do generally like Walthers industrial structure kits, though, and if one is smart enough to ignore the industry name and type on the box, they have great possibilities for kitbashing or modification to suit anybody's requirements.
 
Wayne
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Posted by jmbjmb on Saturday, June 24, 2017 7:44 PM

I built a large mill building for my layout using them.  Turned out to be pretty expensive since as mentioned, you needed to buy multiple kits of parts rather than the parts needed.  I still have some boxes stashed but not sure what I can make of them that won't leave a lot of unusable parts.  I decided regular kitbashing was both easier and cheaper that assembling the hundreds of pieces it took.

 

jim

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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, June 24, 2017 7:23 PM

NYBW-John

I too will look to see what I have left in wall sections although I can't remember if I used the arched window walls.

 

Thanks, John.

Rich

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Posted by NYBW-John on Saturday, June 24, 2017 5:53 PM

richhotrain

 

 
MisterBeasley

Trainworld has some of the add-on kits, not full buildings, though.

I've got a few scraps myself.  I'll take a look.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking, Mr. B. 

 

Specifically, I am after the Walthers HO Modulars - Large Walls With Single Large Arched Window (#933-3734).

Rich

 

I too will look to see what I have left in wall sections although I can't remember if I used the arched window walls.

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Posted by NYBW-John on Saturday, June 24, 2017 5:48 PM

Shortly before they were discontinued, I bought a whole bunch of wall sections for some planned projects while back ordering the pilasters and cornices which were listed as Out of Stock. A short time later it was announced that they were being discontinued. I thought it was somewhat deceptive of Walthers to unload their stock of wall sections without informing people that the wouldn't be able to get the other components.

I figured out a way to substitute the DPM modular pilasters and cornices although they didn't fit neatly together like the Walthers components would have. I also fabricated a few pieces with styrene. Essentially I was kitbashing. The project turned out OK although it took quite a bit more effort than using all Walthers parts would have. I still have a few left over wall sections and foundations and lots of windows and doors. They are now in the spare parts drawer.

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Posted by richhotrain on Saturday, June 24, 2017 5:14 PM

doctorwayne

I much prefer the DPM stuff, but can no longer afford it. Bang HeadLaugh

Wayne

 

Wayne, do you really prefer the DPM Modulars, and, if so, why?

Rich

Alton Junction

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