EilifBack to topic of Roundhouse and their kits, did the Roundhouse 50' Hi-Cube kits ever make it back into production in a RTR form
Russell
richhotrain dfdf1995 The hobby today is mostly aging baby-boomers including myself. Where are the young people --they're nowhere because they cannot afford the expense of entering the hobby. All of the young people are playing Fortnite on their iPads. Rich
dfdf1995 The hobby today is mostly aging baby-boomers including myself. Where are the young people --they're nowhere because they cannot afford the expense of entering the hobby.
The hobby today is mostly aging baby-boomers including myself. Where are the young people --they're nowhere because they cannot afford the expense of entering the hobby.
All of the young people are playing Fortnite on their iPads.
Rich
Rich, you are spot on with that assessment.
Sheldon
Alton Junction
Back to topic of Roundhouse and their kits, did the Roundhouse 50' Hi-Cube kits ever make it back into production in a RTR form? They were very simple kits but I've bought a few over the years and found them to be a nice quick way to add somewhat more modern cars to the lineup.
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
This thread has wandered a bit off topic (nothing wrong with that!). The original post was specifically in reference to the Roundhouse 3-in-1 kits.
As I said much earlier in the thread, I think the 3-in-1 kits are extremely entertaining. I have built many of them and the results are truly rewarding. As an introduction to scratch building, I think they are unparalleled.
I believe that the manufacturers today are missing an opportunity by not reintroducing kits like the 3-in-1s that really involve more than just assembling parts. They already have the basic pieces on hand. All it would take is a little creativity to provide a guideline for how to make a very personalized model out of basic parts, just like the 3-in-1 kits did. No doubt the kits would be much more costly than the old 3-in-1s were. So what? I would gladly pay $20 - $30+ for the entertainment value alone.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Eilif ATLANTIC CENTRAL I'm a kit builder too, I have big stock of them yet to build, but I also buy my share of RTR as well. This hobby need not be all one thing, or all the other. Affordable? Well buying used kits can save a lot of money if you find what you want, no question. But comparing new prices for new merchandise with old prices for similar merchandise, my earlier statements stand, adjusted for inflation, item for item, this hobby is no more expensive than it ever was... ...We all have different levels of detail that satisfy our tastes, we all have different skill levels, we all have different interests, we all have different goals in the hobby. AND, we all have different amounts of space, time and money to devote to the hobby. Sheldon I very much agree with you, especially on these points. Kits, RTR, Kits built by someone else, etc if I can find what I like -at the low prices I want- I'm not picky. I also agree that the hobby as a whole isn't actually much more expensive. I ran some numbers recently and -adjusted for inflation- the price of middle and up quality R2R rolling stock has increased a bit, but not much and even then it's not really a fair comparison when you figure in the truely increased quality of -and labor requirements necessary to produce- things at the very high standards hobbyists require today. At the same time, the low end (base level Bachman, Roundhouse, Lionel HO) is about the same cost -adjusted for inflation- that it always was. I was reading some 60's MR this week and looking at the ads it doesn't take more than a moment to realize that railroading was not a cheap hobby back in the day. Not to say it was exorbitantly expensive but it's not like it was a bargain hobby then. All that said I'm still a cheapskate who tries to buy things for the sticker price of yesteryear, but I won't gripe about today's retail prices and I wish more power and godspeed to those who buy the stuff today that keeps the older stuff rolling into my train room. Hopefully we are all able do it in the way that suits us and I couldn't be the bottom feeder I am without the folks buying at the top end.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I'm a kit builder too, I have big stock of them yet to build, but I also buy my share of RTR as well. This hobby need not be all one thing, or all the other. Affordable? Well buying used kits can save a lot of money if you find what you want, no question. But comparing new prices for new merchandise with old prices for similar merchandise, my earlier statements stand, adjusted for inflation, item for item, this hobby is no more expensive than it ever was... ...We all have different levels of detail that satisfy our tastes, we all have different skill levels, we all have different interests, we all have different goals in the hobby. AND, we all have different amounts of space, time and money to devote to the hobby. Sheldon
I'm a kit builder too, I have big stock of them yet to build, but I also buy my share of RTR as well. This hobby need not be all one thing, or all the other.
Affordable? Well buying used kits can save a lot of money if you find what you want, no question.
But comparing new prices for new merchandise with old prices for similar merchandise, my earlier statements stand, adjusted for inflation, item for item, this hobby is no more expensive than it ever was...
...We all have different levels of detail that satisfy our tastes, we all have different skill levels, we all have different interests, we all have different goals in the hobby.
AND, we all have different amounts of space, time and money to devote to the hobby.
There is nothing wrong with being a bargain hunter, I am too.
But when I need to pay the going rate to get what I want, I simply pay it or do without.
I just moved, took down a layout in a 1000 sq foot space. My new space is about 1500 sq ft. The layout theme will be nearly identical, just rearranged for the new space.
I am interested in all aspects of the hobby, and I like modeling the big time railroading of a Class I line set in 1954. I like long trains and lots of them, the new layout will stage about 30 trains, typical train length 35 to 45 cars.
I like building kits, and I have been at this hobby for over 50 years, but 1000 freight cars is a lot of kits to build, so some are RTR.
And many date back pretty far, I have lots of old blue box, and yellow box Athearn, Athearn metal cars, Varney metal cars, silver streak wood kits, etc.
I am not one of those people who replace stuff, but I have added lots of mid range and high end RTR to the mix.
For me not every car needs to be a super detailed museum quality piece - RTR or built by me - but my skills are pretty good.
I like operation and display running, I like building scenery as well as rolling stock.
I will have signaling and CTC.
So RTR helps me achieve my total layout goals in a realistic time frame and allows me to use my model building skills were they are needed most to achieve my goals.
I have not been shopping for many kits recently, but both built and yet to build, I have a selection that includes kits of all ages and skill levels.
About the only thing in this hobby that does not interest me is onboard sound and DCC. I have used DCC a lot on the layouts of many friends, but it is just not important to my goals.
So I do lots of stuff the old ways, and lots of stuff the new ways....
Take care,
I'm a long-time fan of MDC/Roundhouse products, although never bought any of their 3-in-1 kits.
This all-metal gondola dates from the mid-'50s, and whilst taking the photo today, it reminded me that it's one of my few older cars that's not yet received free-standing grabirons and a more detailed underbody...
It came factory painted for Pennsy, but I had re-lettered it for my own EG&E, then re-did it again as a PRR car.
I bought a lot of MDC's IPD boxcars when they first became available, but sold them when I backdated my layout's era to the late '30s.
This MDC 36' reefer was painted, lettered, and re-detailed when I built it...
This MDC 36' boxcar got a re-detailed underbody, with both a steel centresill and truss rods, like the prototype car which I was trying to re-create...
...it also got a new scratchbuilt roof...
...and Hutchins ends...
...along with some new details on the sides...
...making it into a pretty-good representation of a Southern Su-class boxcar...
I have several of MDC's covered hoppers, but have upgraded all of them with new roof hatches and outlet gates, courtesy of some Bowser parts, and have replaced all of the cast-on grasb irons with metal ones, along with new sill steps...
...and several 50' single sheathed automobile boxcars...
These MoW cars were built from MDC 36' doublesheathed boxcars, and both got scratchbuilt fishbelly underframes in place of their truss rods...
...while these MDC old time passenger cars were downgraded to MoW service, too, with a few alterations...
MDC's Pullman Palace cars still fit into my late '30s layout era, and serve both the CNR...
...and the Grand Valley...
I have another four Palace cars, most of which will be shortened somewhat, and this Harriman baggage car...
I wouldn't mind getting another of the Harriman baggage cars and an RPO, too.
Wayne
Eilif Count me in as one who loves the old kits (both the affordability and assembly process) and hasn't been to a mall in a long time. The hobby has mostly moved to the internet and I have mostly moved with it. The bulk of my buying is on forums, groups and some ebay. Shops that don't sell used trains or NOS kits have very little to offer me. That said, I'm lucky enough to have a great old shop near by "Zientek" that is packed to the gills with NOS kits. I shop there regularly. I don't know what will happen in the next couple decades when the last of the guys running shops that date back to the time when kits were sold finally retire but I suspect I'll still be able to find plenty of kits and used stuff at shows, online, forums, etc. Model Railroaders are hoarders and there's just so much unbuilt product out there. Eventually the guys that have it in their closets are going to retire from the hobby or depart this terrestrial plane and it will make it's way back onto the market. I just connected with a fellow on a swap group who is getting out the hobby and getting rid of 700 cars! He put together a small batch of pieces for me that haven't been avaialble for years at a very fair price and I suspect there will be plenty more opportunities like this in the years to come. As for new folks entering the hobby. Almost anyone in the midwest who visits a Menards durring the holiday season get's a big dose of starter trains. Plenty of $100 Bachman train sets, Lionel starters and $20 O Gauge railcars. I may be a used/kit snob, but there's still entry level options for railroaders. Heck, the "new" Lionel (Upgraded Model Power) rolling stock MSRP's at just 20 bucks a car and probably will street for less.
Count me in as one who loves the old kits (both the affordability and assembly process) and hasn't been to a mall in a long time.
The hobby has mostly moved to the internet and I have mostly moved with it. The bulk of my buying is on forums, groups and some ebay. Shops that don't sell used trains or NOS kits have very little to offer me.
That said, I'm lucky enough to have a great old shop near by "Zientek" that is packed to the gills with NOS kits. I shop there regularly.
I don't know what will happen in the next couple decades when the last of the guys running shops that date back to the time when kits were sold finally retire but I suspect I'll still be able to find plenty of kits and used stuff at shows, online, forums, etc. Model Railroaders are hoarders and there's just so much unbuilt product out there. Eventually the guys that have it in their closets are going to retire from the hobby or depart this terrestrial plane and it will make it's way back onto the market.
I just connected with a fellow on a swap group who is getting out the hobby and getting rid of 700 cars! He put together a small batch of pieces for me that haven't been avaialble for years at a very fair price and I suspect there will be plenty more opportunities like this in the years to come.
As for new folks entering the hobby. Almost anyone in the midwest who visits a Menards durring the holiday season get's a big dose of starter trains. Plenty of $100 Bachman train sets, Lionel starters and $20 O Gauge railcars.
I may be a used/kit snob, but there's still entry level options for railroaders. Heck, the "new" Lionel (Upgraded Model Power) rolling stock MSRP's at just 20 bucks a car and probably will street for less.
But comparing new prices for new merchandise with old prices for similar merchandise, my earlier statements stand, adjusted for inflation, item for item, this hobby is no more expensive than it ever was.
Everyone's personal situation is different and our personal situations change throughout our lives. That does not change the overall value of things in the larger picture.
We all have different levels of detail that satisfy our tastes, we all have different skill levels, we all have different interests, we all have different goals in the hobby.
Judging the choices others make, or complaining about the direction the industry has taken, will have no positive effect.
New people of all ages enter the hobby all the time, people leave the hobby all the time. I have long ago stopped concerning myself with that. Selfishly, I am only interested in what me, and the modelers I know personally, are doing in the hobby.
I have no control or effect on what others do.........I apply my thoughts and efforts on things I can control.
And Horizon saved Athearn and Roundhouse on several levels in several ways. Athearn had pricing and distribution problems, the kit line was about to loose money, the Blue Box loco line had completely been displaced by products like Proto2000. Thanks to Horizon all that great Athearn tooling, and lots of newer updated versions/products continue on in RTR form, again, still at reasonable prices based on the cost of things these days.
tatans Just bought a Roundhouse 3 in 1 craft kit at a train show, paid $8.00, it is a 3/26' old timer "shorty' flat car kit, it's an amazing kit with many differnt options to construct various cars, I'm very pleased as it's my first Roundhouse kit- - - just when did Roundhouse quit making model kits and is there an equivalent company today making similar kits??
Just bought a Roundhouse 3 in 1 craft kit at a train show, paid $8.00, it is a 3/26' old timer "shorty' flat car kit, it's an amazing kit with many differnt options to construct various cars, I'm very pleased as it's my first Roundhouse kit- - - just when did Roundhouse quit making model kits and is there an equivalent company today making similar kits??
I have built a number of Tichy kits. They come with a lot of underbody detail like brake components and wire for brake lines. I particularly like getting undecorated kits for special projects, like "Hides Only" box cars for the tannery and idler flats for the carfloat terminal.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
The price problem is not due to things costing more today (many do, others not so much, some even less when adjusted for inflation).
The problem is that with no LHS you can't buy just one thing like a boxcar kit or a package of couplers without paying a shipping charge.
When I mail order I spend at least $200 or else the shipping makes the prices too high.
Train shows help some, but they come around only a few timed a year. And again you have to buy a ticket to get in, so buying one thing like a car kit makes it cost more.
I don't have a solution to this problem - retailing is changing. But it does make it harder for people to try the hobby in a low cost way.
Paul
Malls are going the way of the brick and morter hobby shops. The new "mall" and "hobby shop" is the digital one on your phone or tablet. With 24/7 availablity, many of the better ones having real time inventory so you KNOW if they have it in stock or not. Just as the kits like MDC/Roundhouse, Athearn Blue Box and many others have been replaced with RTR versions of the same cars at a much higher price. I for one haunt the train show estate tables looking for these kits. The kit building process, to me, is half the fun. Same goes for fine tuning older brass models. At the recent train show last weekend, a dealer had 2 of the old MDC/Roundhouse 2 truck Shay kits, unbuilt new in the box. Those are getting harder to find. Those are a big challenge to get to run well and these days, a PFM/United Shay is a much better buy from many points. Cheers Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
ATLANTIC CENTRALI've only been to a mall about 3 times in the last three years.
.
I cannot remember the last time I went to a mall to buy something, but they are great destinations for indoor hiking and people watching.
There is a new two story massive mall called "UTC" in Sarasota, Florida. That is my current favorite to watch people. The mall in Brandon, Florida has always been magnificent, and so is the Westshore Mall in Tampa.
Sawgrass Mills in Fort Lauderdale is incredible, but it is just too big.
In Fort Myers we have the ancient Edison Mall where I hung out my the Record Bar in High School. It is still there, and still going strong.
In Tampa a couple of malls have closed, but they have been repurposed into office buildings.
The mall in Macon, Georgia is an empty disaster, but I think it just matches Macon, which is a city on a terrible down-swing.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 BigDaddy Kit building has gone the way of shopping in the mall. . Why do people keep saying that? . Down here in Florida we keep building newer and bigger malls. They are booming. . Only a few in the center of the state in small towns where they never should have been built are looking anemic, but they are hanging in there. . ATLANTIC CENTRAL So while lots of kids may have a brief interest in a 4x8 platform and a Tyco train set, I'm not convinced any great number of them ever stayed with the hobby - then or now. . I am beginning to agree with you on this. I previously thought that train sets were the gateway to model railroading, but that does not seem to pan out. . Sure, we all had toy trains as kids, but something much different needs to happen to make you into a model railroader. . It isn't exposure to real trains, I almost never saw them growing up. I don't know what kicked off my passion for model trains, but it has been strong for 40+ years. . -Kevin .
BigDaddy Kit building has gone the way of shopping in the mall.
Why do people keep saying that?
Down here in Florida we keep building newer and bigger malls. They are booming.
Only a few in the center of the state in small towns where they never should have been built are looking anemic, but they are hanging in there.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL So while lots of kids may have a brief interest in a 4x8 platform and a Tyco train set, I'm not convinced any great number of them ever stayed with the hobby - then or now.
I am beginning to agree with you on this. I previously thought that train sets were the gateway to model railroading, but that does not seem to pan out.
Sure, we all had toy trains as kids, but something much different needs to happen to make you into a model railroader.
It isn't exposure to real trains, I almost never saw them growing up. I don't know what kicked off my passion for model trains, but it has been strong for 40+ years.
Here in the most affluent suburbs of Baltimore, Washington and Philly, malls are dieing fast. They are empty gost towns with vacant stores and few customers.
But we have a big Amazon warehouse 10 minutes from here that delivers stuff the next day.
Just got word the SEARS store at the mall will be gone by the end of January.
I've only been to a mall about 3 times in the last three years.
BigDaddyKit building has gone the way of shopping in the mall.
ATLANTIC CENTRALSo while lots of kids may have a brief interest in a 4x8 platform and a Tyco train set, I'm not convinced any great number of them ever stayed with the hobby - then or now.
dfdf1995 Horizon;s purchase of Roundhouse and Athern has been a disaster for the hobby. Inexpensive kits were the route that many used to enter the hobby and now they are almost gone. The hobby today is mostly aging baby-boomers including myself. Where are the young people --they're nowhere because they cannot afford the expense of entering the hobby. Model railroading is on the route to suicide. Active modelers increasingly old and few young modelers. Horizon shoulbe ASHAMED of how they are destroying this hobby by eliminating a (no THE) major sources of inexpensive kits.
Horizon;s purchase of Roundhouse and Athern has been a disaster for the hobby. Inexpensive kits were the route that many used to enter the hobby and now they are almost gone. The hobby today is mostly aging baby-boomers including myself. Where are the young people --they're nowhere because they cannot afford the expense of entering the hobby. Model railroading is on the route to suicide. Active modelers increasingly old and few young modelers. Horizon shoulbe ASHAMED of how they are destroying this hobby by eliminating a (no THE) major sources of inexpensive kits.
Having been in this hobby since 1968, and having worked in this hobby from 1970 to 1980 as a hobby shop sales person and later as the manager of a train department in a hobby shop, respectfully I must disagree.
Adjusted for inflation, the average actual street price of RTR rolling stock offered by Horizon in the last decade under the Athearn Ready to Roll line, or under the revised Roundhouse line, is no more expensive than the kits were in 1968 or 1975.
This has never been an inexpensive hobby, it never will be.
The fact that young people may or may not be interested in this hobby has nothing to do with current costs. In fact much of the entry product offerd by Athearn, Bachmann, Walthers and others is better quality and again reasonably priced based on inflation, when compared to stuff like Tyco or Life Like in 1970.
I don't know how many young people are interested in model trains today, I don't care. It has always really been a hobby for moderately affluent men old enough to have the time and be able to spend the money.
In the early seventies a survey in Model Railroader put the average age at 34, it may well be older than that now, but not because of cost.
Read this forum a bit more, you will see a large percentage of people are simply not interested in building rolling stock from kits, age is not a factor in that choice, neither is price.
In a world were nearly everthing costs 10 times what it cost in 1968, even a $50 freight car is not that expensive. That equates to $5 back then. Much of the current Athearn line can be purchased for $25 - $35, or about $3 in 1968 dollars. I still have stacks of thoses blue boxes with those $2.98 prices printed right on them..........
Don't think my assessment of inflation is correct? In 1969 my father bought a new car for $3,450, anything comparable today will easily be $35,000 or more.
If anything is killing the hobby regarding young people, it is television, cell phones, video games, facebook, ........not the price of trains.
One last thought. I started in this hobby at the age of 10, with a nice, pretty serious layout built for me by my father. I have shared the details of my start in the hobby on this forum before, I will not repeat it all here again.
But in my junior high school, and in my high school which had over 3,000 students, there were only a hand full of us interested in trains or model trains.....that was the early 70's. And that was in a town with a world class model railroad club still in existance today. Look it up on the web or Youtube - Severna Park Model Railroad Club.
So while lots of kids may have a brief interest in a 4x8 platform and a Tyco train set, I'm not convinced any great number of them ever stayed with the hobby - then or now.
Kit building has gone the way of shopping in the mall.
This thread will be merged into "This hobby is too expensive" thread. But, I agree with the thesis, but we have had recent threads where low priced Bachmann engines don't run at all, but if they did, they don't have the detail or the functions of engines in the $200+ range.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I put together one of the metal frame cabooses, didn't have any problem filing off the flash or anything. It actually went together pretty easily. It's not an accurate model, so I may never run it again, but it's in my inventory. Not sure how long it had been laying around at the hobby shop, but this place is famoud for having plenty of NOS, with the emphasis on OLD. I haven't been there in a coupld of years but I bet I can find some of the same stuff still there. Dusty boxes stacked high on dimly lit shelves (because he reduce the aisle size to squeeze move shelves in and now the lighting no longer aligns with the aisles).
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
hardcoalcaseLove those older ones with the metal chassis, they are just right for the NMRA car weight recommendation, and are a great platform for scratchbuilding.
Hmmmm...
I never like the metal chassis kits. Keep in mind, these were already very old by the time they became mine, but the chassis always were very brittle, and usually warped. They would break when trying to correcr this.
Maybe I just had bad luck.
The instruction sheets for 3 in 1 kits can be found on hoseeker.com. There are even some there that are for kits that were never produced.
dlm
richg1998I have never seen unpainted project cars sold by MDC or Athearn. Maybe they have a deal going with Athearn. There must have been a considerable supply of old MDC stock when the company was sold.
IIRC, the remaining stock from Roundhouse/MDC was acquired by this firm. Basically, it was all the spare parts, left overs from past runs, and other unpackaged stuff in the warehouse. Horizon wanted to deal only with sellable stock, not put together more kits when they bought MDC's asset's. That would account for undec items that otherwise would've only been found decorated. The parts that were then available were sometimes packaged as complete kits, depending on what was in the mix..
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Horizon hobbies does offer the old MDC/Roundhouse cars as RTR models now, but the old 3 n 1 kits will probably never happen again. I watch for the logging versions at train shows to purchase. Like most kits here in the USA they have gone the way fo the Dodo bird and train shows with estate tables of trains for sale is your best bet.(those are my favorite tables to flock to when I arrive at a show!!). I grew up to late, as pretty much everything new on the market is of little interest to me. I prefer older kits, craftsman and shake the box style, old early brass import steam engines and I even plan to use some true scale roadbed track on my layout once I get started. That is what I grew up wanting in the magazines, and what I enjoyed at the large local club that I was a member of. That layout was started the year I was born (1973) and recycled many items from the previous layout that predated me by many years. Mike the Aspie
richg1998 I have never seen unpainted project cars sold by MDC or Athearn.
I have never seen unpainted project cars sold by MDC or Athearn.
If you mean undecorated kits, MDC produced thousands and thousands of them over the years. Before maybe the 1990's, most model manufacturers decorating of cars wasn't very good. Many 'serious' modellers preferred to buy undec kits and paint and decal them so they looked better and were more prototypically decorated. Clover House dry transfer co. used to carry MDC undec. car kits in their catalogue, so you could order lettering sets and the cars to put them on all at one time.
I don't know offhand if Athearn produced undec Roundhouse kits after buying out Model Die Casting, but even if they didn't, there must still be thousands of old MDC (and Athearn) undec kits out there.
I would say again that I think the odds that Athearn agreed to have former MDC undecorated kits made in China and then shipped to one hobby shop and no one else in some sort of secret deal to be pretty small. Simpler answer is just that your hobby shop has a sizeable stock of old undec kits on hand.
I built a Climax A based on one (or two!) of those kits that included the short flat car (see my avatar). These kits were awesome and included tons of spare parts that are great for other scratchbuilding or superdetailing projects. I still have a few kits on my "to-do" shelf. But I wonder what will happen when the used market totally runs out of these. I just can't see myself buying RTR items and just watch them run on my pike.
Simon
Maybe they have a deal going with Athearn.
There must have been a considerable supply of old MDC stock when the company was sold.
It is going on about seventeen years now.
Once I ordered the MDC steamer boilers.
A few months ago some new items were popping up that I had not seen about four years ago.
I emailed them out of curiosity but never got an answer.
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
I think it's unlikely a hobby shop has a manufacturer in China making fake MDC / Roundhouse kits for them to sell today. More than likely they just have a lot of old stock they've accumulated. Athearn still makes many of the old MDC/Roundhouse cars under the Roundhouse or the "Ready To Roll" brand name. I'm sure their lawyers would be on someone making and selling fake ones in a second.
IIRC Roundhouse kits originally were metal kits going back to the 1940's or 50's. At some point they switched to plastic bodies, maybe in the 1960's? Anyway, cars like the two kinds of Michigan ore cars, 36' boxcar, reefer, and stockcar, wood and steel cabooses, etc. were in production for many decades, and I'm sure many unbuilt kits are still out there.
When I got back into the hobby after 20 years, I discovered the 3 in 1 kits. I am thankful for them, as they steered me into scratchbuilding. As has been noted, the kits included various parts and pieces from the Roundhouse line, but it was their instructions that were the most valuable to me. Most included templates for the required additions in styrene and Plastruct pieces. Their materials lists were invaluable to me as I didn't have any of the required material on hand. I just brought the list with me to various hobby shops until I acquired the items I needed.
I used their plans to make the bucket, boom, boom turntable, etc. in the steam shovel kit as well as the Jordan spreader, snow dozer, snow crab, etc., learning all the time. They often included prototype photos, which were a great help to me as I didn't have any reference materials and of course this was before the Internet.
I think I've made most of the 3 in 1 kits, and kept on buying them wherever I could find them just to have their kit parts.
Sure glad I discovered the kits!
Bob Boudreau
CANADA
Visit my model railroad photography website: http://sites.google.com/site/railphotog/