Here's my tribute to MDC, which was a fine company back in the day. Pictured are a kit built 2-6-0, 5 36' Overtons, a 58' Strasbourg coach, and some vintage MDC die cast freight cars.All running happily on 18" radius Snap track.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP-ZiHndXfecLJJyloWkE9OS6V9qmo9smmridAn1G9z3CvyRADB5M2WaEsy1vDosQ?key=eWlxTzdSVEdlWEd5Z1kyRXBpOTlqVUE3Q3hxSFdnPaul
Nice tribute, Paul, and attractively presented. MDC's presence is still felt on my layout with multiple locos and freight cars. Just the name "MDC Roundhouse" brings back fond memories. like Athearn, they made the hobby affordable, and provided many great hours of building and 'bashing opportunities. Dan
Even though there were some business ties between the two companies in the plastics era, Model Die Casting/Roundhouse was just different enough from Athearn to make it a worthy alternative -- different in the rolling stock choices and in some of the construction methods. I still have some of the metal kits waiting to be built. Some are ore cars.
In the pre plastic era, Athearn had stamped metal boxcar sides and MDC Roundhouse used cast metal. Unfortunately I have learned that some of the cast metal that Roundhouse used had zinc rot and some of those cars have crumbled in my hands. We're talking 1950s era kits here.
Dave Nelson
I started with MDC in about 1981 with a 2-8-0 kit that I bought for$29. This started me on building loco kits. I always wondered about the name" Model Die Casting" because the cars were mostly plastic in the 1980's. A friend gave me those vintage die cast cars, 2 were still unbuilt in the box. I love 'em, 'cause I like vintage stuff! Very nice and hefty cars.
MDC made interesting stuff that others did not make. And a lot of Old Timer cars and engines. Worthy of a Tribute!Paul
My favourite Roundhouse products were the 3 in 1 kits. A good part of my scratchbuilding skills came from building those kits. It is too bad that nobody is making anything similar today.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
MDC, eh?Well, I wasn't much interested in the old-timer stuff, but around the 1980s they introduced a number of then-reasonably contemporary decent freight car kits such as 50ft outside post boxcars, 5 bay hoppers, bathtub gondolas, 60ft flatcars (e.g. OTTX equipment flats), and of course those 52ft frameless modern-era generic tankcar. With paint and detailing (and some work - those tank cars needed stub-sills) those cars looked pretty good for the time (still do today IMO), and you could increase you 1980s fleet (like I did) at fairly reasonable prices. Good kitbach material as well.
I purchased three of the MDC 2-6-2 Prarie loco kits from Standard Hobby just before Standard Hobby closed their doors. As they were closout items, each kit cost only $35. Had I known how much I would enjoy building these kits, I would have purchased everything Standard Hobby had left. Two of the three were "late" kits with nickle silver plated driving wheels. The "Harriman" style kit came with bare brass wheels and that was the only disappointment. All three kits came with can motors. The two "Santa Fe" style locos are still some of my favorite locos on my layout. They are equipped with DCC, sound and LED lighting front and rear.
Hornblower
Hello All,
I have three (3) Roundhouse 60 ton Boxcab locomotives in HO.
Two (2) are powered and converted to DCC while the third is non-powered.
One (1) of the powered and the non-powered have the track cleaning option.
They are slow and quite loud but still work.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Nice Tribute!
I also have a slew of MDC/Roundhouse metal kits. One that I got reciently is a 200 ton all metal car. Curiously though, my listings of those cars does not show "Great Northern 67890" as one of theirs. Someone must have done the decals with an unknown process as I can not detect any decal film. BTW, the 200 Ton Flats were:
F-100 PRR Tuscan Red # 470200, 470201, 470202
F-101 CNW Tuscan Red #48051, 48053
F-102 D&H Black # 16153
F-103 NYC Black #499040, 499041, 499042, 499043
F-104 Westinghouse Black # WECX 100
Ah Ha! Now that I ran the car through my scanner, I can barely make out some decal film by the left most text. So, "Someone" custom lettered it. DUH, just look at the numbers, "67890", clasic 'cut out the numbers from a decal sheet'. Still I firmly believe it is a MDC / Roundhouse car. Sprung trucks and all.
By the way, I did have dealings with MDC / Roundhouse in the late 70's. I helped with some of their kitbash series. Numbers 1516, 1517 and 1519 have my name on instruction sheets. I also designed the Vanderbilt snow plow.
As a bit of "young blood" in modelling here, I definitely wish that someone made locomotive kits still - I want to try my hand on it, but messing around with partially assembled kits from ebay/auction sites doesn't seem like the best way to dip my toe in.
I think of loco kits as a carryover from the early days of Model Railroading. There were kits available for everything; engines, cars, structures. There was much less available R-T-R, and so many kits on the market. Somewhere along the way, tastes changed, and loco kits didn't sell very well.
It is a shame, I'd like to pick up a few, they're fun!
Paul
If you set up a search on eBay you will be notified when MDC, Roundhouse and Bowser locomotive kits come up. Many of them will be incomplete and/or partially assembled, but every so often a complete 'virgin' kit will come up at a realistic price. I scored a nice 2-8-0 by Bowser just before last Christmas for less than what it should have sold for.
I would also suggest considering kits with missing motors and/or trucks or wheel sets. Good motors are not expensive and you may end up replacing the motors anyhow. Wheels are readily available, and leading and trailing trucks don't have to be exactly identical to those that would have come with the model (unless you are modelling a very specific locomotive of course). There are tons of other parts available through the likes of Precision Scale etc., but be aware that costs can add up if you are buying lots of parts.
allegedlynerdyAs a bit of "young blood" in modelling here, I definitely wish that someone made locomotive kits still - I want to try my hand on it...
As the slogan says, "Just Do It!"
I began my "proof of concept" scratch-built cars with "craft sticks" and pieces of PVC pipes and fittings.
Also known as "popsicle" sticks, tongue depressors, and coffee stir sticks.
The first two (2) can be found at home improvement centers. Lowe's carries both.
I found coffee stir sticks on Amazon; approximately $10.00 for 1,000.
Check out the plumbing isle for PVC plumbing fittings for thoughts on tanker car bodies.
Then, use your imagination!
Tools will probably be your biggest expense. MicroMark is an excellent source.
Have fun, keep the questions coming and most of all- -have fun!
I see the price ranges on E-Bay; most are in a general ballpark, a few discounted prices occasionally. A bit of a sticker shock from what I remember, but good to know they can still be had. I 'm sure the labor would cost a fortune to produce a loco kit nowadays, counting the screws and rivets in each box.
MDC/Roundhouse Battle Mountain, Oh that name sounded really tough to me as a kid.
I was not much into steam at the time, I had just a handfull of them (7). It was not long till I Dieselized.
I just looked at my list of MDC/Roundhouse, last count 10/12/2003, 142 pieces of rolling stock from $2.00 up to ouch $9.00.
It seams like MDC at 142+ and Athearn at 224+ were competing for my business.
Aha, I finally was able to view the still pictures. For some reason I can not view the motion picture. Sounds like a treat. Thank you Road Foreman of Engines.
Road Foreman of Engines Here's my tribute to MDC, which was a fine company back in the day. Pictured are a kit built 2-6-0, 5 36' Overtons, a 58' Strasbourg coach, and some vintage MDC die cast freight cars.All running happily on 18" radius Snap track. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP-ZiHndXfecLJJyloWkE9OS6V9qmo9smmridAn1G9z3CvyRADB5M2WaEsy1vDosQ?key=eWlxTzdSVEdlWEd5Z1kyRXBpOTlqVUE3Q3hxSFdn fnf Paul
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP-ZiHndXfecLJJyloWkE9OS6V9qmo9smmridAn1G9z3CvyRADB5M2WaEsy1vDosQ?key=eWlxTzdSVEdlWEd5Z1kyRXBpOTlqVUE3Q3hxSFdn fnf
It looks fantastic! The detailed kit-built locomotive, vintage freight cars, and coaches running smoothly on 18" radius Snap track create a captivating scene.
mikasa23 Road Foreman of Engines Here's my tribute to MDC, which was a fine company back in the day. Pictured are a kit built 2-6-0, 5 36' Overtons, a 58' Strasbourg coach, and some vintage MDC die cast freight cars.All running happily on 18" radius Snap track. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP-ZiHndXfecLJJyloWkE9OS6V9qmo9smmridAn1G9z3CvyRADB5M2WaEsy1vDosQ?key=eWlxTzdSVEdlWEd5Z1kyRXBpOTlqVUE3Q3hxSFdn fnf Paul It looks fantastic! The detailed kit-built locomotive, vintage freight cars, and coaches running smoothly on 18" radius Snap track create a captivating scene.
Roundhouse was a fun experience. They made it fun!
For many years I've been a big fan of MDC Roundhouse 36' old timer freight cars. Way back at the dawn of the internet, I posted a want-to-buy on these kits, which was answered by a coordinated group of friends that sold me two dozen cars. I had to do a lot of filing to remove the flash on those zinc metal frames. I also took the time to use mono-filament fish line for scale 1" thick truss rods and also added turnbuckles. It was a quick low cost way of acquiring a freight car fleet.
Among my some-day projects is to use some of these metal frames as the chassis for a platform for my own resin-cast coal gondolas
Bargins are still to be had on these cars at train shows, typically less than $5 each.
Jim
This past Saturday, I won an MDC/Roundhouse 40' boxcar kit in the Hobo Auction at the NMRA Cajon Division Fall Meet. Spent a few hours yesterday filing, fitting, painting and assembling the kit. I still have to weather the model but it came out better than I though it would. Detail level is on par with a Blue Box model but I'd have to admit to preferring a Blue Box kit as they are much easier to assemble. At least now I can say I've built and MDC/Roundhouse freight car kit. The only real problem is that the final weight of the model is 5.84 ounces which is well over the NMRA recommended weight of 4.5 ounces for a 40' car.
Having presiously built three MDC loco kits, I would have to conclude that the finished locos were worth all of the effort required, whereas the boxcar kit is just another boxcar.
Road Foreman of Engines Here's my tribute to MDC, which was a fine company back in the day. Pictured are a kit built 2-6-0, 5 36' Overtons, a 58' Strasbourg coach, and some vintage MDC die cast freight cars.All running happily on 18" radius Snap track. https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP-ZiHndXfecLJJyloWkE9OS6V9qmo9smmridAn1G9z3CvyRADB5M2WaEsy1vDosQ?key=eWlxTzdSVEdlWEd5Z1kyRXBpOTlqVUE3Q3hxSFdnPaul