Poss. no more ARTISTA

[BILLBOBBOY1]

I was attempting to order some ARTISTA "s" gauge figures yesterday afternoon, from SCENIC EXPRESS, when I was told the selection was limited to what was on hand.  Mr. Artista is ill and I assume, though I did not ask, that the illness is either long term or terminal.  He is the key person in the business.  Thus, no orders can be placed for Artista products.  That includes "O" scale as well.  There are several other manufacturers of "O" scale figures, but I have not run across others doing "S".  That put a hurt on me because I just got the "S" scale part of my layout ready to populate with people.

If anyone knows another source of "S" gauge figures, please let me know.  I just did an ARTISTA search on Ebay and got one hit - an outhouse.

Bill

[spankybird]

Artista is a family business and they hand paint the figures themself.

 

Here is another source for S and O gauge people

http://www.scalefigures.com/

 

[Bob Keller]

Thanks for the link - I'm unfamiliar with their product. Some of the figures look pretty nice.

[zeames1]

Artista was at York two weeks ago. I recognized the Misses but can only assume the gentlemen I paid was Mr. Artista. I believe they had a full compliment of 'O' and 'S' gauge figures as not a single peg was empty. I remember our club was trying to order Artista from Scenic Express almost a year ago and were told its best to deal with them directly.

[cheech]

i saw the mrs. at york as well. they had a ton of stuff painted and unpainted...my spouse couldn't believe how much the 'little things' cost.

Scenic express no longer sells their products, except for what is on hand. it has been that way for the last 6-9 months. i wouldn't read into it.  buy the s scale directly from the sources arttista.com. site is still up and they are there in o and s scale.

another source for arttista items is trainz.com and hobbylinc

ralph

[BILLBOBBOY1]

Spankybird,

Thanks for the reference.  Appears to be a nice selection.  However, at the bottom of the "S" scale page is "updated January 2002".  Has anyone ordered from that site recently?

Regards,

Bill

[NewbieLady]

I've called the number on the site directly, talked to the man himself, and received my order in two days. Granted this was a few months ago. Seems ordering directly from Arttista is the way to go though.

[spankybird]

Spankybird,

Thanks for the reference.  Appears to be a nice selection.  However, at the bottom of the "S" scale page is "updated January 2002".  Has anyone ordered from that site recently?

Regards,

Bill

 

I believe the last time I ordered from them was about a year ago.

[Joe Hohmann]

I'm very familiar with the Arttista line, and I have about 50 of their figures. I spoke to the owner at York, and they continue to offer about a dozen new figures each year.

Since these are NOT "mass-produced", and because they are so popular, distributors do run out of stock on some items. Scenic Express did not want to tell customers they were out-of-stock on items, with the back-order paperwork involved, so they will cease to carry them. I have 2 train stores near me that carry the entire line, and I have also ordered direct (just try to order a number of them at a time, to save on postage).

Arttista is a "family business" in Newark, Delaware. Each is hand-painted pewter, and finding local people to paint them to Arttista's high standards has always been a challenge for them. Joe

[Joe Hohmann]

Thanks for the link - I'm unfamiliar with their product. Some of the figures look pretty nice.

Interesting...considering they run a ad with photos in every issue of CTT and OGR.

[DennisB-1]

Joe,

Are you referring to Arttista or www.scalefigures.com

[Joe Hohmann]

Joe,

Are you referring to Arttista or www.scalefigures.com

My mistake. I was referring to Arttista, and assumed the "thanks for the link" post was for them. Joe

[BILLBOBBOY1]

My wife just called ARTTISTA and talked to "The Man himself".  She made a very nice order for me.  I don't know why the misinformation was passed to us from Scenic Express, but apparently I jumped to the forum with an announcement a bit too soon.  "ARTTISTA" is alive, well, and all items are in stock.

Scenic Express is still a good source for modeling supplies and are not fast shippers, but super fast shippers.  I made an order yesterday and it arrived today.

Bill

[Bob Keller]

Sorry, Joe, but until the scalefigures.com link was posted, I was unfamiliar with their products, and they sure haven't sent me any info for product news.

[spankybird]

Here is another place for people, but you have to convert the height of them to see how tall they will be for your scale. Many of them work well in O gauge, but may be too large for S gague.

 

http://www.barclaycompany.com/servlet/Categories?category=The+Pee-Wee+League&searchpath=20320&start=1&total=284

 

[NewbieLady]

Thanks for that link, Spanky! Or should I say, Tom. I've been searching forever for the exact gas station attendants they offer. How do these compare in size/proportion to ARTTISTA, as these are mostly what I have. I do have some Model Power too, and actually kind of like their slightly beefier proportions.

[spankybird]

Depending on which ones you pick, they will mix in fine. Any that are from 1 3/8 to 1 5/8 tall will work well. Here are some girls from them.

The girl with the red top, purple top and red dress are from them.

[Joe Hohmann]

One nice thing about Arttista is that you can bend the arms and legs a bit, due to the pewter they are made from. I've done this a number of times to "customize" a person to a scenic situation...guy pushing lawn mower becomes guy holding pizza box, guy with garden hose becomes guy pulling cooler out of the back of a station wagon, etc. I use small hobby plyers covered with electrical tape to avoid paint damage. Joe