I am looking at a few old Athearn yellow box cars on ebay. I can make out the meaning of most of the data on the box ends, but there are numbers such as "1:29" or "2:69", etc. What do those numbers signify?
Thanks,
Mark
iawestern I am looking at a few old Athearn yellow box cars on ebay. I can make out the meaning of most of the data on the box ends, but there are numbers such as "1:29" or "2:69", etc. What do those numbers signify? Thanks, Mark
That is the maufacturers suggested retail price, $1.29, $2.69, etc. Athearn and most hobby manufacturers printed the MSRP on the package until the early 1980's.
Sheldon
It might seem unbelievable but Sheldon is exactly rigtht. Those were the LIST prices back in the yellow box era. Blue box prices were similar. But if memory serves me the yellow box kits did not include the metal weight. Maybe early blue box did not either. Thus the introduction of plastic actually meant a price reduction for modelers since Athearn metal kits had cost more.
We must say no more about prices or this thread will be merged with another one.
You have to be really old to remember the Athearn black box era ....
Dave Nelson
dknelsonYou have to be really old to remember the Athearn black box era ....
Found installed in the tail end of biplanes, maybe?
CG
dknelson It might seem unbelievable but Sheldon is exactly rigtht. Those were the LIST prices back in the yellow box era. Blue box prices were similar. But if memory serves me the yellow box kits did not include the metal weight. Maybe early blue box did not either. Thus the introduction of plastic actually meant a price reduction for modelers since Athearn metal kits had cost more.
The yellow box kits (caboose and heavy duty flat) I bought in 1959 came with weights. And X2f couplers and metal trucks with plastic wheelsets and rubber spring blocks. You assembled them yourself. And the coupler box covers were attached with screws, instead of using the metal clips.
Yellow box kits sold earlier than that may have been without weights. Don't know. The blue box always came with them.
Ed
dknelson It might seem unbelievable but Sheldon is exactly rigtht. Those were the LIST prices back in the yellow box era. Blue box prices were similar. But if memory serves me the yellow box kits did not include the metal weight. Maybe early blue box did not either. Thus the introduction of plastic actually meant a price reduction for modelers since Athearn metal kits had cost more. We must say no more about prices or this thread will be merged with another one. You have to be really old to remember the Athearn black box era .... Dave Nelson
No the yellow boxes had the weight, the difference at first was hobby shops for a time had yellow boxes and blue boxes, the blue boxes had the new RP-25 wheels sets and and extra 25 cents in price versus the yellow box kits, and after all the old deep flange wheels were gone from stock the yellow boxes disappeared also.
Rick Jesionowski
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dti406 No the yellow boxes had the weight, the difference at first was hobby shops for a time had yellow boxes and blue boxes, the blue boxes had the new RP-25 wheels sets and and extra 25 cents in price versus the yellow box kits, and after all the old deep flange wheels were gone from stock the yellow boxes disappeared also. Rick Jesionowski
Ah, a co-incident post.
The cost difference was generated by the fact that the blue box RP-25 wheels were lathe turned brass, as opposed to cast plastic. Blue box kits were introduced as 12 new kits back in the early sixties. I bought one of the Glacier green GN 40' boxcars.
Trucks were sprung. And assembled, as I recall.
I don't know that Athearn's plan was to replace the yellow box. Seems to me they were more aimed at a developing a high end line to compliment their regular line. But somewhere in there, plastic RP25 wheels were introduced, perhaps when the cast rigid plastic trucks showed up. That perhaps was the end of the yellow box line. Please note that I'm just speculating in this paragraph, though.
Something else that was way different than now, besides some kit prices that didn't go to the left of the decimal: there was NO discounting off list. At least, it sure wasn't common. So a complaint that a hobby shop was charging list would have been met with a "blank stare".
The exception that does come to mind was buying at the Post Exchange. There hobby stuff like HO trains and model kits was 70% of list.
7j43kAnd X2f couplers and metal trucks with plastic wheelsets and rubber spring blocks. You assembled them yourself.
Or the modeler went one step farther and bought the superior Central Valley trucks.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIE Or the modeler went one step farther and bought the superior Central Valley trucks.
And a step still farther and those fancy K5 Kadee couplers. But I believe the trucks and couplers combined cost more than the car.
7j43k BRAKIE Or the modeler went one step farther and bought the superior Central Valley trucks. And a step still farther and those fancy K5 Kadee couplers. But I believe the trucks and couplers combined cost more than the car. Ed
They did but,good trucks was a must but,the X2F was acceptable since that was the (cough,cough) "standard" coupler until around the mid 60s when the #5 was slowly but surely becoming the defacto standard coupler.When I got out of the Army in '77 the KD coupler was the coupler of choice so,when I started buying BB locomotives and car kits I bought KD couplers.
BRAKIE They did but,good trucks was a must but,the X2F was acceptable since that was the (cough,cough) "standard" coupler until around the mid 60s when the #5 was slowly but surely becoming the defacto standard coupler.When I got out of the Army in '77 the KD coupler was the coupler of choice so,when I started buying BB locomotives and car kits I bought KD couplers.
I never had any particular problems with stock Athearn trucks. Such as derailments. So I left them alone. But I hankered intensely for couplers that looked something like real ones. One of the few times I've been an early adopter, I guess.
I saved my Central Valley trucks for those fancy kits, like LaBelle and Olympic Cascadian...........
I still run lots of ATHEARN blue box, yellow box, red and white box, and even a few black/brown box pieces.
Every plastic yellow box car I have ever seen came with a weight. I worked in a hobby shop during the transition from yellow to blue, and while not exact in every case, the change did make the change from metal sprung trucks without RP25 to rigid plastic trucks with RP25.
There were also light blue "window" boxes with RTR versions, but that went away by about 1970.
Additional note, stamped metal cars and plastic cars were in production at same time during most of the yellow box era, but were phased out before blue boxes came along.
I don't mean to be dogmatic but I distinctly recall Athearn yellow box kits with no weights. So I tracked down a review in the July 1957 MR of the original release of the classic Athearn "Santa Fe" caboose kit and 40' boxcar kit. The review states "A steel sheet metal weigh (available at extra cost) can be added to give the caboose extra weight. To us this seems extremely desirable because the caboose is light and has a tendency to pop off the track."
The original boxcar kit was available for 98 cents unpainted and unlettered according to the review. Lettered it was $1.29. "A steel plate is available for adding extra weight to the car. Like the caboose, the box car is extremely light and would 'track' better if weight were added."
dknelsonThe original boxcar kit was available for 98 cents unpainted and unlettered according to the review. Lettered it was $1.29. "A steel plate is available for adding extra weight to the car. Like the caboose, the box car is extremely light and would 'track' better if weight were added." Dave Nelson
Early car kits from various manufacturers lack weight so, the NMRA decided on RP20.1 and the membership overwhelmingly approved it..
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Sheldon,Your photos brought back a lot of memories of watching Dad built those kits.
dknelson I don't mean to be dogmatic but I distinctly recall Athearn yellow box kits with no weights. So I tracked down a review in the July 1957 MR of the original release of the classic Athearn "Santa Fe" caboose kit and 40' boxcar kit. The review states "A steel sheet metal weigh (available at extra cost) can be added to give the caboose extra weight. To us this seems extremely desirable because the caboose is light and has a tendency to pop off the track." The original boxcar kit was available for 98 cents unpainted and unlettered according to the review. Lettered it was $1.29. "A steel plate is available for adding extra weight to the car. Like the caboose, the box car is extremely light and would 'track' better if weight were added." Dave Nelson
That's interesting, I wonder how long that lasted before they started includung the weights. It was the 60's before I was directly exposed to yellow box kits, but I have bought a number of NOS ones throughout my lifetime.
7j43k The yellow box kits (caboose and heavy duty flat) I bought in 1959 came with weights.
So, less than two years, anyway.
I especially remember the weights for the HD flat: little cast metal bits that fit in the matrix of the underframe.
I bought my first Athearn kit in spring of 1959. It was a Carnation reefer that had working doors. The price on the box was 1.69. If my memory serves me correctly, the first couple of kits did not have weights, but before summer was out they all had weights. I think the weights cost 10 cents.
Back then the die cast trucks had to be assembled, first with the rubber pads for springs, but by the time I started assembling the kits the trucks had springs. If you got a kit with the pads, no worries, you could buy truck springs, perhaps a dozen per pack in the same type of Manila envelope the trucks came in.
The same was true for the couplers. The x2f couplers had a little knob on them to put the spring on and there was a little pocket in the coupler box for the other end. Then you had to put the coupler box cover plate on quickly and hope the spring didn't come out and fall on the floor. Which if it did, good hunting!
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)