It's like Jason Shron was saying in his column in Canadian Railway Modeller's current issue - price relates to quality. A 'generic' mass-produced one size fits all F7 is going to cost a lot less than one with details specific to a railroad - or even to a specific engine. Similarly, the trend in autos has been for specific makes, models and years, not just generic "sedans" and "coupes".
Still, I'd say you could mix a bit - keep an eye out for inexpensive, less detailed plastic cars suitable for a background scene, or a crowded parking lot, and save the expensive Oxford or CMW ones for foreground scenes.
https://www.walthers.com/station-set-includes-10-automobiles-6-station-figures-6-railroad-crew-figures
https://www.walthers.com/toyota-sedan-set-pkg-6
https://www.walthers.com/4-classic-passenger-cars
I was checking out halfpricehobby and I followed the trail on some of the vehicles back to one of the manufactures (GHQ). I was unaware of GHQ but was pleasantly suprised at the variety and pricing on their N scale vehicles. Appears everything must be painted but that seems to be a common thread with most of the stuff I have seen. Guess I need to find me someone with steady hands to do some painting for me.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
For anyone looking for N scale vehicles, you might want to try halfpricehobby.com. They have all sorts of things for model railroads that are always discounted. Cheaper than walthers. Shipping is $8.99 versus walthers' $11.95.
BRAKIE truckings companies like Crete,Landstar Ranger,Western etc.
truckings companies like Crete,Landstar Ranger,Western etc.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Actually the Matchbox semis and sanitation trucks are fine if a bit small when properly weathered.
Now cars car a different story matchbox Hot wheels etc are too large I bought some cars off ebay. They aren’t highly detailed but most cars nowadays look the same anyway.
Joe Staten Island West
These are HO scale.
I have a bunch of old Chevvies from when they were showing up a Wal-Mart for $1.69. They are pretty nice models. I've got one Edsel that cost me around $15. I'm not a die-cast afficionado, but I honestly don't see any difference in quality.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I'm an N scaler also and I feel your pain... My autos and trucks cost me at least $10.00 each and I have over 40 of them on my transitional era layout. As it's been said, there isn't much to choose from so I had to accept what I could get. I spread them out so there wouldn't be a large group of cars in one place. That said, I'm happy with what I have. I just wish that they were cheaper.
riogrande576115 5o 18 dollars for an entire 18 wheeler (tractor and trailer) isn't bad. Athearn's Fruehauf trailers are now (for the past couple years) selling for street price $18-20 just for a single trailer.
Jim,That's the reason I turn to Trucks and Stuff you can fill trailer drop lots because trailers costs between $7.99- 12.99 street.
They may not be as fancy as the Atlas or Athearn trailers but,seeing all vehicles are dust collectors they will do.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
All I have done is look at Shapeway on line. Never touched one of the cars/trucks nor painted a Shapeway or any other N scale item. At my age and with slight tremors in my hands, I don't see how I could put a decent paint job one one. Has anyone here actually painted an N scale Shapeway vehicle? Difficulity? Visibility of the lines caused by the printing process?
MisterBeasley One thing I always notice on modular club layouts at train shows is the number of vehicles they have. There are too many, as if the owners decided to use their module as a display platform for their auto collections. I find too many vehicles to be a distraction, and I've pretty much stopped buying any more for now. And don't get me started on putting Matchbox cars on an HO layout, and certainly no Formula 1 race cars, either.
One thing I always notice on modular club layouts at train shows is the number of vehicles they have. There are too many, as if the owners decided to use their module as a display platform for their auto collections. I find too many vehicles to be a distraction, and I've pretty much stopped buying any more for now.
And don't get me started on putting Matchbox cars on an HO layout, and certainly no Formula 1 race cars, either.
I understand and agree, but there is also a flip side: I've seen many layouts that have too few vehicles (IMO, of course).
My layout has a complete network of roads, highways, and surface streets that has been included in the design from the very beginning. I tried to include the surface roads in a reasonable proportion to the rail trackage. Not to showcase my auto collection, but merely trying to capture the essence of the prototype.
There are heavy industrial areas (steel mill, chemical plant, paper mill, etc), and each could presumably employ hundreds of shift workers inside and require large parking lots for their vehicles outside. Not to mention service vehicles and whatnot. I tried to include such things, but I had only a limited amount of benchwork real estate to dole out.
There is also a small town with stores, offices, banks, movie theaters, barber shops . . . even a prompt service restaurant, and I figure a modern layout needs to address the prototypical realities. I tried.
The layout has an intermodal yard, and when a 30-car stack train arrives or departs, there are as many as 60 containers that need to be handled and swapped out (hence the name intermodal). But even worse, there is a deep-water port which occupies the entire lower level. My plans call for two ocean going ships: a large container ship (Albatross) and an automobile carrier (Ming-na Maru). They are in the 4- to 5-foot range (600 to 800 N-scale feet), so that puts them on the smallish side of large. Even so, each could conceivably carry a thousand containers or automobiles. So, my few dozen trucks and cars are only a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things.
Like Mike (in SE WI), I try to collect stuff when and as it comes available. With a little patience and a lot of persistence, I think I'll get there. Eventually.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Onewolf But I'm HO and 1950s so there's more selection than modern N scale.
But I'm HO and 1950s so there's more selection than modern N scale.
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/madaboutcars?section=1%2F160&s=0
I'm going to eventually need hundreds (500+ ?) of vehicles for my layout. I have bought many (~100) from Trainworld when they put them on special sale/clearance for $3-$5 and I buy them from train shows when a vendor has a bunch I can get 'combo' deals on. But I'm HO and 1950s so there's more selection than modern N scale.
Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.
- Photo album of layout construction -
Eric White A layout only needs so many Lamborghini Countachs.
A layout only needs so many Lamborghini Countachs.
I was just going to ask if everyone who builds semi-contemporary layouts fills them with Maseratis. I bought the printer but I've been unsuccessful finding STL files for things I want like, say, a Chrysler Cordoba or '89 Toyota Corolla. I may end up cooking my own at some point but I've got too many other things on my plate at the moment. So far I've scared up a Honda Accord and a VW Passat on eBay, but not much else.
All this and not one mention of the beloved cheap autos available in N. OK, they're 90's and later but everyone who has them is really happy and they are all over eBay. Just don't make them a feature.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-Model-Railroad-Vehicles-Mixed-Styles-in-12-Colors-32-Cars-per-Set/162940401978?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
15 5o 18 dollars for an entire 18 wheeler (tractor and trailer) isn't bad. Athearn's Fruehauf trailers are now (for the past couple years) selling for street price $18-20 just for a single trailer. They used to come in 2-packs for a similar price but I guess they figured they could make twice the money by selling them in singles for the old price of the doubles. Thankfully the vast majority of them I was able to purchase in 2-packs and have only picked up a few singles to fill in some holes.
But MRSP $24-28 seems now to be the norm for trailers. I think Trainworx next run will be at the high end of that or a bit more.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I buy Trucks and Stuff 18 wheelers and while they're not cheap $15-18.00 they are detailed and add that extra believability because of the truckings companies like Crete,Landstar Ranger,Western etc.
Formula 1 cars look awesome on a 1930's era layout!
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
I agree, the vehicle world in HO and N could be improved.
You have more vehicles than I do, well actual cars and trucks. I have boat load of trailers for TOFC service since I've been collecting the Athearn Fruehauf trailer over the past 8 years.
But I know what you mean about scarce. If I were to start collecting the Fruehauf trailers now, I'd be up a creek as most of them are scarce and go for 2 to 3 times their original MRSP on Ebay - nuts! Thankfully I started treasure hunting them and found a few vendors which still had a good selection so between finding them at train shows, vendors, and some I did buy new when originall offered.
I've seen the stuff Trainworx has offered in the last 8-10 years and it's all wonderful for a Rio Grande fan like me. If I were to switch to N scale now that it's all long gone, I'd be screwed. BTW, Trainworx will be producing a plastic correct Rio Grande 3-window caboose, but in N scale. I sure hope they do them in HO like they have some of the trailers cause I will be one happy guy if they do. But I digress.
Trainworx has a run of trailers that I will be wanting multiples of this fall in HO, including City Market, Alpha Beta, BUD of California, ATSF, Sunkist as well as Southern Pacific and PFE. The D&RGW hauled lots of City Market - my sisters shopped at that grocery store when they were at music camp in Aspen CO back in the 1980's.
Yeah, thats the problem with alot of models. Get them when they are made otherwise it's like panning for gold on an ocean beach. Thats stuff almost never can be found.
riogrande5761 PED All good suggestions but I need about 50-70 vehicles of various types to make my layout look like an active place. With prices averaging $15-$25 or more per vehicle and typically unfinished, this is a killer. Nobody ever said building a sizable model railroad would be cheap. Many have one to two hundred engines and hundreds of freight cars. DCC, decoders, sound, good quality track ... and much more, it all adds up. If you have the time to roll your own, a 3D printer may be a solution for some. As usual you either need lots of money (RTR) or time (kits and roll your own). You know the drill. And it isn't like there isn't a history of people complaining about the cost of the hobby for the past 10 years on forum - it's a horse beat to death and long dead. There, I guess someone had to address that 2000 lb elephant in the room (high cost of the hobby).
PED All good suggestions but I need about 50-70 vehicles of various types to make my layout look like an active place. With prices averaging $15-$25 or more per vehicle and typically unfinished, this is a killer.
All good suggestions but I need about 50-70 vehicles of various types to make my layout look like an active place. With prices averaging $15-$25 or more per vehicle and typically unfinished, this is a killer.
Nobody ever said building a sizable model railroad would be cheap. Many have one to two hundred engines and hundreds of freight cars. DCC, decoders, sound, good quality track ... and much more, it all adds up.
If you have the time to roll your own, a 3D printer may be a solution for some. As usual you either need lots of money (RTR) or time (kits and roll your own). You know the drill.
And it isn't like there isn't a history of people complaining about the cost of the hobby for the past 10 years on forum - it's a horse beat to death and long dead. There, I guess someone had to address that 2000 lb elephant in the room (high cost of the hobby).
Hey Rio (and PED, too),
I appreciate all the helpful input and suggestions. I'm not complaining about the cost of the hobby, just complaining about the dearth of N scale stuff (another dead horse issue ).
I have a dozen or so Atlas pickup trucks of limited variety and color. About the same number of passenger vehicles. I have 6 or 8 Kato Volvo tractor/trailer combos and about a dozen container skeleton chassis. I have 2 Atlas Ford tractors (both white, about 1995 models) to match up with the 48- and 53-foot containers. That is pretty much it. I'd like about four times as many all around and a larger variety of styles, makes, models, colors, etc. There's a pretty good selection of European vehicles, and I suppose I could use a couple of them, but Mercedes trucks and Lamborghini tractors look a little out of place on my American layout.
The Shapeways and other unfinished kits are far down my list, but still an option. Painting is not my strong suit, particularly tiny vehicles.
Trainworx vehicles are gorgeous, but more than a little expensive: in the $75 to $125 range. Like I said, I'm not afraid of that. I'd like to get a couple to highlight a particular scene. The problem is they are very scarce and only available on the aftermarket eBay-type sites. I don't want to flog that dead horse, but I am very leery of those venues.
So there we have it. I am very patient, and I'll pick up something here and there if and when they become available. But one of the great things about this forum is that hundreds of model railroaders can really help keep an eye out.
Thanks,
PEDAll good suggestions but I need about 50-70 vehicles of various types to make my layout look like an active place. With prices averaging $15-$25 or more per vehicle and typically unfinished, this is a killer.
I can understand that Paul, buy very few of us can run out and buy all the cars and trucks we need, all at once.
It's like filling your shop with tools, it's built up over time. Start with a few to fill in the "most needed" areas, and build your collection up, and watch for sales from the many online train and hobby stores, and items on Ebay.
Ebay also has a section for cars and trucks, not related to looking under HO trains.
You pick the scale your looking for.
I did some general population build up with MatchBox stuff, as some do look closer to scale than others, but once I started building a collection of HO scale vehicles, the Match Box stuff came off.
Another option, is the 1:100 stuff from the Ebay sellers from China. They would be a little big, as I think N scale is like 1:148 to 1:160.
I'm always on the look out for vehicles and trucks.
Mike.
My You Tube
For what it's worth, in N scale, Atlas has released their nice Ford F100 pick up and they come in 2-packs for around $25 give or take. They are good for early 1970's and later and are nice for around town or populating bi-level auto racks with.
A $300 3D printer would probably create disappointing N scale vehicles.
There are a decent number of N scale vehicles on Shapeways for under $20 for a pair. There's still the stepping issue, though.
GHQ makes some nice truck kits.
But even in HO, it's hard to find models for specific eras, and most cars are for collectors, who prefer sporty models.
Looking at photos from the era and region I want to model, a few dozen Novas, Darts and Mavericks would be a great help, but I need the dowdy four-doors as well as the cooler-looking two-doors.
Eric
Sounds like a $300 3D printer would be a bargain.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
There are kits out there starting at about 12$ per vehicle. Tiny stuff, but it is N scale after all!
Simon
Trainworx has 40' straight frame and 40' drop frame trailers for 1960's thru 1980's in both HO and N scale.
Atlas just put out a 1980' truck cab and should be available in HO and N.
FWIW, Wheels of Time just announced a new trucks:
Wheels of Time is delighted to everyday work trucks used by railroad maintenance-of-way departments and construction contractors. First up are Railroad Maintenance-of-Way Truck and Dump Truck. Designed with the characteristically sculptured hood and cab. These Series 50/60/80 trucks were built in 1964-1966 for medium to heavy duty applications. Model features - one piece highly detailed body from Shapeways FUD material (FXD and FUD for N scale) and wheels-tires roll freely. Model requires cleaning any waxes, very light sanding, priming and painting. These models are available only directly due to the higher cost of production. Go here for HO scale. Go here for N scale.
http://www.wheelsotime.com/blog/
Sometimes you get good deals at trainshows or swap meets.