In a full page ad in a 1982 Model Railroader magazine, there is a Walther’s (Scale Scenery inc.) 2-story HO scale house (the bottom level is a hardware store) that sells for $1,000 and comes with a nice case and one tree.
I don’t remember what month it was published but that was a lot of money back then and even today. Does anyone recall that structure? Nicely detailed inside but IMO, not worth that much.
The kit form cost $275, case not included.
Did anyone buy one?
Sure your not talking about the “officially licensed” model of the UP headquarters[:)]
tee hee hee
dharmon…dont you mean the Bullet proof, pissed off employee proof, complaint proof, disgrunteled investor proof Bunker?
That’s the one.
Kevlar Towers[:D]
[:p]
I remember it well – and quite reasonable it was – considering that it was on a "prime water front lot ", in the Sunshine State !!
[;)]
Happy Xmas !
[:D][:D]
OK, found it. Page 47 of Apr 1982 Model Railroader magazine. $1,000 and appears to be made of styrene.
If you bought 100 of these babies, you could have quite a village.
[8D][8D]
Yeah – that way you would never need to come out !!
[:D][:D]
can you see any pics of it online?
~ðrågóñsläµér
The building you are talking about is called “THE STORE” was made by Scale Structures Ltd. It still is available from JAKS Industries . The basic kit originally was around $90, and today is only $92. The $250 version started with the base kit and included all the white metal SS LTD castimg for interior details, furniture, printed wallpaper and carpets for the first floor hardware store, and several of the second floor rooms - living, bed, kitchen, bath, and more. The room interiors are still available separately.
The Kit has embossed / printed cardstock walls, and all the other parts are white metal castings from the SS LTD line…
The $1000 built up version included assembly and painting of all these parts, and then the diorama base and display case. I don’t know if any of the built up versions were ever sold.
I do have a base kit in my personal inventory. All of the original SS LTD kits were of similar construction. Highly detailed for there time, and still hold up well against current kit production. The interiors have many parts to build up each piece of furniture. Expensive - Yes. But if you consider the time it take to make the parts yourself, and then assemble and paint everything, -and then try to sell at a profit, maybe not that bad of a deal even back then. Imagine selling an item 20+ years later for essentially the same price !!! A very good deal today.
Check out the JAKS website for pictures of the entire line of kits. JAKS also has many of the original Maguson and Chooch resin kits. Some of thse have been renamed or relabeled to the SS LTD brand name.
jaksind.com SS 1118 $91.95 for the base kit
Rich Laube
Trenton, NJ