Alpine Scale Models, any good?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I was flippin through my Walthers HO 06’ catalog and came across Alpine Scale Models in the Structures section. It says they are made of mat board? Does anyone have experience with mat board structures or Alpine models? I was specifically looking at their citrus packing house. Looked nice. I think Ive seen it before on a club layout once. Anyway, thanks, happy Memorial Day!

2

Yes. Alpine Scale Models manufactures the structure line formerly produced under the Suydam name. The line also includes some structures constructed of metal corrugated sheeting, in addition to the mat board ones. My problem is that I didn’t really know how to solder when I built a few, although I still have my “Black Bart” Mine. Nowadays, you could just as easily use epoxy for some of it, but learning to solder is a good skill to have.

For many of the Western prototypes in the line, the materials used are appropriate, although we’re talking 1950s technology here. You can build some nice models from these kits with a little skill, even though they’re very old school. They’re not craftsman kits, but they do take a bit more skill to build than a shake the box kit would. Adding details to them can really dress them up.

Many of these kits were reviewed under the Suydam name in old issues of MR. I am not sure what changes, if any, Alpine made when they began producing these vintage kits.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL

3

I bought one a while back. They are OK but require more skills than gluing together a plastic structure kit. I started on mine but have since lost interest. Maybe one day soon I’ll open the box and start again.

4

I put together the grain elevator but was not impressed with it. I will probably build something from styrene to replace it. I also have another kit but not sure I’m even going to bother building it.

To me, the grain elevator looks out of scale.

Just my [2c].

Tom

5

Thanks guys, they arn’t too expensive so I’ll take the plunge! bnsf97

6

I wasn’t impressed with the way the blacksmith shop turned out, but the passenger station was pretty nice. I plan on repainting the Blacksmith shop.

Blacksmith Shop

Passenger Station