I am new to modeling and at the moment am rather broke, i am working on repainting and detailing the stock that i have from train sets. This stuff has been through years of abuse during my child hood, and it shows. I am starting to detail and repaint, at the moment i am terrible and would like to to buy some cheep models to experiment with detailing and weathering. It should fit the major dimensions, i don’t care how short of details it is. Any ideas for SP related cheep diesels would be great
TL;DR cheep SP diesel for paint, detailing and weathering practice, recommendations appreciated.
Basket cases go for real cheap on the famous auction site. Find someone with several or a lot from an estate and combine shipping. Hard to beat, except for the bargain tables at the next RR flea market in your area.
I am assuming that you are working with diesels. If the mechanisms are satisfactory or better, you might consider searching the web for replacement shells. Except for bargain table leftovers, a bare shell will be cheaper than a whole locomtive.
The same isn’t as true for steam locos, since the importers don’t usually stock superstructures as separate items.
Chuck (Scratchbuilds steam that did, or might have, run in Central Japan in September, 1964)
For painting practice you can find old, cheap cars at yard sales, flea markets and on the bargin tables at rr shows. To practice loco reconditioning, the same is true. E-bay does have some inexpensive stuff, but with shipping some of it looses its cheapness. This time of year around here yard sales are on the way out, but it is the time of year when there are more rr shows.
If you get fairly good results, I have heard of folks using these cheap cars as track fillers in yards, hidden behind better detailed ones.
They don’t have to be SP diesels,all railroads used almost the same one’s as the SP used…You said you wanted to practice anyway…When you get to the point,that you feel confident in your work,then paint one for the SP…Just a Thought!
Most train shows have ample numbers of old engine shells, some even with motors, and some of those even work. Check on eBay to see what the going price is for these so you don’t over-pay.
Don’t overlook the early yellow box Atlas diesels. Made by Roco, these were top of the line back in the day. They sell on ebay for 20-25 and still run pretty good.