I was looking thru my new Walthers HO catalog and noticed that EKO makes an HO model of the Studebaker Avanti and the Renault Dauphine, both cars I am interested in (I had an Avanti and my friend had the Dauphine back in the 60’s). Does anyone have experience with their models? I can’t find any photos of the models, just line drawings. They are only $5.99 each but that isn’t cheap if they aren’t any good.
-Bob
Quality is good for the money. The few that I bought just seemed a little smaller than Herpa/Wiking/Roco and especially Atlas and Athearn. The excuse I had for avoiding them was Walthers had pencil sketches in their catalog and no photos. That was before the internet and most HO vehicle prices passed 1/25th scale model kits!!
I have a handful of Eko vehicles. They’re OK for the background, but are at best 70s technology in a 21st century world. Wait until they’re on sale is my advice. I have one of the Land Rovers and it’s at best an odd looking Rover. The Jeepster Wagon is better.
A lot of info and photos:
http://www.87thscale.info/eko.htm
Links to poor photo of Avanti and OK photo of the Dauphine
Thanks for the info guys. Looks like the quality is not there and I noticed on some of the photos that the seams are actually raised lines rather than recessed grooves as they shoud be. Guess I will look elsewhere.
-Bob
Don’t be too hasty, while not great front edge models, they are decent vehicles at a fair price considering what better vehicles sell for. They disassemble fairly easily and with some “modeling” and painting become good models, especially for street scenes, parking lots, etc. I use them to fill in lots of factory/street parking scenes. It’s cheaper than CMW and other vehicles.mh
I agree with M Horton, the cars are good mid-range quality models. If you really want that Avanti, go buy it. It is doubtful that anyone else will ever make one. The only thing, is to check before ordering is if the item is in stock at Walthers. I have noticed that many of their items have been out of stock for a very long time, i.e. years.
They are passable, not that great, but for the price hard to pass, especially if you are using them for background items. I would opt for another brand for items that would have close scrutinay, but then again you will pay 3 or 4 times the price as well.
I guess for $6 I can take a chance on the Avanti, as it is the only model I have seen in HO. I believe that it was in stock at Walthers as well as one of the other suppliers that I checked with. I will post photos of the model when I get it; and better photos than are posted on suppliers websites.
This is one area of model railroading that really bothers me; if a manufacturer is going to all the effort to make expensive injection molds of these automobiles (or any item for that matter), why not do it right and most likely sell more of the final product.
-Bob
As has been mentioned, there’s a reason that the vehciles that Eko sells are mostly from the 1950s to early-1960s - I believe that’s when, as one web-site stated “Blasco Industries of Spain produced small 1/87 plastic models under the EKO name” - so how did the contemporary Athearn station wagons or Bachmann Plasticville coupes compare? Heck, there was a reason lots of Matchbox vehicles found their way onto HO layouts back in the day…(I understand the 1961 Revell Dodge Polara was pretty decent, and I am not sure when Jordan first began production of its kits, but they certainly weren’t ready to run).
I own several Ekos, (T-Bird & Lincoln), and neither have interiors - not sure if this is true for every one of their models.