I received an Ertl Collectible plastic model recently for Christmas, and would like to ask anyone for their assistance in how to contact Ertl.
The Ertl Company Inc. Dyersville, Iowa 52040-0500 USA. last known address of the company
The model is the D L & W Train Station # 2957 Craftsman Series, {HO scale}, I have constructed the train station itself, but there is another plastic tree full of pieces.
The directions with the model only indicate how to construct the train station itself; it does not mention anywhere what these extra plastic pieces are for. I have recently figured out on this extra plastic tree, 3 barrels, 4 steamer trunks, and the 4 pieces required for the 2 chimney tops of the train station but not what the rest are for.
If anyone has built this model and has the rest of the directions, or knows how to contact Ertl, {if the company still exists}, I would appreciate it very much.
As TwinZephy means to imply, the Ertl structure models derived from kits produced by what is now known as Railway Design Associates, a subcontractor for Ertl. I’ve found that their kits often contain sprues with some parts not necessary associated with the particular model being built but rather applicable to another, or perhaps several other, kits they might have also been included in.
CNJ831 is on the money - I have a few of the RDA kits (will be assembling soon). They also list their kits on eBay (look for kittysretreat or painters40 as the sellers), and regularly have kits up for a bit less than the posted prices on their website.
The kits have spare details, which for us kitbashers and scratchbuilders is a bonus! [yeah][tup] RDA’s people on eBay are great to deal with, and the kits have excellent detail to the walls, roofs, etc. Well worth a look. Their larger kits - like the Delaney Iron Works kit, can be assembled as some smaller industries - the loading dock portion appears to be what the Walthers Trucking Company (now a built-up) was modeled after.
Ertl is long out of the model railroad product business. They took a major bath on the three HO freight cars they marketed. They did a USRA double sheathed boxcar, a flat car and a low side gondola.
They were badly preweathered and were expensive at about $28 a piece.
The USRA boxcar was a fair model of it’s prototype but the paint schemes were really bad. The flat was a model of one built for the SP&S, T&P and NC&STL, with very similar cars going to the CP, CN and GN. The gondola is a model of an unique car, the MEC 17000-17149, built 1939. It’s also similar to ACL 90500-90949 and 90950-93199, but these had fishbelly underframes. The rest of the gon schemes are bogus.
The bigest problem for them was that USRA boxcar and the flat were available from Accurail and Tichy respectively as kits for a lot less money. The MEC gondola was the only car in the line that was unique and worth a premium price.
The Ertl structure kits were pretty good models. I believe that most of them were models of actual structures.
The only thing “good” about the Ertl rail cars were the loads on the flat cars - diesel generators, a steam donkey engine, and some farm implements, maybe more. Life-Like took over the molds for the loads and offer them in blister packs.
I won one of their “weathered” boxcars in a model contest one time, wasn’t overly impressed with it, especially with the price. The weathering was a spray of light tan paint applied evenly across the bottom of the sides. Much too uniform.
Didn’t their structures come weathered as well? I seem to recall seeing their ads.