Thanks Simon.
I joined the FB group “Brass Model Paint and Repair”. I have a lot to learn.[(-D]
I will be entering the brass world at some point. (All the rest of my rolling stock is plastic - kits, RTR and some kitbashed.) I have made a reservation for a brass caboose. I took a bit of discussion with some friends as I thought the price was a bit much but was told it was within reason. It is a caboose that I want for my railroad (I had thought of buiding one in plastic). At least one of them ran through my hometown and the seller is letting me make payments so that helps the budget.
Demand being the key principle. Unfortunately for me, the models I need (brass D&RGW standard guage cabooses) remains high so the prices seem to be holding steady or in some cases are higher.
It hasn’t been lost on me that the main subject of this topic is steam engines so it follows - great for steam fans, which I am not so much for a number of reasons.
So as far as this topic goes, yes, but it depends.
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I have far more brass freight cars that I do brass locmotives.
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They are all painted, so they don’t look brass anymore, but I have also enjoyed the falling prices on brass freight cars. Many times they are lower cost than a quality resin kit.
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I paid about $100.00 for both of these brass covered hopper cars.
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Also, all of the STRATTON AND GILLETTE cabooses are brass. Again, more falling prices has made this easy.
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-Kevin
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I have found many brass freight cars/cabooses without boxes and mixed in amoung the plastic stuff in the pop can flats that dealers use at shows. I light “tink tink” with my fingernail on the side of the model tells me quickly if its brass or plastic. While I prefer original boxes, for the right price, its not a deal killer. Right now, train shows is the best place for killer deals on brass. Ebay can be hit or miss and takes lots of looking and knowing what your looking at. Nice looking freight cars and cabooses Kevin! Mike the Aspie
speaking of dealer boxes, I once bought a United 0-6-0 with fair paint at a show for $15, dealer did not even know it was there. On another occasion a brass dealer let me buy an Ambroid kit, built and painted very well for a poultry car for $5. Those can still bring $50 or more as alot of people, like myself, like to have a few unusual cars in their yards. In the same vein I just bought a couple of Eastern Car Works 40’ depresed center flat cars and those can go for a premium too, even as kits (which mine are.
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Thank you Mike. There is another one of those PRR H30 brass covered hopper cars at Train Central in Indianapolis. I have resisted it twice, but if it is still there next time I am in Indiana, I am buying it.
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-Kevin
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Because brass has historically been priced beyond my typical budget, I’ve only sprung for items I really needed for my RR and time frame.
In order to have a correct combine for my Rio Grande Zephyr, I resorted to brass, my first brass car here, and I bought it even while married to my first wife who was very antagonistic to the hobby.
I also sprung for some brass cabooses because so far, no correct D&RGW cabooses have been made in plastic. To me, having signature cabooses makes a huge difference. Here are 3 of the 6 I have presently:
Thankfully I haven’t needed to bother with brass freight cars because the plastic market has offered me about everything I could wish for and in many cases, more accurate and better detailed.
The only brass freight cars I might have considered are brass auto racks, which apparently aren’t very runable, D&RGW “Pressed Steel” box cars, which were inly in company service in the 70’s and correct GS gondolas - which were silly expensive and the Red Caboose ones are pretty decent stand-in’s. Otherwise, the plastic market has been truly awesome!
i think the reason brass demand has gone down is that it used to be brass models were prototypically accurate, but that’s not the case any more. Mass produced models look as good or better, run better, are available with DCC and sound already installed.
I have a few brass models; a 1990s Overland NW-5, for instance, which will never be in plastic (or very unlikely.) My Challenger MILW GP-30 is just a disappointment; though it looks good, it is wrong in several details including an incorrect rear plow, and drop steps and safety chains. The Proto GP-30 is simply a better model. And the Overland SRR F3 with rooftop air tanks was so incorrect in terms of the piping I simply returned it.
“What’s so special about brass” is simply a question that for most people nowadays, the answer is “nothing.”
Kev, Train Central is closed for a bit, they got forced to move. They are going to be on north Shadeland Ave now in the 1600 block if I remember right. They should have the new address up on the website once they are going again. I figure a month or two to get moved and set back up again. They have to be out of the old shop by this Sunday. New location is in a strip mall, much better parking and it wont be a challenge to get across traffic pulling out and not getting nailed by cross traffic. Even today brass importers are screwing up stuff with incorrect paint schemes or detail issues and at the current price for an HO scale brass diesel, I will stick to older stuff. I am not such a nit picker to complain about slight detail issues. I just prefer my engines be metal, be it diecast or brass. Mike the Aspie
While many dealer brass prices are still close to normal, maybe slightly lower, its the train shows where the deals are.
Case in point, at yesterdays(and today as its a 2 day show) show at the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana IL, I picked up the following brass for prices unheard of at shows just a few years ago. I was shocked at the prices and spent way more than I should of but with my wife’s approval as even she knows what these normally sell for.
First up is a Overland Models, factory painted and lighted IC (death star) SD70, new in the box, never has touched track till about 5 min ago. Asking price, $200. I had to make a quick run to a bank machine after getting my wife’s approval (all large purchases have to have her or my trustee’s approval). Then a couple hours later, show was packed with people and our G scale live steam group was set up running trains, I found this PFM DRGW caboose for $18, a old brass 40’ bulkhead flat for $5 and my friend got a Hallmark SP long drovers caboose for $10, all from the same older gentleman selling off some of his collection. All items were boxed other than the bulkhead flat. Toward the end of the show, the friend of the gentleman I got the SD70 from showed me this book covering the first 10 years of Overland models. I bought it for $40.
These are the kind of deals that are out there, lurking on tables mostly filled with plastic models are the brass gems that myself and many others are drawn to. The prices may supprise you, dont be affraid to ask if the box isnt priced, dont assume the asking price will be in left field because it brass. I will add, if its a widow asking something totally way to cheap on a brass model, think about offering a bit more than her asking price. I hope to think that modelers as a whole are a bit better/more honest than some folk. Anyhow, here are my “deals” from yesterdays sh
I was never into brass. I always thought it to a “collector” item.
One the wife’s clients has 3 lighted curio cabinets full of brass, he doesn’t own a piece of track, they just sit, to look at.
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I love that guy!
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He bought it, created the demand, and held onto it in mint condition until the prices fell and I could afford it.
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It is so nice of these people to absorb the depreciation for me, and store these items until my girls grew up and I can buy things for me.
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-Kevin
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Pretty much any model train can be a “collectors item” as folks collect many many different things, it doesnt have to be made of brass per say. Many brass models run really well or can with a simple motor upgrade on older steam models. The OMI diesels, like the one I got, are much more robust to repeated handling unlike the ubber fragle Athearn Genesis models that have handrails fall off or grab irons break if you look at them the wrong way. There are duds that do not run well without lots of work, but that goes for many other non brass engines. Just like any other part of the hobby, we each have our own likes and dislikes. Brass isnt for everybody, but the excuess of being to expensive, doesn’t hold true as much anymore these days(depending on the model(s) one desires to own).
Mike the Aspie
Yea Mike, I suppose, “collectors item” is in the eye of the collector.
I guess what once amazed me was the detail in brass locomotives, steam or diesel. Plastic models have caught up to that, in my eye. And once it’s all painted, only a collector of brass would recognize it as such.
Yes, at one time is was the price. And before my skills at detailing and the mechanical and electrical part of running a locomotive evolved, brass was something you looked at. Thats the way I saw it, anyway.
I have more fun with my rebuilding, and detailing my plastic models. Nothing that any family member has to deal with later, they can just pitch it.
I’m not collecting trains, I’m running them and “playing” with them, and they can all meet their demise, when I meet mine.
If you love to run and collect brass, you go for it!
Mike.
Thanks Mike, there is a “feel” when you handle a brass model vs a plastic one. I have owned the Genesis version of my SD70, it was fragile as he-- when compared to this brass one. The few brass freight cars I have are older ones that are bare bones detail wise, even compared to a blue box Athearn. But they were cheap and they are “brass” and fill a need. I have known a few fellow modelers, some could care less what the model is made of, but a couple who did act like they didn’t care, changed that thought after buying thier first brass model. One in particular I remember very well. I was buying my 3rd brand new Overland diesel thru a local dealer when a friend that I worked with had a really good week in sales and decided he wanted to get himself one that wasn’t painted for some “bling” in his display cabinet before having it painted. He tagged along when I picked up my model that I had ordered and inquired as to what they had available for purchase. Karen at Broad Ripple Station showed him 3 or 4 different diesels that she had excess to orders on hand and he chose a CNW Dash 8-40C. I forget who got to do the paint work, might have been Roy S down at Mt Vernon Shops. But when he held that big 6 axle in his hands, it was like a kid on Christmas morning. Only then did he start to understand why I really love brass trains. Mike the Aspie