Noticed alot of kits mentioned. What about RTR? Any thoughts from anyone? I think the Ahtern BB kits are ok, you can always add to them. I’ve also had a few Accurail, good choice.
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The newer Accurail kits coming out have the 1/4" long, 2-56 screw included now. However, you still may run across some old kit that need to be converted.
You’re right. The beveled pins are a real pain and don’t hold very well. I’ve learned to only squeeze the coupler box just tight enough to hold the coupler without it binding.
Tom
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To cool! Thats good news…[:D][:D]
As far as the pins they will work like you described and I have 17 cars that saw club pool duty for 12 years to prove it…I don’t like the pins though…[xx(]
Walther’s Gold line is by far the best deal I’ve found. Many of their cars come in multi-packs, and they have knuckle couplers and metal wheelsets pre-installed. The price is MUCH cheaper than buying other brands individual cars, and they have good detail and run smooth.
Greg
Dittos on Athearn BB and Accurail. If you’re not into rivet counting, these two lines have good looking rolling stock that performs well also. Someone earlier mentioned the problem with the Athearn coupler height and for a long time I stayed away from Athearn for that reason until I learned on these boards the problem is easily corrected. The metal weight is often warped on these kits which in turn bends the plastic flooring causing the incorrect coupler height. You can easily bend it until it is straight. If you just take a few seconds to make sure the metal piece is straight before you install it, you should have no problem with the coupler height.
Check and see what swapmeets or shows in your area.
I belong to a RR Club ( Boeing Employee Railroad Club in St Louis) and we have two huge (270 tables) swap-meets a year and you would not believe the bargains on kits (in the box &/or built up) of buildings, rolling stock ( I have seen cars with #5s as cheap as $3.00) , also track, back issues of magazines (as cheap as 4 for a $1.00) videos, books ect… allot of the tables are just regular guys (note not dealers) selling their extra stuff (you know changing n to ho or steam to diesel or just getting out of the hobby)…so check out your local clubs and see if they have a swap meet …also as an added bonus our club sets up our HO or N scale layout and we have a test track for all scales! At the door you can get flyers to other shows and sales…and once inside you just might run into some one you know and find out they like to “play with trains too!”…
Our next swapmeet is:
March 18th, 2006 - BERRC Swap Meet at Queeny Park (this is in St. Louis County)
I like the proto kits
I got quit a few for $5 each
nice models
K
You didn’t list what scale you were asking about, but I’m assuming it’s HO based on most of the reponses. If are like I was, you will pick up a bunch of Accurail and Athearn blue box kits, and then you will see nice cars for not much more cash and you will kick yourself. Before running out and buying a bunch of generic cars with molded on details, terrible trucks and thick paint jobs, look at some of the higher end kits and RTR cars from discount sources. Ebay is a great source for these:
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Proto 2000 time saver kits and RTR cars can be had for less than $10 a piece, and cheaper in some cases. These are highly detailed cars, that run great.
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I don’t know why (as they are very expensive at retail), but Intermountain cars can be had for a bargain if you shop around a bit. I’ve paid between $8 and $15 for all my cars from them, they have a bunch of body styles, and the quality is second only to Kadee IMHO.
With that said, don’t buy any Kadee boxcars or hoppers. If you do, the other cars will just look bad and you will want to replace them all… [;)]
Jeff
I haven’t used any Accurail cars (I may need too from all the recommendations.) I have used mostly the Athearn blue box kits and been very happy tith them.
Check out http://1stplacehobbies.com/ they have some of the cheapest prices I have seen (still looking for cheaper) They ship so fast I think they are just faxing the stuff to my house!
Just bought two Pere Marquette Proto 2000 gondolas - $5 each
Also bought a bunch of Branchline Yardmaster boxcars - $6 each
I am happy[^]
Forgot to mention.
For Covered Hoppers, Bowser makes some very nice looking easy to assemble kits. They’re definetly a “Cut Above” Athearn Blue Box. I bought one in the SCL scheme to “try it out”. Only cost $12. I plan on getting at least 7 more.
I like the fact that they’re made in the USA! [C):-)][4:-)][tup]
accurail and bb athearn are decient kits for the money, but there is one problem you might say, I install metal wheelsets on my cars so installing metal wheel sets and kadee couplers on new rolling stock drives the price up to what you will pay for atlas equipment…my favorite thing to do is go to train shows and usually there are some booths there that sell their rolling stock for on average - $3 a piece…that’s the ones i go for…$3.00 for the car + $3.75 for a set of metal trucks + $1.10 for kadee couplers = $7.85 a car…beats paying full price for them at a LHS…chuck