I just scored a pair of P2K tank cars on eBay. Kits. Not RTR or Timesaver, the real kits. No one else even bid. Yay! Now I have a 6-kit backlog - 3 Branchline Yardmaster, 1 Branchline Blueprint, and now a pair of P2K tanks. Now, if I could just find some covered hoppers, either those kato 3 packs or E&B Valley. Some are on eBay but not for any roads around here. And a caboose, I need a caboose or two, the re Reading P2K ones are scarcer then hen’s teeth because they only ever made one road number. Every reissue since has been in the yellow and green scheme - which they did make 2 numbers, darn them.
When I first saw the title and noticed that you were the author, I thought the Proto 2000 tank cars might possibly be mentioned in the thread. So, how much did you end up paying for them?
I’ve put together four of the Proto tank cars now. The first one took me nearly 8 hours to build because I knew absolutely nothing about tankers and it was my very first Proto kit ever. Thankfully, I actually got the stantion orientation of the grab rail that surrounds the tank car correct - i.e. pointing down. (The Proto directions weren’t as explicit about that as I would have liked.)
I think it was actually my 3rd kit overall, after two Accurail boxcar kits. The 2nd Proto tank car I was able to complete in over 1/2 that time.
Several years ago I built one of those tank cars to see how they went together. While taking somewhat longer than the a box car kit to build, I didn’t think it that difficult. I think I have something like 8 or 10 more of them to build.
However, I paid a discounted price of ten percent of MSRP.
My LHS doesn’t sell those kits anymore, but only the RTR versions.
I’ve been doing the same in the last month or two; I’ve been purchasing the P2K Mathers Stock Cars in kit form. No competition from other bids, and the most I’ve paid is about $6.50 for a car. What a deal!
I have been waiting for the pricing to come down. I paid a premium or over paid for several RTR tank cars excepting two that was a holiday sale.
Im back in the hunt for RTR ones from previous runs. Not the kits. I tried a kit and quality of life suffered in general at the home. I know enough to leave them alone LOL.
I bought a set of 6 Mathers at a train show for about 7 each and sold em for 12 each roughly all done on ebay. Nice little pop of money there.
I hope for your sake they’re better quality and easier to assemble than the Walthers tank cars. One of my Walthers hit the wall at a VERY high rate of speed.[:-^]
Guys, I guess I’ve either got to get better glasses or better patience, because I can’t get ANYTHING to fit ANYWHERE on any P2k rolling stock kit I’ve ever attempted, even the ‘Time Saver’ ones. And this is from a guy who grew his teeth on old metal Athearn and wood Ambroid kits, and has no trouble absolutely with either Red Caboose, Intermountain or Tichy kits.
Yup, I’ve been picking up the P2K kits for 3(?) years now from between $2.99 and $7. I’m guessing my backlog of just these kits is at least 10x that. Of course, my real big score was one vendor that didn’t realize some were kits and others RTR. So I got a pile of the RTR 8000 gallon tanks at $5 each, and 10,000 gallon ones for $7.
I paid $9 each for them. These are the first ones I’ve seen in a month, at least that were the plain black UTLX/GATX ones. All other listings are the RTR ones or once in a while one of the other decorated kits which really don’t suit my area - every picture I’ve ever seen of 50’s trains around here, any tank cars were grimy and black, never any of the bright colored ones, not even bright colors covered with grime.
My assembly tricks include NOT following the instructions in order, and drilling out the grab iron holes. All the way through so I can glue them on fromteh inside (see, out of order assembly - attach grabs, then assemble tank halves). Also trying to make it fit on the tabk saddles - it’s totally possible to tilt the saddles in AFTER the tank is attached to the underframe, which is how I ended up doing it.
As for covered hoppers - the Bowser ones I’ve seen all have too new a date on them. I model the mid 50’s, and yes, I am picky enough to not want to run a car with e NEW or repack date in the 60’s. I have an old MR article that shows how to make some early covered hoppers the same way the real Reading did - add a roof to regular hoppers. One of these days I’m goign to have to build one or two of those.
I assembled fourteen Life Like Proto 2000 tank car kits. I omitted the very fragile plastic grab irons and some of the fragile underframe detail so I wouldn’t be afraid to run them on the layout. Even without some of the fine detail they are still sharp looking cars.
Have a number of the tank car kits, a couple of them are together. Found the most helpful tool to be a set of reamers to make the holes just a little larger, so they would accept the fine parts more easily. A magnifying light was very helpful too.
This is true of all detailed plastic car kits, as in Branchline, Red Caboose, and so on. I always drill handrail holes one size larger than instructed, and ream every pre-drilled hole. And it took me three or four kits to learn this. (I’m slow.) So, equip yourself with a set of reamers and mini-drills. Do not cheat yourself from necessary tools unless you wish to waste time and modeling dollars.
I’ve been picking up 4-packs of P2k gondola kits for $20 at the local shows. I also raided a guys e-shop and found a bunch of P2K gon 2-pack kits for $9.99! I love it!