Menards: Now Denver Models HO Trucks? Yeah!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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This isn’t so much news as an observation. I’ve been diligently checking the $2.99 bin of Denver Diecasting vehicle models and have found neither more Mercedes HO scale box vans or any other HO scale models mixed into the bin.

I did notice that the Mercedes box van, with a nicer looking paint job, is now showing up with the other HO diecast items with a new price, $14.99. Ouch! Well, it is a decent truck, just not going to be as affordable a hack as previously. Menards has been offering the HO Sprinter van free if you buy so much HO stuff, so maybe the box van will show up as part of that deal in the future?

What this means for the future of other HO vehicles in the $2.99 bin I don’t know. Menards could become a real force in HO diecast, considering its vast experience with these items through its Denver Diecast brand, but there seems to be indecision on where they want to be in the market.

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My experience exactly. Menards doesn’t seem interested in hitting the budget HO market the way they have for O. Their HO stuff is nice, but except for a few starter sets it’s almost all standard HO items (woodland scenic supplies, etc) and uppermarket prepainted buildings.

Too bad really, they clearly have good sources for affordable imported die cast, some of which is quite good looking, but there seems to be no interest in leveraging that for HO. Somewhat ironic since HO -while not Menard’s main focus- is still a far more popular scale than O. Further, HO vehicles at a similar price point would not only sell well, but could take up half the volume (a major cost consideration when importing) as the larger die-cast they mostly sell.

Nice job on the tanker by the way!