[quote user=“dknelson”]
Not that this helps the OP any, but I would point out that general statements such as “avoid Con Cor” are rather too sweeping. “Con Cor” includes their own tooling which, yes, could vary widely in accuracy and and running condition but which has some good and interesting things; tooling their acquired from others that had some interesting cars; custom painted Athearn Blue Box that had distinctive paint schemes; their reissues of the old Revell tooling (example, the mill gondola) which are dated but there are some potentially interesting things, including the Ford truck and auto carrier; and if you go way back, their own line of craftsman kits – not plastic – that hardly anyone seems to remember, but there were many things of interest in their line back then, including some HOn3 stuff, and their old “One of 500” series.
I’m not here to sing the praises of Con Cor, but so many different things and types of kits have been issued under their name over the decades that the name alone tells you little – just as (to return to the original topic) so many conditions of trains are described by the isolated word “used” that it almost has no meaning other than “not new.” But sometimes it even means new!
Dave Nelson
I built a ConCor 40’ Airslide CB&Q hopper back in the early 60’s out of wood and metal castings that still looks pretty good, but today’s Athearn model looks better and took a lot less time to build (joke). I keep it well protected and boxed for nostalgia sake./quote]