I enjoy building kits but I’ve been pricing them on the web and I find a range of $12-$18 for rolling stock (n sale). RTRs are $3 to $8. Being economically minded I’m wondering if the detail on kits is worth the higher price?
Try the internet for some of those “old” kits, I’m now building some new,old kits from ebay MDC Roundhouse 3 in 1. The price was right, lots of extra parts, lots of room for imagination and I’m ending up with some wild looking cars–chemical tank car, tower car, fire patrol water car, for example and I’m trying NOT to follow the instructions, my shock was looking at new cars at the LHS and seeing prices of $15.00 to $40.00. I would assume these old kits come from warehouse closeouts or older hobby shops going under, try a couple, you will have some fun.
Just as RTR comes in several levels of detail, so too do kits. Whether the higher priced kits are worth the extra price is something you have to decide. One of the disadvantages of the Internet is that it is difficult or impossible to evaluate kits you have not seen in person. One thing to keep in mind is that the advances in plastics are not always reflected in kits that have been in production for many years. Older kits too frequently have coarser castings and may not include all the details of newer kits. As an example older kits usually did not include separate brake rigging - it may have been cast on the floor or omitted. The brake cylinders/valves were hung from the floor and not connected to each other.
With a little paint you may be able to bring out details that are cast on and/or weather the car to get a better appearance. One of the first kits I put together was was the Atlas Lumberyard - this included a workbench at one end with some tools cast on the walls. By painting them I was able to make them stand out and look more like separate pieces.
Mueseum quality pieces have prices to match, up to you if you need that for your own railroad.
Enjoy
Paul
KITS. Detail is worth every penny. Besides that, if you enjoy building them, that’s what you need to do.
Greg
Pretty much depends on what I’m looking for at the time. Not too long ago, I wanted a Mather stock car, but the only company that produced it was Proto, and I’ve had BAD luck with their kits. So I waited until Proto came out with it in RTR. It was pretty expensive, but it was also better than ending up throwing the kit at the wall. However, I’ve really enjoyed the Red Caboose and Intermountain kits, and certainly the Branchline kits. And Accurail is just perfect for ‘toss the box’ kits, with some really realistic results. Hey, even the older Athearn has stuff that no one else has, and if you think the stirrups are too thick on the boxcar, you can always substitue Grandt Line. And if you just CAN’T pass up that WP/PFE reefer that is only from Red Caboose or Intermountain as an RTR, well GET IT! Either way these days, kit or RTR, you’re getting rolling stock that is light years above what used to be available as far as realism is concerned. (though I’m certainly not going to say that around my old metal Athearns or Varneys).
Tom
I have just a few kit built cars by Red Caboose and intermountain. I like them but find them too expensive since I have a five years old engineer uncoupling them!!
I stay with Athearn and Atlas for the rest of my fleet ( around 100 cars).
As with everythingelse in life, you get what you pay for. Unless you need a gigantic freight car fleet, and need it NOW, I’d suggest spending the extra dollars for the higher-detailed cars. They look better, give you more bang for your buck, and increase the hobby “play value” by giving you more kit assembly time.
And I’d also suggest looking around a bit more. Several of us have discovered that by looking on Ebay, several of the online hobby shops, and swapmeets, that buying the high-end kits is actually CHEAPER than buying a shake the box kit or even RTR Athearn car! How about $4 for one of those Mather stock cars? (which, IMHO, is one of the SIMPLEST of the P2K freight cars to build). I’ve got dozens of the P2K kits built, along with lots of Red Caboose, IM, Tichy, etc. and I haven’t paid full MSRP for any of them, including the ones I bought directly from the manufacturers. I’ve got well over 50 Funaro resin cars (mostly yet unbuilt) and my average price per car is something like $16. It’s all in how you shop!
I’m willing to buy either to get what i want but i generally prefer RTR