I was reading thru some of my old MR mags from 1997 and found an ad for NovaTech Plastics in Kingston Ontario Canada for a RTR plastic model of the TURBOTRAIN in Amtrak, VIA, & CN Paint Schemes and was wondering if anyone bought one and how it was? There was also a Resin model available in kit form that used a modified Athearn F-unit truck assembly by another mfr in an earlier magazine I have. I was curious if any of these are still kicking around and being run by hobbyists? I have seen the Rapido Turbotrain at my LHS and am very impressed with them but wonder about these earlier attempts to make the Turbotrain. Anybody got any info?
I’ve never seen either one, but from what was posted on Internet forums, the Nova Tech model, as well as other ones they tried to produce were pretty crude. The fact that they didn’t stay in business very long attests to the poor quality. There were several other Canadian resin firms that opened and folded pretty regularly around the same time, with similarly poorly designed and produced products. They gave resin kits a bad name for quite some time. I have two diesels by other firms, and they are indeed bad. Poorly crafted masters, thick resin, air bubbles, extremely bad instructions, etc.
I have a vague memory of a Bachmann Turbo Train from the mid-70s, but I never actually saw one
I used to have a catalogue that got worn to shreds as a kid
They also offered a Metroliner, which I did get
Eric