This part:
Ahhh, another thread ripe for disagreements…
The Menards structures are a nice buy for the beginner and/or those whose MR budget is limited.
Some might liken them to the Revell HO MR kits of the '60s - of which I still have a couple on my current layout. IMO, those Revell kits could be nicely detailed and kitbashed - as opposed to the Menards.
That said, I’m glad to see the Menards’ offerings, for it is definitely a help to the newbie with limited funds and/or skills.
I choose to see a potential positive in the OP’s question. I doubt that Menards will ‘drop a bomb’ but they might encourage newcomers to the hobby. Most of us started out with pretty cheap stuff and have graduated to better quality as we recognized the benefits thereof. If Menards gets people started because of attractive pricing that will be a good thing IMHO. Look at how well the President’s Choice train sets sold in Canada. They must have sold well if a major grocery company was giving them that much shelf space and doing it year after year. I never saw them with prices reduced after Christmas.
Dave
Actually I am hoping to see Menards buildings in the flesh when I go to Chicago next mont. I don’t see them taking over the market but just another additio.
[(-D][Y]
You mean like pontificating from a high dudgeon? [(-D][(-D][(-D]
There is a Menards down the road a bit, and I happen to shop there a LOT, for certian items they are really good. I have not seen there model railroad stuff except for a few 3 rail O scale boxcars. I would not buy any of there buildings for the simple reason that they would not fit in a 1950ish small town in northwest Illinois northeast Iowa. If that makes me “elitist” so be it.
Hardly, some people just don’t like honesty.
It appears most of you haven’t checked out how much they have available in O scale yet.
You can order some cars by the 24 pack(and afford it).
I also never said a word about the prefab buildings other than they are following the same pattern as they did in O scale.
I don’t care for buildings pre assembled at all.
If you like them buy them. I have seeen their tinplate cars, and their ho scale buildings. Seeing them did not make me want to see what else they offered. When I got back into HO I got some entry level rolling stock. It now sits in a box for the basic reasons that it does not roll very well and it looks out of place. Accurail is low end but looks good, at least to me
Menards does not manufacture its own products. Does anyone know who produces these HO scale structures?
Rich
You can bet they are just recycled Lionel, K Line, or some other existing tooling. Might be Bachmann making Williams stuff and branding it for them.
Sheldon
I can’t see how Menard’s, or anybody else, will be capable of making a highly detailed product yet undercut the competition by much money. A highly detailed product is usually very labor intensive, so maybe their supplier opens a factory in Vietnam to undercut Chinese labor or menard’s gets a great deal on shipping since they could concevably combine it with their big box business.
The reality is that if a product is going to significantly under cut the price of another…and not just one competitor but undercut about 5 competitors, chances are Mendards will be offering less of a product…measured in one way or another.
Menards is a arge big-box chain of building supplies. The will sell you all of the parts you need to build any sort of a 1:1 scale house.
They are a big company, and they are not going to bomb.
They have a line of model railroad products under thier own name and these look to me to be well made, some what high end on the credit card, but what do I know about money, I entered the Monastery when hot dogs were still 25c.
It looks to me like Mr. Mennard (There is such a person) is a model railroader and thought this would make an intersting side line.
No serious modeler would go into Menards looking for model trains. But the average Joe Shopper will indeed see these when he is buing christmas gifts and be totally inspired to buy them as a gift or for himslef.
It introduces a new market to the world of model railroading, and that is not bad at all.
The buildings are nicely done, and alll pre lit, but none of them would make a great addition to my subway layout.
ROAR
To complete a village with Menard’s structures, you need one addition - the mad scientist’s house where the cloning machine is that makes the dog that appears as a figure on like every single one of them.
“Whimsical” about sums it up, and while my model railroad may not be a rivet counter’s dream, it IS a lot more realistic than those buildings, and unless they produce rolling stock that is more to scale and has some resemblence to an actual prototype, I certainly wouldn’t be buying any.
My limit of whimsy comes from naming some businesses after family, although even then it’s sort of cheating since in at least one case the structure kit ALREADY was named for my Uncle. And is similar enough to others in his home town that it’s not out of place. Frankly, I’d have to point it out to non-family. There may or may not be an overabundance of a certain breed of dog scattered across my layout when I get done, but they won’t all be carbon copies of the same figure. Problem is I will probably have to have them made because there are no commercial ones available.
–Randy
Seems folks don’t like their buildings. But to the op’s point, does anyone have any experience with their O scale rolling stock? that may be an indication, good or bad, of the prospects for their HO rolling stock.
Oh, so WE’RE the ones who are all out of step. We just needed you to tell us.
M’kkaaayyy…thanks for that.
Well, every hobby has those who style themselves as superior in intention to others in it. To each their own, I’m not defined by what I will or won’t buy, preferring to welcome all, instead of looking down my nose at others, and to define myself by what I do.
People often decry the lack of access the public has to our hobby. I think Menards is doing us all a service by selling the lines of model RR items. I’ve watched this develop over the last 5 years or so, first with the O stuff that I didn’t need but which made some old-fashioned fun available to entice a new generation into fascination with the hobby and trains in general.
Then they started with HO scale offerings a year or so back. The first couple of buildings were quaint, but they’ve paid attention and improved things considerably. YMMV.
Dave has a good point here:
Indeed, the American P&L sold out relatively quickly, as was discussed in a thread here earlier. They have a nice group of affordable diecast vehicles in HO that are similarly selling well. Whether some folks here will or won’t buy them, people are and I agree with what Lion sez:
Those buildings are priced way too high for “starter stuff,” especially with Model Power and some of the other building kits still out there.
I think you´ve nailed it!
So what´s the fuss about?
No they are not at all over priced for a starter set. hey look good, they are fully built, and people starting a railroad these days (other than a kid) likely has enough money to go with this.
If a kid already has a layout, Uncle Bob would say “Hey let me get this for…”
ROAR