I need HO scale cars for my open auto racks. My time period is sliding between 1970 and 1990. So I suppose I need cars from that era. Here is a picture of an open auto rack. The cars don’t have to be the exact cars in the picture. I’m just posting it so you understand what I want to do.
Accurail makes a 2 level auto rack…
http://www.accurail.com/accurail/autorack.htm#Tri-level
However starting in the 80s the autoracks has been enclosed to protect the vehicles from rock throwers and other types of vandalism.In the 70s railroads used side sheathing to protect the vehicles from vandalism.
I don’t know if you understand my question.
I have the accurail open auto racks already. I’m searching for cars to load it with. Not cars as in trains. Cars you drive.
You can order very nice models of most anything thru the Walther’s book. Trouble is, the very nice models are about $10 apiece. A full load of 15 cars will set you back $150. That’s too rich for my blood. I found sets of Lifelike molded plastic cars going for $1 a set ($0.33 per car) at a train show. They aren’t nearly as nice as the $10 ones, but with a little work the loaded auto rack was presentable. I added bottoms made of black construction paper to the cars to prevent you from seeing the deck of the autorack when you looked thru the windshield of the car.
Since I built that autorack, the toy folks have started several lines of toy cars that are actually HO (1:87) scale. The common Hotwheels cars are closer to S scale than HO and are too big to fit into an autorack, but these fellows are a good HO scale and will fit on your autorack. I picked up a 1953 Caddy convertable and a Type 356 Porche at Walmart for $2 apiece just yesterday. Pretty nicely made, the Caddy emblem on the hood is visible, “Porshe” is legible on the engine hood, wheels are convincing, all in all, a very nice bit of modeling for $2. Better than the run of the mill Hotwheels toy. At $2 apiece you could fill your autorack for only $30. They had some '70s and '80s sedans as well.
Several companies make HO scale automobiles. The cheapest for bulk use like you’re looking for would probably be International Hobby Corporation (IHC) or Model Power.
You can order on-line from IHC at http://www.ihc-hobby.com
Other brands can be purchased from sources such as Cherry Creek Hobbies in Torrington, Wyoming at http://www.cchobbies.com or First Hobby in Decatur, Illinois, at http://www.firsthobby.com
Walmart has HO scale cars that would look good in an auto rack. I think they were $2.75 each. They were made by HOTWHEELS.
You can take this concept another step; choose the best looking models (probably the most expensive) and put them on the top level, where they’ll be the most visible. Then put good looking, but cheaper models on the ends of the other level(s). Fill in the center of the other level(s) with the cheapest cars. Most viewers will see the top level and maybe the ends of the other levels and not notice that the center is just cheap filler cars.
PS: for more authenticity, most auto racks were loaded with the products of one auto manufacturer.
I think what Brakie is saying is open side cars were not in use for the era you stated. (70’s-90’s) The cars in the picture you posted are all 1960’s era autos. Railroads started adding metal sheathing to the sides of the auto-racks in the 70’s to prevent vandalism.
If you were to use some of the cars mentioned like the Malibus, Fresh Cherries or 1/87 Hot Wheels, your auto racks are going to be WAY too heavy. The IHC cars mentioned are going to be much lighter but less detailed.
At the moment, the cheapie choices are pretty much limited to Motormax’s Fresh Cherries (about $2.47 each at Wal-Mart). You may need to modify some of the Fresh Cherries as they are too tall for the lower and middle levels. The Hot Wheels 1/87 models I have seen aren’t really suitable as loads.
Unless you can find the old Life-Like Chevy Citations, the Life-Like Scenemaster vehicles are based on prototypes far too old for an open auto rack. However, if you are willing to use old cars, how about some European cars that are at least correct for the era you are modeling and are based on vehicles sold in the U.S.? I am talking about the Herpa Magic Cars sold by Walthers and Promotex Online. I think they run about $7.75 for a 2-car package, making each model about $3.63. There is a nice variety of vehicles; they are injection-molded plastic and easily disassembled for repainting so you can have several different colors.
http://www.promotex.ca/provisioner/catalogue/index.php?ProductLine=12&CategoryID=55&page=0
While I wish they were American cars, they are light (the Motormax cars will add about a half-pound to the weight of an auto rack) and they look pretty good, especially on a moving rail car. [;)]
Electro:
Go to this link and scroll down to the Vehicles Boats and Planes section. In this section you will find the most complete set of links to makers of HO automobiles I’ve ever found.
Some of my favorites for the 1980s are:
Atlas (Ford F150 pickup trucks)
Bachmann (Generic background autos)
Busch (Chevy Blazer, Dodge Van, and others)
Classic Metal Works (1978 Chevy Impala and others)
Herpa (1989 T-Bird, Pontiac Grand Prix, Jeep Cherokee, Buick Grand National, and others)
LifeLike (Generic background autos)
Model Power (1969 Oldsmobile and VW Bus … too good to pass up!)
Trident Miniatures (Chevy cargo van, Chevy Blazer, Chevy Subruban, Chevy pickup)
Joe,
Thanks a lot for the nice list. I think I will find something interesting.
You might try too look south, to Germany.
I have found on sales at German Dealers older models for 1€ each, and this have been good models but mostly not american prototypes. This has been in their shops, I have not seen this on the internet. Check Modellbahn Kramm in Hilden.
[quote user=“jfugate”]
Electro:
Go to this link and scroll down to the Vehicles Boats and Planes section. In this section you will find the most complete set of links to makers of HO automobiles I’ve ever found.
Some of my favorites for the 1980s are:
Atlas (Ford F150 pickup trucks)
Bachmann (Generic background autos)
Busch (Chevy Blazer, Dodge Van, and others)
Classic Metal Works (1978 Chevy Impala and others)
Herpa (1989 T-Bird, Pontiac Grand Prix, Jeep Cherokee, Buick Grand National, and others)
LifeLike (Generic background autos)
Model Power (1969 Oldsmobile and VW Bus … too good to pass up!)
Trident Miniatures (Chevy cargo van, Chevy Blazer, Chevy Subruban, Chevy pickup)
Bill:
Excellent comments! Thanks for the extra detail … a most helpful post!
Walmart has cars in 1/87 scale that sell for $1.47 - $1.79 each. They came out around christmas time last year, are to scale, and last time i checked they are still on the shelves. Hot wheels has also came out with a 1/87 scale cars this year, but they are custom hot rods and probably won’t look prototype on an auto rack unless they haul cars out of custom hot rod shops by rail…NOT!..chuck
Check out the line available through Boley.
Plastruct makes some cars that might work perfectly for your era. Here is the link to the Walthers:
They don’t look all that great but according to my Walthers catalog you get 5 per set, so you could fill up that autorack pretty quickly and fairly economically.
I went to the Plastruct website to find out more info on these cars and apparently they are listed as 1:100, so likely too small [|(]
I’ve used the Fresh Cherries cars exclusively on all my auto racks - they ARE heavy, no two ways about it. With two units on the point, I have no problem pulling a 2.3% grade. A single switcher shuffles the entire train through a flat yard with ease. Plus the added weight creates a zero percentage chance of derailments !!!
Mark.
WOW!
I like your picture a lot. It feels real. Do you have more pictures, close up pictures of the same autoracks?
Electrolove lives in Sweden and can’t shop at Wally World!