I am looking to purchase some late-run Bowser PRR loco kits. I know these ran through about 2010. Can anyone point me to a supplier who might have some of these kits still for sale? I am looking for mostly new old stock. Thanks.
Best bet is to try E-bay. I know that no LHS in my area have any.
Bowser stopped making steam loco kits,Jan.03 2011,so it is anyone’s guess,where you will find any…Like has been suggested,maybe E-bay…Good Luck!!
Cheers,
Frank
I see the kits at train shows. Don’t know the vintage. They are probably a mix of recent and very old.
Good luck
Paul.
Call them. I was just in the store and they had a two “kits” there that even included painted boilers.
They may have assembled a precious few from leftover parts…just recently.
There are several on eBay right now, including a T1, M1a, L1s, K4. Well, kit may be stretching it a bi for the M1a, L1 and K4 as they look like they came from the factory ready to run. However, they do include superdetail kits. Three of the 4 mentioned above are for sale from the same seller: http://www.ebay.com/sch/Model-Railroads-Trains-/479/m.html?item=141067339666&pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item20d844c792&_ssn=fcarbill&_sop=3
The T1 is a full kit, apparently.http://www.ebay.com/itm/BOWSER-HO-SCALE-101000-PENNSY-T-1-DUAL-MOTOR-KIT-w-SUPER-DETAILING-KIT-AS-SHOWN-/370856475063?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item5658c4b9b7
Andre (who seems to have 0 postings despite evidence to the contrary as well as waaaaay too much time on his hands)
Hey Big Mike: What attracts you to these kits? I’m asking because I have several PRR Bowsers, some I built and some I bought used but already running. To get these babies going you have to be a pretty darn good mechanic, adept and filing and fitting, tuliping tiny rivets, drilling accurate holes, threading wire handrails and other exacting tasks and in the end you have a rather crude model by modern standards that can’t be readily adapted for sound or DCC. If it’s the challenge you relish, good on you but it’s a real investment in time and skill when there are decent classic brass examples available that are much superior, have the same basic drive train and are not that expensive pricewise. Having gone this route myself, most of my Bowsers are now sitting on the roundhouse leads collecting dust while the brass pieces tramp out the mileage on my layout.
Jimvalle,
You must be somewhat young,for Mantua also made steam Loco kits,pre-war,1939 1942 and later,to have the money to buy and build one indeed was a challenge,but back then,that’s what the Hobby was mostly about,building Kits and getting the satisfaction of being able to accomplish that,there were no Modern standards,to go by,today there is this,got to have it now,thing,don’t have time to invest in kits,building them,so along comes,RTR,''Ready to Repair…I’m just an old nobody,born 1943,What do I know??
Cheers, [D]
Frank
I’m mostly interested in picking up a PRR L-1, something that BLI has not produced. Really the only options are Bowser and brass. If I could find a decent deal on a Pacific Fast Mail or another brass L-1, I might go for it.
I have built loco kits before and bashed locos, so I am plenty familiar with the skills necessary for the job.
Even though I have changed scales twice since then, I still treasure the Bowser K4 Pacific I built 40 years ago.
Enjoy
Paul
I have built about 10 of their loco kits over the years, and still have the first, (K4), and the last (USRA 2-10-2). I had the superdetail kit that went with the 2-10-2 as well. Wish I could have kept a couple more, like the Ls-1, I-1, and the USRA 4-8-2, but these were custom builds for others. Never had a customer complaint about them, either. There were many problems with some of the locos, but these were all cosmetic . But I fixed them as best I could, without cutting the boiler up, and their running and pulling characteristics are second to none. Both have DCC installed, (not hard at all), and one got changed to a can motor with NWSL gears installed. The other motor is so smooth and broken in, that it’s amp draw at stall is under 1 amp.
None of these kits were hard to build, especially if you followed the directions closely. All it took was some patience and basic skill levels that almost all modelers had then. One thing that helped a lot was a current catalog from either Cal-scale, Cary or Kemtron. With these you could order enough parts to replicate every part on the locomotive , and then the “rather crude models” didn’t look so crude. One mention was made in the discussion about this, but the mechanisms last forever. My K4 was built in 1973, and it runs better than it did at that time. There are many plastic and diecast steamers that IMHO, won’t make 1/4 the time that these brutes have managed.
Big_Mike,
I’m sorry I did not mention this when I posted before about Mantua steam kits,but you can still get some,brass kits,if your up for a challenge and cast metal and they also made Diesel kits…Google,Mantua Steam Loco kits and you will find a wealth of info about them,who has them and so forth…
Cheers,
Frank
And they’ll sell you the entire stock of parts and the molds if you’re REALLY interested in having more Bowser kits.
Well Big Mike, now that I know what you’re looking for I can be a bit more detailed since I have one Bowser L-1 and two brass pieces by United ( Kawaguchi ). Bowser was concerned to reduce expenses on their L-1 so they adopted the K-4 boiler in toto. Problem is on the L-1 the position of the bell and sand dome should be reversed. Also they simply gave their L-1 a K-4 tender which is glaringly incorrect as the proper L-1 tender had a different coal bunker and a lower deck to accommodate the brakeman’s doghouse. Sticking a doghouse on a K-4 tender just ain’t right. The Bowser L-1 chassis doesn’t really mate well with the K-4 boiler which is meant to ride on much higher drivers and this can cause clearance problems. Finally the Bowser drivers have no springs and do not allow for much lateral play so there can be tracking issues. The Brass pieces have none of these problems and run very nicely, even with their open frame motors. Finally, I’m not wild about the Bowser tender trucks. If you loose one of their leaf springs they’re pretty much toast. My birth year is 1943. I’ve done my share of kit building and mechanical work but the older I get the more I appreciate prototypical correctness and trouble free operation!
JimValle,
We must have gone to the same school then,I said,What do I know??[(-D] [(-D]
Cheers, [D]
Frank
Ebay is your best bet. I bought a mikado off ebay two years ago and had a blast putting it together. It was my first Bowser and I went alittle crazy with the detail pieces for it, but ended up with a great looking and running locomotive in the end.
In the latest issue of MR, they mentioned Bowser was scrapping the steam engine tooling.
If Bowser is really scrapping the tooling for the locomotives, that would be a terrible loss. There is too much good stuff in there to just be scrapped. I know they were trying to sell it, but I guess if the report is correct, they didn’t find any takers.
One other issue for those advising to head to brass for an L-1: What is the pulling power like for the PFM L-1 or other brass L-1s? I’d like to have a good pulling loco.
I sent you a message. Martin