Ace-Garageguy Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 (edited) HO scale model railroading is getting pretty expensive, especially now that many online auction sellers are hawking items they know nothing about, asking stupid prices for old toy-train junk just because it's old and it looks kinda like the good stuff, or was made by some of today's well known name mid-range manufacturers before they moved from toy-quality products into high-quality scale models over the years. HOWEVER...I'm usually pretty good at finding deals, and I do a lot of research before I buy anything. My to-be layout will include a coupla different mining operations, and ore-carrying short-wheelbase hoppers (they're shorter than regular hoppers because iron ore is HEAVY) can run into a substantial pile of cash if you want enough to realistically model the kind of long ore-trains that run from mines to ports or steel mills. Anyway, these ore car shells came up pretty cheap, missing underframes, trucks, and couplers. I got to looking at them carefully, and they looked to me like they were one-piece copies of the Varney multi-piece ore car kits dating back to the mid 1950s I'd seen online earlier. So I rolled the dice and bought several of the vintage nobody-much-want's-em multi piece kits to see what what was what. Turns out I was right, and the ancient Varney underframes are a drop-in fit under the much newer one-piece cars (which appear to have been tooled directly from an assembled Varney kit). A little silicone mold work to copy the ancient Varney underframes in a low-melting-point-metal cerro-alloy (I've already been amassing decent Bettendorf trucks and Kadee couplers in bulk as they come up cheap) and I'll have a nice fleet of shorty steel iron-ore cars for a fraction of what I'd have to pay for new...or even good used. The 1950s Varney underframes fit under the new one-piece shells like they were made for them...which they kinda were. Edited February 14 by Ace-Garageguy 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 On 2/13/2024 at 6:08 PM, Ace-Garageguy said: HO scale model railroading is getting pretty expensive, especially now that many online auction sellers are hawking items they know nothing about, asking stupid prices for old toy-train junk just because it's old and it looks kinda like the good stuff, or was made by some of today's well known name mid-range manufacturers before they moved from toy-quality products into high-quality scale models over the years. HOWEVER...I'm usually pretty good at finding deals, and I do a lot of research before I buy anything. My to-be layout will include a coupla different mining operations, and ore-carrying short-wheelbase hoppers (they're shorter than regular hoppers because iron ore is HEAVY) can run into a substantial pile of cash if you want enough to realistically model the kind of long ore-trains that run from mines to ports or steel mills. Anyway, these ore car shells came up pretty cheap, missing underframes, trucks, and couplers. I got to looking at them carefully, and they looked to me like they were one-piece copies of the Varney multi-piece ore car kits dating back to the mid 1950s I'd seen online earlier. So I rolled the dice and bought several of the vintage nobody-much-want's-em multi piece kits to see what what was what. Turns out I was right, and the ancient Varney underframes are a drop-in fit under the much newer one-piece cars (which appear to have been tooled directly from an assembled Varney kit). A little silicone mold work to copy the ancient Varney underframes in a low-melting-point-metal cerro-alloy (I've already been amassing decent Bettendorf trucks and Kadee couplers in bulk as they come up cheap) and I'll have a nice fleet of shorty steel iron-ore cars for a fraction of what I'd have to pay for new...or even good used. The 1950s Varney underframes fit under the new one-piece shells like they were made for them...which they kinda were. This is frickin' COOL!!! If I had the space I would build a small town with a railroad surrounding it. I've heard from more than one person that model railroading prices have skyrocketed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 I must have 30 of the old MDC ore cars. I bought them new back when undec versions were under $3 ea. I painted them silver with D&RGW decals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.