What non-auto model did you get today?

[Brian Austin]

 

I recently ordered a set of 5 vintage O scale freight cars.  This is a brass bottom-dump gondola, made by Max Gray.  This one of two I got, nearly identical.  The hatch on this one won't shut properly.  Although the New Haven did have some of this type, the lettering style appears to have been completely different, and they ran on archbar trucks.  I'll have to order some from Kadee's newly introduced line of cast metal O Gauge freight car trucks.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2024 by Brian Austin

[Brian Austin]

This hopper may also have been produced by Max Gray.  Hatches on this one are inoperable.  It's riding on trucks produced by Auel in 17/64" scale (1:45 vs. 1:48), and are nicely cast in metal.  The wheels have lovely detail.  Unfortunately for me the wheelsets are not insulated for 2-rail use.  Also the treads are very worn.  I later swapped the trucks for ones with insulated wheels.  I made the mistake of picking up one of the loose Auel trucks.  An errant finger slipped the spring plank sideways, taking the springs with it, and the truck self-destructed. I am not in a  hurry to reassemble it.

 

[Brian Austin]

 Next came this rather unique stock car.  It appears to have been a repurposed Lionel tinplate toy.  It's not my favorite, but it came in the lot.  It did come with insulated wheels, though, so I placed those trucks under the hopper.

[Brian Austin]

One of the reasons I got the assortment was this wooden caboose. With that slab of lead it and metal trucks it weighs a good couple of pounds or so. 

 

Edited August 14, 2024 by Brian Austin

[Brian Austin]

From the same seller I also got this old assembled plastic kit produced by KMT.  The tank is OK but the walkways are a bit undersized.  It'll do though.

[OldTrucker]

This just came today.

FedEx left my package on a porch across the alley with the same apt. Number, again.

Everything still sealed in their bags.

The decals do look iffy. May have to try and find another set or have some new ones made.

[niteowl7710]

Not my usual wheelhouse at all, but don't threaten me with something that's legitimately a limited edition that's sold out... and then give me a backdoor in to purchase it...?

[Ace-Garageguy]

5 minutes ago, niteowl7710 said:

Not my usual wheelhouse at all, but don't threaten me with something that's legitimately a limited edition that's sold out... and then give me a backdoor in to purchase it...

Nice.

My first exposure to that and other Eduard 1/48 aircraft kits was last weekend at HobbyTown. 

Now I'm jonesin'.   

[niteowl7710]

18 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Nice.

My first exposure to that and other Eduard 1/48 aircraft kits was last weekend at HobbyTown. 

Now I'm jonesin'.   

It's one of those - If you like it, and you can find it, you might wanna buy it - equations. Eduard sold out of this kit before they ever shipped it and the few remaining kits they had left over from their trip to Wisconsin for the IPMS Nationals went to Squadron who as of this morning are also sold out. So the ones in the wild are the only ones that exist to purchase.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Finally just bit the bullet and bought another NOS one of these Walthers Blast Furnace kits in HO scale. Last one I bought cost about half what this one did, and in the meantime they were re-released and sold out again. Anyway, now I have two, to keep each other company. Even though they're very big kits, they're on the small side for blast-furnaces of the period I'll be modeling, so one of them will be getting kitbashed into a larger, newer version.

They'll never get any cheaper than what I paid for this last one (identical to the one below), and if Walthers releases another run, they'll surely be more expensive.

At this point I have just about everything I need to get a good start on modeling an integrated steel mill complex with two blast furnaces...except the blower house kit. It's very rare, and a fairly simple though large building, not too difficult to scratchbuild.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Snagged this absolutely mint ABA set of vintage HO-scale Athearn EMD F7 diesels in Rio Grande "Prospector" passenger livery (introduced in 1951 I think), for less than the typical cost of a tired A-unit alone. From the collection of a fella who apparently really took good care of his stuff, with no discernable wear on any of the wheels, and perfect paint, etc. I'd say from looking there's not more than 15 minutes of run time on the powered A-unit, and zero on the unpowered A and B.

They've all been fitted with Kadee couplers, the wrong ones actually, mounted incorrectly, but it's no biggie to swap them out and mount the right ones correctly, and re-use these on something else.

The A-unit has a stout motor with massive steel flywheels and all-wheel drive, and will crawl beautifully if fed from an old-school "pulsed" transistor throttle, of which I have several.

Sorry, no DCC or sound, though it can be added, but running non-DCC locomotives with conventional DC works just ducky (and did for decades), and wiring a layout to accommodate both isn't hard if you think it through going in.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Hit a different "antique" mall on a whim and scored the only two HO models in the whole place, a powered HO Athearn "blue box" SD9 in SP "black widow" markings, brand new kit, complete with all the railings and bagged small parts never installed, absolutely perfect zero-time wheels, in an almost perfect box, etc., for less than 1/2 the typical selling price on the web for NOS...

...and an HO Proto 2000 steel center-cupola caboose in Maine Central livery; rough box, missing a couple small parts. I probably paid a little too much, but the MEC livery is rare, it really is a quality model with separate hand grabs, etc...and it looked lonely after I took the SD9 off the shelf next to it. Typical selling price for these is anywhere from $35 to $80 including shipping, I got it on the low end of that, so I'm happy. I normally wouldn't buy high-end RTR rolling stock for anything close to retail, but it followed me home. What can I say?  

Edited August 26, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Brian Austin]

Now you'll have to get a MEC loco to go with it.  ?

It's amazing how much cabooses cost these days.  I ended up getting the ancient wooden O Gauge caboose in my last post because the price was reasonable.  I just don't happen to have a New Haven RR loco to go with it yet...

Edited August 26, 2024 by Brian Austin

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, Brian Austin said:

Now you'll have to get a MEC loco to go with it.  ?

It's amazing how much cabooses cost these days.  I ended up getting the ancient wooden O Gauge caboose in my last post because the price was reasonable.  I just don't happen to have a New Haven RR loco to go with it yet...

I bought a decent (repaint) Alco RS3 in MEC colors not too long ago. It needs handrail and coupler and detail upgrades.  

It's amazing to me how much anything new in HO costs these days, but high-end stuff has always been pretty spendy. No wonder the model RR hobby has a rep as being for "rich guys".

I really couldn't do it if I didn't buy mostly cheapo thrift shop/flea market and auction lots.

Edited August 26, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Dave Ambrose]

I piggybacked these on one of my son's orders. The ornithopter is going to be spectacular when done, and the Paul Atredes figure looks very good too. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

I piggybacked these on one of my son's orders. The ornithopter is going to be spectacular when done, and the Paul Atredes figure looks very good too. 

Cool cool. Thanks for the heads-up. I need the ornithopter.  

EDIT: The Paul Atreides figure would be a great start on a 1/12 car-based postapocalypse dio too. My little brain is running down all kinda new rabbit holes.  

Edited August 26, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Brian Austin]

20 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

 

It's amazing to me how much anything new in HO costs these days, but high-end stuff has always been pretty spendy. No wonder the model RR hobby has a rep as being for "rich guys".

I really couldn't do it if I didn't buy mostly cheapo thrift shop/flea market and auction lots.

I get it.  I got back into my O Gauge during the pandemic after not paying full attention for a long while.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just about every time I go to one of the local flea markets or "antique malls", I walk out with a few HO-scale model RR rescues for cheap.

This one is particularly nice, a built-up (very cleanly) Roundhouse crane-boom-tender caboose in B&O work-train markings, already sporting Kadee couplers and metal wheelsets.

It was in the wrong box, and I had to do some research to figger out exactly what it was.

5 bucks. The asking for these on the web is anywhere from about $25 to $45, including shipping.  

EDIT: Another $5 score, this NOS AHM Great Northern 40-foot boxcar. Typical web asking is about $15 for no-box, $25 for boxed (including shipping). No Kadees or upgraded trucks on this one, just the way she came new. 

Edited August 27, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

Happened to get to one of the flea-markets after work, just after the "train lady" had restocked, walked out with a basket full of rescues, vintage craftsman kits, cars, and a ton of landscaping stuff including 7 rubber rock-molds, ballast, ground foam, Hydrocal, etc.

Probably my favorite from the entire haul is this NOS HO AHM GP18 in Santa Fe freight livery. $12. These go used for anywhere from $35 to $55 online, including shipping.

Some AHM locomotives are trainset quality, but this one is heavy with a semi-can-motor, all-wheel pickup and all wheel drive. And because of the way the drive is made, they're easy to re-motor and upgrade to DCC.

The handrails are a little on the heavy side, but I've been experimenting on an AHM Alco RS3 of similar vintage, carefully scraping the side rails with an X-Acto to thin them, and replacing the end rails with formed wire in the original (drilled) stanchions. The results are definitely worthwhile. Rework the pilots, dump the truck-mounted couplers for frame-mounted Kadees, add air and MU hoses and other details, a little weathering, and they'll compare well visually with high-end current RTR models.

And not a spectacular deal, but this Proto 2000 drop-end mill gondola kit in Ann Arbor markings is exactly right for a steel mill setting. These go fo $20-$50 online with shipping, so I'm pretty happy having paid $8.

 

Edited August 30, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[ranma]

Once a month Flea Market: Bought these for a total of $45.00!!! Both are still Factory sealed..

[Earl Marischal]

3 hours ago, ranma said:

Once a month Flea Market: Bought these for a total of $45.00!!! Both are still Factory sealed..

All the Cornerstone buildings are great for kitbashing. I’ve used them on several different layouts in the past.

steve

[catpack68]

Found these valve covers today at the Charlotte Auto Fair for my 92 Camaro RS project

[Ace-Garageguy]

Picked up a NOS Bachmann Spectrum HO scale EMC gas-electric "Doodlebug" in Union Pacific colors for well under list.

EMC (forerunner of what would later be GM's Electro Motive Division...EMD) introduced these in 1924 (though General Electric pioneered the concept around 1905) as one of the first really successful internal-combustion/electric hybrids on the railroads, as a cost-saving alternative to running steam locomotives pulling coaches on short local passenger lines...and not requiring the expense of installing an overhead or potentially highly dangerous 3rd rail power-delivery system for conventional electric trolleys and interurbans.

https://www.trains.com/ctr/railroads/locomotives/emc-delivers-first-doodlebug-motorcar/

I'll be needing something besides busses and cars to get my HO-scale workforce from their housing to the steel mill and engine rebuild plant on my post-apocalyptic (Atlas Shrugged) alternative universe (circa 1960) layout. In peak hours, it will pull an unpowered wooden "trailer" intended for use on standard-gauge electric trolley lines, built from a vintage LaBelle kit (with added windows and seating to accommodate passengers).

   

Though most of the "doodlebugs" were gone by 1960, several were modified into special self-powered rail inspection cars by Sperry Rail Service, and served into the 2000s in that capacity. That's a service-life of 70+ years.

EMC/EMD would, of course, go on to become the primary builder of diesel-electric locomotives that ultimately made the steamers obsolete.

Beautiful Kansas City Southern EMD E-3 from 1939 shown below.

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY and ACCURACY

[Ace-Garageguy]

NOS Westerfield resin HO kit #1101, A-50-4 "Auto car" boxcar. For $5.

                        

Production ended in June of this year (2024), and remaining stocks were being offered at about $18 to $35, plus shipping.

I've snagged several of these at terrific prices, but this is the best one yet.

It builds up into a real beauty. With some effort. (Not my model below, but a "pro built" model that sold for over $200.)

Edited September 26, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[FoMoCo66]

Got this one a couple weeks back (haven't been on the forum for a while). It's a 1961 run of a PFM brass southern ps4 pasific. I've been looking for one of these at a good price for a while. And it came with a beautiful custom crescent limited paint job! The only problem is it's got a gallop, but for $270, it's a DEAL!

Thanks brasstrains.com

It with my ihc crescent limited cars.