What non-auto model did you get today?

[Old Buckaroo]

The nose cone has such a "classic" style to it!!

I'm sure if you started a rocket thread up in "All the Rest" you'd be surprised at how many others dabble in the sport.  I belonged to a Rocket forum once upon a time - they were about as intense as armor modelers. This place is way friendlier 👍

 

Edited January 11 by Old Buckaroo

[Ace-Garageguy]

Another fantastic HO scale train score at a local antique mall.

Many rare (really) vintage car kits, built ups, NOS ready-to-run (boxed) cars, and a couple of locomotives at 1/6 to 1/3 of what they would have cost online if purchased separately. 

Just one example...an out-of-production mid-range RTR NOS Athearn caboose, list when new was $24.95, current asking online including shipping, about $60. I paid $8. 

Score included multiple NOS Roundhouse Gorre & Daphetid car kits as well...passenger cars, boxcars, hoppers, ore cars, gondolas, and a tank car...$5 each.

The built-ups are all extremely well done, from kits dating to the '50s and '60s, most with sprung trucks and Kadee couplers, some beautifully weathered, some pristine. $3 each.

Sadly though, for me to get these so cheap, someone must have dumped Dad's or Grampa's collection for pennies, or given them away. I hope whoever owned them is happy they've gone to a good home...at least for as long as I'm their caretaker.

Edited February 6 by Ace-Garageguy

[Old Buckaroo]

10 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

 

Score included multiple NOS Roundhouse Gorre & Daphetid car kits as well...passenger cars, boxcars, hoppers, ore cars, gondolas, and a tank car...$5 each.

 

Now I'm really envious of that treasure find..  John Allen was a big influence on my modeling as a kid.

[shoopdog]

Thought I would build a Gundam for a change and take advantage of Hobby Lobby’s 40% off.

[Earl Marischal]

A PW (MoW in US terms) wagon at a bargain price.

steve

 

[Mike C]

I recently got this P3 Orion kit.

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 more complete NOS vintage HO scale model train "craftsman" kits, for about the same dollar amount they sold for when new in the late '50s-'60s (typically 5 times that today).

The top Ambroid kit is a composite plywood-side, steel-framed wood chip gondola, part of a later "One of Five Thousand" series.

                                                        

The center Quality Craft kit is an all-door boxcar built for Weyerhaeuser. The kit has very nice die-cast side framing, which I didn't expect.

            

The bottom kit in the blue box is a second series "One of Five Thousand" collector kit, an insulated tank car built for Riverside Oil Company.

                                                

Ambroid and Quality Craft began producing very high quality craftsman kits of unusual or unique railroad cars in 1958. Ambroid's were manufactured by Northeastern Scale Models (who still make scale lumber and wood parts to this day), and who later boxed and sold some of them under their own name.

Carefully built, these ancient kits produce jewell-like models easily rivalling the mass produced high-end cars made today.

 

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

The smokin' deals just keep on coming.

This time it's a random lot of 10 vintage HO scale car kits, built ups, and RTR cars, and a NOS solenoid (over-centering latch) switch machine.

The kits include an old (1950s?) Walthers 60 foot wood and metal ATSF RPO, an equally ancient LaBelle Illinois Traction box trailer, a similarly aged Silver Streak 4-wheel "bobber" caboose (wood with a die-cast frame), and a very old (1939) Comet Texas and Pacific outside-braced 40 foot boxcar kit with embossed cardstock sides, which sold new for 39 cents.

Naturally the embossed rib and door details on the real old-timer aren't very deep, and overall the car is kinda primitive, but the printing is very crisp, and I fully intend to build it with contemporary high-quality trucks and couplers, wire grabs, separate ladders and roof walk, brake hoses, underbody details, etc. just because I think it'll be cool to have such an old piece (86 years in 2025) in actual use. 

But the pick of the litter is the built-up (Ulrich kit) all-metal drop-bottom gondola, with sprung trucks and scale dummy couplers, lettered for Great Northern. These are quite rare and normally go for more than I paid for the whole mess. I'm happy. 

[bamadon]

12 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

The smokin' deals just keep on coming.

 

Got to find out where this flea market is. My be worth a weekend trip.

 

Don R

[Ace-Garageguy]

8 hours ago, bamadon said:

Got to find out where this flea market is. My be worth a weekend trip.

I don't get them all from the same place.

The last several scores have been random finds I just happened to come across. 

When I find several in a group that are really inexpensive, I usually buy all the HO trains the vendor has, and they don't restock.

But sometimes I have to buy the whole lot to get the pieces I want, because the vendor knows that the junk I don't want will never ever sell.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Lucked into an unbuilt HO scale Roundhouse 3 truck Shay locomotive kit #370 for less than 1/2 of the typical online asking price. These have been around for decades, and the latest ones have "can" motors like this one (as opposed to the earlier "open frame" motors).

But the even cooler thing about it is that, not only is it complete and unbuilt, the box contained upgrade parts worth at least another hundred bucks. Included are a more powerful 2-shaft can motor with an extra flywheel, better brass gears to replace the original plastic ones, and multiple packs of cast brass and plastic details.

Shay locomotives were developed for applications where a lot of low-speed pulling power was needed, particularly on steep grades and poor trackage with tight turns on logging and mining operations. Power was transmitted to the drive wheels by bevel gears and driveshafts rather than the side rods more frequently seen on steam locomotives. These little workhorses were built in various configurations from 1884 until 1945, weighing from 6 to 160 tons, with several still in regular operation. This kit represents a 70 tonner.

The kt, reputed to be particularly difficult, builds up to look like this and includes "custom" parts to date it to a particular period..

Edited March 5 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ace-Garageguy]

NOS 1/8 scale Williams Brothers Pratt & Whitney Wasp aircraft engine.

Complete, sealed internally. I've been looking for one of these to complement my 1/8 Wright Whirlwind, 1/8 scale Le Rhone, 1/12 scale Revellogram Wright Cyclone, and original Revell Allison turboprop engines for a while.

I love engines.  

[Ace-Garageguy]

22 more nicely-built vintage HO scale ore cars from Varney, Walthers, and Roundhouse (these brands kinda overlap now), most with sprung trucks, blackened metal wheels, and upgraded couplers...for less than 1/2 of what I'd have had to pay for current production models...and these have several different road names and no repeating numbers (the one high-side car has been modified to represent a real car that's been modded to carry much lighter coke).

My proposed dream layout (to represent America at the peak of her industrial capacity) includes a steel mill operation and an iron mining operation, so a lot of these small cubic capacity ore cars are needed to make up believable unit-trains going to the ore docks, lined up on a dock, going directly to the mills, or waiting to be loaded or unloaded as well.

 

 

Edited March 19 by Ace-Garageguy

[Earl Marischal]

The latest “free” wagon (freight car) on rejoining the Bachman Collectors Club, along with card and badge.

Usually these wagons don’t fit with my modelling style but this van (boxcar) I think I can actually use.

steve

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Much many NOS Kadee HO-scale #5 and other couplers and parts to equip over 100 cars, for considerably under standard market prices.

And enough no-name knockoffs to do 48 more...

So between these and the bulk coupler lots I've been buying for the last three years, all my junk railroad rescues/rebuilds and vintage craftsman kits ought to be covered.

Also snagged a vintage Roundhouse powered 2-truck Shay locomotive kit, to keep the 3-trucker company on the mining/logging shortline. Complete, about 1/2 the going online price.

Edited March 26 by Ace-Garageguy

[Earl Marischal]

@Ace-Garageguy

From experience, I would be wary of Kadee knock offs. I only use real Kadees these days having had too many failures with copies.

steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 hours ago, Earl Marischal said:

@Ace-Garageguy

From experience, I would be wary of Kadee knock offs. I only use real Kadees these days having had too many failures with copies.

steve

I appreciate your input and agree entirely.  

The cheapo knockoffs will only be used for appearance upgrades for heavily weathered rolling stock that will be sitting on dead-lines or staged as if waiting for repair in one of the car or loco shops, and anything equipped with them will be clearly marked on the underside.

I probably have enough scale dummy couplers to use, but I'd prefer to have the staged rolling stock be at least minimally functional, and use the dummies for scrap loads and yard clutter.

[mk11]

On 2/5/2025 at 9:48 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Sadly though, for me to get these so cheap, someone must have dumped Dad's or Grampa's collection for pennies, or given them away. I hope whoever owned them is happy they've gone to a good home...at least for as long as I'm their caretaker.

Good to see them get to you. When dad passed a few years ago he had a pile of ho stuff, gathered over the years. The woman he married after mom passed wanted it gone asap so she could get on with her life.

My brother and I hardly had a chance to go through it before she found a buyer. Had a chance to grab a few things including this vintage rail piece...

Just have to find a 4-4-0 to set on it and decal it up to match the first CPR steamer to pull through to Vancouver in 1886.

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, mk11 said:

Good to see them get to you. When dad passed a few years ago he had a pile of ho stuff, gathered over the years. The woman he married after mom passed wanted it gone asap so she could get on with her life.

My brother and I hardly had a chance to go through it before she found a buyer. Had a chance to grab a few things including this vintage rail piece...Just have to find a 4-4-0 to set on it and decal it up to match the first CPR steamer to pull through to Vancouver in 1886.

Sorry your dad's wife was in such a hurry. Kinda looks to me that if somebody really cared about him she'd want the best possible disposition of the things he loved in life.

I keep making those stupid assumptions about people. Sadly, the world doesn't usually work that way.

Great idea about doing a commemorative 4-4-0 display on that piece of rail.

Something like this...?

EDIT: Since it wouldn't need to run, here's a pretty good starting point.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335886866503?_skw=ho+scale+4-4-0+steam+locomotives&itmmeta

Edited April 3 by Ace-Garageguy

[mk11]

It was just her need for control; a different kind of 'railroader'    The kind that makes single guys realize there's worse things than being alone...

That jupiter looks like a good start on what I'm thinking of. Thanks!

 

 

[stavanzer]

I got an Italeri 1/35 Willis Jeep & Trailer.

I thought I'd try to make a Civilian Jeep from about 1947-48.

[Ace-Garageguy]

NOS Stewart Hobbies HO-scale powered F3A and F3B in UP livery, fer about 1/2 the typical online asking.

First Stewart locomotives I've had, and man-oh-man are these things nice. Heavy, all-wheel drive, beautiful detail.

 

[FoMoCo66]

25 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

NOS Stewart Hobbies HO-scale powered F3A and F3B in UP livery, fer about 1/2 the typical online asking.

First Stewart locomotives I've had, and man-oh-man are these things nice. Heavy, all-wheel drive, beautiful detail.

 

Nice score, these from what I have heard are some of the best proportioned bare bones f units. They are definitely a good starting point for super detailing.

I made an attempt to update the aperence of a athearn blue box f7 by filling in the windows. These blue boxes will never be as demesionaly accurate as the stewart/ kato f's but it's good enough. 

(I model 70s BN hence the paint scheme)

Elliot

[Ace-Garageguy]

59 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

Nice score, these from what I have heard are some of the best proportioned bare bones f units. They are definitely a good starting point for super detailing.

I made an attempt to update the aperence of a athearn blue box f7 by filling in the windows. These blue boxes will never be as demesionaly accurate as the stewart/ kato f's but it's good enough. 

(I model 70s BN hence the paint scheme)

That's a real beauty. All the added details really make her come alive.

[FoMoCo66]

21 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

That's a real beauty. All the added details really make her come alive.

Thank you very much. I ran out of dcc decoders so I still need to put one of those in. Sadly I will probably have to remove the athearn "Super Power" weight sence it takes up too much real-estate.