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I think I'll buy up a small lot. I'll teach my kid(s) to build them as an introduction...perhaps. And maybe I ought to squirrel away a few wood craftsman kits for the same purpose as well. I sort of wonder if Grandt line won't start offering RTR cars....
Michael
My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
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Good news for a change on the kit front. I also am a member of the Yahoo Modern Freight Car List (MFCL). Exact Rail has recently come out with a 4427 Hopper Kit. I'm not very knowledgeable on freight car prototypes modern or old fashioned, so I'm not sure what the 4427 hopper is. Anyway, Exact Rail was thinking of discontinuing undec. kit and just offer decorated kits and r-t-r. The guys on the MFCL have been bugging manufacturers to offer more undec kits. Exact Rail came out with a limited number of undecorated kits, posted them on their web page, and sold them all out in less than 4 days! Blaine Hadfield, production manager for Exact Rail, posted to the MFCL list that the reception of these undecorated cars has shown Exact Rail of the market for well done undecorated kits. These are craftsman type kits rather than Athearn Blue Box type shake the box kits, but it is nice to see a manufacturer realize that there are still model railroaders out there who would rather build, paint, and decal at least some of their rolling stock.
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Russ,That is indeed good news! However,seeing the iddy bitty details on that car I would buy the RTR..
Of course I never like car kits with a zillion iddy bitty pieces.  hock:
Larry
Engineman
Summerset Ry
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Should of seen it coming, When Athearn discontinued the undecorated Blue Boxes.
Torrington, Ct.
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Brakie Wrote:Russ,That is indeed good news! However,seeing the iddy bitty details on that car I would buy the RTR..
Of course I never like car kits with a zillion iddy bitty pieces. hock:
I suspect that is the reason manufacturers are kind of in a quandry. How many modelers want to build shake the box kits?
I have a bunch that I'm going to build, but I will shave off most of the cast on details and add grabs, ladders, and brake detail to them. I would guess from my local hobby shop that most people just want to put it on the rails and run it. In fact what I find interesting is that my local hobby shop caries 1/87 scale vehicles in the train dept. and the guys building trucks seem to be doing a lot more detailing, kit bashing, and scratch building than the train people!
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Russ Bellinis Wrote:Brakie Wrote:Russ,That is indeed good news! However,seeing the iddy bitty details on that car I would buy the RTR..
Of course I never like car kits with a zillion iddy bitty pieces. hock:
I suspect that is the reason manufacturers are kind of in a quandry. How many modelers want to build shake the box kits?
I have a bunch that I'm going to build, but I will shave off most of the cast on details and add grabs, ladders, and brake detail to them. I would guess from my local hobby shop that most people just want to put it on the rails and run it. In fact what I find interesting is that my local hobby shop caries 1/87 scale vehicles in the train dept. and the guys building trucks seem to be doing a lot more detailing, kit bashing, and scratch building than the train people!
Don't discount the car & truck builders as not being "train people". Many are----- the reason I pcked model trains as my "final hobby" was that more than anything I like to build models--- I built airplanes ((no plastic ones--ugh), cars , boats, then one day it dawned on me that , in as much as I had seen buildings & many other things that I would like to model that the ONLY hobby that could include ALL these elements, (who ever built an airport to go with the planes? ) was model railroading , because in this hobby the whole world is your prototype.
Instant glue ? ---- SOLDER ---- NOW THATS INSTANT!
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Russ Bellinis Wrote:I suspect that is the reason manufacturers are kind of in a quandry. How many modelers want to build shake the box kits?
I have a bunch that I'm going to build, but I will shave off most of the cast on details and add grabs, ladders, and brake detail to them. I would guess from my local hobby shop that most people just want to put it on the rails and run it. In fact what I find interesting is that my local hobby shop caries 1/87 scale vehicles in the train dept. and the guys building trucks seem to be doing a lot more detailing, kit bashing, and scratch building than the train people!
Dave Harris sctchbld Wrote:Don't discount the car & truck builders as not being "train people". Many are----- the reason I pcked model trains as my "final hobby" was that more than anything I like to build models--- I built airplanes ((no plastic ones--ugh), cars , boats, then one day it dawned on me that , in as much as I had seen buildings & many other things that I would like to model that the ONLY hobby that could include ALL these elements, (who ever built an airport to go with the planes? ) was model railroading , because in this hobby the whole world is your prototype. 
I got my start building model sailing ships. Building models soon spread to all the other things in a model railroad......buildings, bridges, scenes, trees etc.,etc.
Watch some of the RTR people, they will one day move on to bigger and better things.......some, will not.
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
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Dave, thank you for your excellent point!
In elementary school, I built two plastic planes: an F-4 and a P-38. I also built five battleships, one cruiser, one PT boat, two ironclads, and five aircraft carriers. In college, I built a model of the USS Mobile Bay (the Ticonderoga Class) for my cousin whom was a officer on her in Operation Iraqi Freedom...that caused me to built a German Battle Cruiser for myself. The only car I ever tried to build was a Lamborghini back around 2nd grade...
If I ever build an Oahu Railway Layout, there will be a warship on it. I don't build them today as I prefer to focus on trains...but warships from 1890-1945 are of great interest to me.
Michael
My primary goal is a large Oahu Railway layout in On3
My secondary interests are modeling the Denver, South Park, & Pacific in On3 and NKP in HO
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I sold my stash of Athearn BB kits in 1998 and 1999 at 20% off the going price for the kits at that time, I had purchased most of the kits when the prices were under $2 a kit. I even had a number of factory error cars that I sold on Ebay that had lettering on one side only, partial lettering on one or both sides, missing car numbers or the time they used the printing plates for a Lionel car.
I haven't built an Athearn kit since 1995 or 1996, most of their cars are too modern for me since I changed the era I model, so I won't miss them very much. The kits I've built since then have been craftsman kits of wood, plastic, brass or resin.
Greg
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