$1400 I can get a Granite counter top, or the door I need to replace that leads to the deck.
I’ll let the the over priced loco buying up to you rich guys.
I’m still saving money I will need for the heating season.
and it comes down to exactly that, i cant buy a new accucraft k36, second hand yes , if i save for a year or two or sell a kidney etc,
we all have disposable income , some have lots, ie aster / accucraft some have enough for a big hauler
iff you have little to spend then second hand and kitbashin is the way to go , and you can have just as much satisfaction snaffling bargains and being creative
this is why i think if bachmann could make a reasonably priced 1,20 coach kit it would be a winner,
connies can be picked up for £150 second hand, be nice to have some coaches to run with them that can be the right size that dont cost the earth
maby another manufacturer could make some
i just think they would sell a shed load and they could even be pre coloured
Dave,
forget any chance of coaches or coach kits from Bachmann. Bachmann introduced kits in the mid-1990’s and they are still appearing new old stock on eBay. Time forward to the late 2000’s and Bachmann reintroduced their range of kits. They made thousands of them and found that the ‘new breed’ of largescaler is a ready to run guy who wont even change over a coupler. Production quickly stopped when sales were not as expected. End result, we now have both new and old kits from both production runs on the market. A west coast ‘dealer’ purchased the last remaining few thousand coach/combine/baggage car kits in stock. Largescale ‘kits’ are unfortunately dinosaurs bred for extinction. I seriusly doubt any manufacturer would ever contemplate kit production as mainstream supply.
Some years ago a particular manufacturer was asked to supply additional road number decals in rolling stock production, so that hobbyists could vary the road numbers in their consists. The overall result was that few would actually change over the numbers due 'I do not know how?" syndrone. For the majority, largescale is ready to run out of the box mentality!yes tim i suppose that correct, but!!!
theres bugger all in 1 20, and along side the kits they made the fully assembled thing, and the price differance didnt seem to bad, especially with ebay selling second hand for less than the price of a kit
i am a rivet counter but for my made up railroad,historical accuracy is less important, it would just be nice to run some scale coaches behind my black 4 4 0, 2 6 0 and black connie,
the unlettered ams are great , but cost is obviously a factor, and if you want to change the sides it is more expense,
most people can build a basic kit , and it is fun, and could be cost effective
Dave, All:
Not certain if you are limiting your passenger rolling stock kit quest to Chinese produced plastic, or if U.S. designed and manufactured wooden kits would do. If the latter, see Bronson-Tate Architectural Models:
http://www.bronson-tate.com/index.shtml
Their passenger cars and combine kits are here:
http://www.bronson-tate.com/rs.shtml
I built the SPC coach #47 and love it. See:
http://www.bronson-tate.com/kits/spc-47.shtml
The kit is perfect in virtually all respects, and is lots more fun than a plastic kit. It really looks good behind my Bachmann SPC 2-6-0!
Happy (1:20.3 scale) RRing,
Jerry
Dave,
the hobbyist has changed over time. In days of old, largescalers gravitated from an ‘apprenticeship’ in smaller scales and armed with basic techniques embraced largescale with gusto. They used their learned skills and kitbashed/scratchbashed their way in this new endeavour. Today’s typical ‘hobbyist’(?) has no such learned skill or prior hobby experience. Look to the questions asked on many forums. They are at the most basic skill level that I am suprised that many remember to actually breathe or even have the capacity to do so. I am not dumbing down their abilities, but actual modelling is not the reason they enter largescale. They simply want to run trains.
You state, ".... most people can build a basic kit ,,, and it is fun,,, and could be cost effective." For most, building a kit is not their intent. Their philosophy is take it out of the box and run it. Look to the number of LGB and USA Trains boxcars on sale on eBay. The items are obviously used and yet the grabrail packs, supplied for the consumer to self install, are still intact/unused. The supposed hobbyist cannot even fit grabrails and you want them to build kits. 'Cheap' and 'kits' are two words not used in 1/20.3 scale. I know that expensive kits are available, however, these are for the advanced hobbyist and generally outside the realm of the typical modeller's hobby budget and his skill level.funnily enough jerry i have spc 3, the red bachmann version and i picked up a hartford ventilated box car fully made for 15 pounds and that included postage of 5 pounds, needs a bit of love but is is a fantastic model, i think it will be made again by hartford and i will probably buy another 2 and the bits to repair the one ive got, that caboose looks great, one day i will snaffle one i think
wood is an option but skill level is a bit higher than a basic plastic kit that can be quickly made and painted
cost is the main factor
and bronson tate make lovely stuff, just looked at the coaches and plastic kit versions of them will do nicely,
it just makes a change from the drgw stuff that i usually buy and is a different era,
i do agree with you tim, i really do
and it comes down to cost,
maby someone else will make something,
trouble is its very dull at the mo, with nothing new for fn3 apart from rehashed bachmann
and with the price of brass as it is in recession, it can only get worse
maby accucraft will have to make plastic locos
or i will have to start my own company,
hmmmmmmmm, theres a thaught
Dave,
you wrote “…trouble is its very dull at the mo, with nothing new for fn3 apart from rehashed bachmann.” The reason I started this thread - there has been nothing new in 1/22.5 scale from Bachmann for fifteen plus years!
i know,thats a really valid point what about that buddy 262 rehashed, didnt bachmann have something to do with that,
maby piko and lgb will come up with something
afterall, you do need a cheep way into the hobby and the big hauler range was that
i really cant understand bachmann at times, and they would sell lots of a new 280 or 262 it just has to be a bit different from the annie
Dave,
the Buddy ‘L’ was a standalone product that had nothing at all to do with Bachmann. I had this confirmed some years ago by the Bach-man (Ray De…).
ahhhh, isnt the tender very similar, and would something like this satisfy your cravings,
Dave,
the tender was ‘similar’ but had a different deck moulding to accomodate the batteries required for the sound system and the rivet detail was even more exagerated than the oversize rivets on the Bachmann tender. The drive was a very poor copy of a LGB Mogul drive.
If you were offered something like the Buddy 'L' in 1/20.3 scale you would be completely offended. Similarly so, I feel the product nothing more than a toy. The scale was more 1/20.3 than 1/22.5. In so far as satisfying my 1/22.5 craving then I saw it as an assault on the senses.i didnt realise it was that bad, trouble is i cant see anyone making something new at the mo and thats a shame for all the 1,22 chaps
and it is time for a different big hauler tender loco , mind you with the new drive and other revamped locos they have not totaly forgotten the scaleso there is hope
and because it is entry level it probably would be a basic loco at first
and could be worse, least you have plenty of coaches to run behing them,
maby the centenial mogul rehashed to a later style would be cost effective,
I would like to see a GE70 tonner in 1/22.5 or 1/24 or 1/29 for that matter. I don’t think we will see much for a while. I like that you started this thread. I just don’t know if any of the manufacturers of rolling stock /locomotives even look at these?
For those wanting 1/22.5 or 1/24 and bemoaning that there hasn’t been anything “new” in decades – I’d qualify that sentiment wit the words “on purpose”…
The Bachmann Indie and their original “1/20” (short) cars both work amazingly well in the smaller scales - perhaps better than they do in 1/20. The logging donkey is a real good fit too. Don’t believe me? measure.
Mik said:
For those wanting 1/22.5 or 1/24 and bemoaning that there hasn't been anything "new" in decades -- I'd qualify that sentiment wit the words "on purpose".....The Bachmann Indie and their original “1/20” (short) cars both work amazingly well in the smaller scales - perhaps better than they do in 1/20. The logging donkey is a real good fit too. Don’t believe me? measure.
I use the Bachmann 20ft cars wit my stuff 1:22-1:24 scale. They look great together. Plus they measure almost the same as the HLW stuff that is 1:24 scale. HLW is a tad wider but not by much. The Bachmann use smaller wheels and trucks.
For what it’s worth, the bachmann rep at the ECLSTS told me that the revised 4-6-0 will also have an improved lead truck, whatever that means.
I am excited about the 2-4-2T re-release and the upgrade for the 4-6-0. Personally, I think the money for Bachmann is in the Thomas the Tank line.
I just hope they add another engine to the line… I have four kids! Course, on the other hand, by the time Aiden is ready for a train, Amelia or Logan may have upgraded to an MTH/LGB or Aristo Engine… or maybe even their own kitbashed units? I have plenty of parts in my workshop.
Todd - I don’t think that you will ever any more 1/22.5 American outline stuff. The main producer in that ‘scale’ was LGB, and they are all over the place now…the ‘new’ Sumpter Valley model is priced like a reasonably-priced used family car.
tac