Cars

[John]

I picked up an order for 100 "nscale" cars for $10 + $8 shipping from a dealer in China on the 2nd. They arrived today. Judge for yourself. Not sure what the models depict, but they are perfect for that AutoRack unloading facility.

This is the vendor .. http://stores.ebay.com/everydaygoodz_Wholesale-Lots_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ18624784QQftidZ2QQtZkm

[Walkercolt]

Those aren't bad at all, in fact, they look pretty darn good to me. I need some early 60's resin "shell" autos to put on my open auto racks at that kind of pricing. I'd be glad to do the painting if some were available.

[up1950s]

Are the wheels removable ? If so , at 18 cents a car even if you hated the bodies ................

[John]

Are the wheels removable ? If so , at 18 cents a car even if you hated the bodies ................

These things are a 2 piece casting, with the wheels cast into the floor of the car, which is removable .. they don't turn .. like I said, they are good background / parking lot material ..

I wouldn't eat the paint either 

[Bob Bufkin]

Now you got an excuse to do the facility at Annapolis Junction.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, I've got a couple boxes of those.  Can't beat the price.

The minivan looking ones are probably the only ones I flat-out wouldn't use.  Most of the cars aren't that bad, the biggest problem is that the plastic is really thick, but if you stick with the darker colors you don't even notice that from a distance.

In the end, even if you can only use 1/4 of them, they're still a steal.

What I'm more interested in is the seller (nscaleautos) that's recently taken to selling a lot of these "cast resin plastic" vehicles for about $5/each.  They have the problem of not having clear windows, but he's got quite a number of vehicles that you can't buy otherwise (new Hummers, 'Vettes, Camaros, Crown Vics, box trucks, etc).

On a related side note, if anyone finds Atlas F-150s for about $$5-6/set, let me know.  I can usually find the occassional few at a show or on eBay for about that price, but I'll probably need at least 50 of them to even give the proper illusion of a decent size loading facility.  What I really need is 2003+ models, but that's just wishful thinking at this point.  Of course with my lucky I'll stock up on the '97 ones just in time for someone to release newer ones.

[wm3798]

For my late 60's/early 70's layout, I like the big Fords that came with those old Trix/Atlas/AHM/Bachmann auto racks...  I pick these up periodically for about $5-10 a car, pull the autos out, and put the empty car back on ebay.  I just sold one for $7.   So I got 12 autos for under $3.

They do take some work, I add mod podge windows and paint them in more prototypical colors, but they end up looking pretty good!
I've got another dozen or so autos to paint up, but I've gotten 3 MT cars filled up so far.



Lee

[ljudice]

Aren't cars waiting to be loaded/unloaded covered with some sort of protective cover nowaways? Masking off and spraying this on could eliminate the thick window look for a massive fleet sitting at a loading dock?

[Walkercolt]

Yes, my truck(via CSX) was "srink-wrapped" in yellow plastic. When the first open racks appeared, they just drove the car into them (with the tires pumped up to 70 PSI to keep from blowing them out from rough shipping...it worked). I have a love/hate thing with the Bachmann autos....I love to hate them. I can stand them on the bottom and middle of an open rack, but the top ones...and they look too '70's for me too. Yeah, it's like scraping fingernails across a blackboard to me. It's just me, nobody else cares, I know, I can't really explain it. But I don't like cucumbers either!

[Nato]

  Speaking of "Cars" everyone should own,buy, the board game "Tractor Tipping" by Matell from the Disney Pixar movie Cars. The game pieces are N scale sized, pre painted figures of Lighting, Sally, Doc Hudson, the Tow Truck and 25 cute Pinkish red tractors. One of our Wasatch N Scale club members put them on his large city module at a train show last weekend,Lightning being arrested by a B&W cop car,Doc and Sally at verious locals and the tow truck hearding a line of six tractors past the grain elevator. When the kids began pointing these out to parents it was fun to watch.Oh and yes the Combine with a face, just slightly oversized also parked near the elevator. Back to your topic cars, they look pretty good, you could model Airport rental lots with the terminal building as a background flat,they look like they would be good for commutter Park and Ride lots,a multi story parking garage Ala John Allen ,but up against a background, three sides open a mirror on back wall for depth, some cars painted different colors on both sides. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[cfritschle]

Another way to judge these cars is to compare them with a 1:160 scale models of similar prototypes. 









The models that appear to be similar to a Mercedes E Class and a Toyota Crown are very close to N scale.  The van and the car similar to the Herpa BMW are significantly larger.

And, even though the wheels are molded into the chassis and do not roll, they are a nice feature of the models.  That is because they can be used to upgrade some of the old N scale vehicle models with undersized wheels, such as the Bachmann auto sets from 1969-70.

Carter

[Denver Road Doug]

Hyperion, Toy Train Heaven had the Atlas F-150 sets for around $5 not too long ago.  You might e-mail them and see if they'll make you a deal on a bulk purchase if they have some left.

[asarge]

What I'm more interested in is the seller (nscaleautos) that's recently taken to selling a lot of these "cast resin plastic" vehicles for about $5/each.  They have the problem of not having clear windows, but he's got quite a number of vehicles that you can't buy otherwise (new Hummers, 'Vettes, Camaros, Crown Vics, box trucks, etc).

Those are the ex-Road Apples/Lineside Models. They go together ok, but they are light and that's important if you're filling out an Auto-rack.

[Walkercolt]

Andy, I want '63 Impalas, Galaxy 500's and Dodge Polaras and such. Actually, anything from '61-'65 when everything had a new body style everyear almost would be great. They put such a "time-stamp" on the train you're running or a layout. Cars all look like the same jelly-bean with different tail-lights and grills today. I saw a You-Tube video where they took the grills and the brands off of 6-8 cars, and had the salemen for each brand try to get the right grill on their brand of car. I think one guy got it right the first try.